Chapter One outlines the history of Palestinian forced displacement from the British Mandate to the present, while identifying the ‘triggers’ of contemporary forced displacement on both sides of the ‘Green line’ in historical Palestine, as well as in exile;

 

Chapter Two provides statistical information on the scope of displacement, and the distribution and characteristics of the refugee and IDP population;

 

Chapters Three and Four clarifies the framework governing protection and assistance of Palestinian refugees and IDPs;

 

Chapter Five sets out the basic principles for crafting durable solutions for Palestinian refugees and IDPs consistent with international law, relevant United Nations resolutions and best practice; and presents an overview of past and current political initiatives aimed at resolving the Palestinian refugee question, including official diplomacy and civil society efforts.

 

What people are saying about this edition of the Survey:

 

Perhaps the greatest injustice of the post-World War II period, and certainly the most long-standing, is that which has been perpetrated on millions of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons driven from their homes by ethnic cleansing, war and wall-building in the course of Israel`s insatiable demand for Palestinian land, and forgotten by the international community in its determination to appease the state of Israel. Israel`s recent assault on Gaza - Operation Cast Lead - has resulted in the further displacement of nearly 100,000 persons but again there has been no serious response from the international community. In the past sixty years, norms of international law designed to punish war crimes and crimes against humanity and to protect refugees have been forsaken in the case of Palestinians. BADIL`s Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons  seeks to create an awareness of the plight of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons by providing an account of the history of Palestinian displacement, describing the factual situation of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, and considering the legal framework in which a just solution may be achieved. Hopefully this Survey will go some way towards reminding the international community of a forgotten people and of the injustice in which it is complicit."
--John Dugard

 

"The Badil Research Center's overview of the situation facing Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons is reliable and invaluable. It provides readers with facts, interpretation, legal and political analysis, and policy recommendations. Anyone who doubts the relevance of the refugee dimensions of the Israel/Palestine conflict needs to read and ponder this admirable presentation of this vital material."

--Richard Falk

 

"This is a unique and precious volume. With the Survey's publication, Badil have provided an immeasurable service to scholars and the general public alike. The dispossessed, the hidden from view and the disenfranchised have been restored to their humanity and dignity. Numbers and statistics are transformed, through scrupulous and painstaking work, into the embodiment of the Palestinian spirit. Every refugee is here returned to their status as a bearer of inalienable and sovereign rights under international law."

--Karma Nabulsi

 

"Badil's most recent Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons continues that organization's tradition of painstaking documentation and penetrating analysis of the condition of displaced Palestinians. What is particularly striking about this edition is the commitment to a wide-angle perspective - one that seeks to make sense of Israel's policies toward Palestinians within its own putative borders and other territories under its control, as well as of the impacts on displaced Palestinians of regional developments, such as the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This work will prove to be an invaluable resource to journalists, researchers, and activists who seek understanding of what remains the central dynamic in the century-long confrontation between Zionism and the Palestinians: the displacement of the indigenous Palestinian population and the clearing of space for exclusively Jewish settlement."

--George Bisharat

 

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