Article74 Magazine

Who are the Central Actors? 

Representatives of 43 countries attended the Paris Conference (November 15 - 16) and the most recent meeting of the Multilateral Working Group on Refugee Affairs in Turkey (December 20 - 25). The agenda of these meetings - and of the multilateral talks in general - have been set by a more limited number of countries with strong, and conflicting, interests in the region. Their delegations have been dominating the discussions and proceedings so far: 
Acting as the host of the multilateral negotiations on refugee affairs, the Canadian government is compelled to keep a fairly neutral stand, although it tends to support the positions of the co-sponsors, the United States and the CIS (Russia). The US delegation is representing its government’s vested interest in the rapid implementation of the Washington Accords by maintaining the United States’ hegemony over the peace process in the Middle East. Thus it has been pushing for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to take a stronger role in matters concerning refugees living in the Palestinian-administered areas (Gaza and Jericho) and trying to limit the influence of the European countries and international organizations (especially UN institutions such as UNRWA) in the region. 

European countries and the United Nations represent interested parties attempting to consolidate their influence on the new order taking shape in the Middle East, in spite of, and parallel to the efforts of the United States. Several additional European countries act as the shepherds of the negotiations, taking responsibility for coordinating talks on central issues, such as data (Norway), family reunification (France), health (Italy), children’s health (Sweden), economic and infrastructural development (European Union). 
Regional parties are represented by the Jordanian, Egyptian, Palestinian, and Israeli delegations. Syria has been boycotting all multilateral meetings until now. Despite some cooperation between the regional Arab parties, they have so far been unable to develop a strong common position. 

Current Issues of the Multilaterals 

- The immediate improvement of living conditions for refugees in the areas administered by the PNA, Jordan, and Lebanon has emerged as a priority of most of the participating parties (despite disagreement concerning the scope of responsibilities to be allocated to UNRWA). The emphasis on improved conditions contradicts the Palestinian stand, which demands that political issues (right of return, refugee compensation by Israel) be clarified, before measures improving living conditions (and consequently integration) of refugees in their host countries are discussed. The isolated stance of the Palestinian delegation has been authorized to discuss immediate improvements of living conditions that do not preclude the political rights of Palestinian refugees. 
The key question is whether the Palestinian leadership will be able to develop an adequate strategy and obtain international allies for protecting political refugee rights in the framework of the negotiations - a context in which most parties, and certainly Israel, favor solutions which provide for refugee integration in the host countries (see also ARTICLE 74/10: Palestinian Comments to the Bristol Report “Assistance to Refugees in the Middle East”, commissioned by the European Union. A request by the Palestinian delegation to register its critique in the official report was refused.) 

- The Four Party Committee for the negotiations on the return of Palestinian refugees of 1967 has not yet taken shape, although rumors concerning the first convention have made regional headlines since September 1993, when the committee was first announced as part of the Oslo Agreement. Currently, bilateral Palestinian-Egyptian and Palestinian-Jordanian meetings are being held in Cairo and Amman respectively. The names of future Arab delegates to the Committee have not been officially announced, but it appears that they will include some of the current Palestinian and Jordanian delegates to the multilateral working group on refugee affairs and PNA officials from Gaza. 

- The French delegation for the multilateral working group on refugee affairs brought forward a proposal to reactivate the special commission (“Bajolait Commission”) which dealt with improvements of family reunification procedures prior to the Oslo Accords. The Commission had confronted the Israeli delegation with demands for transparency, clearly defined criteria, and a larger quota for family reunification. The new French proposal is supported by the Palestinian delegation which suggested an additional demand for a general amnesty of all non-resident spouses of Palestinians in the occupied territories who entered the country after August 1993 (See also below: “Deportations from the West Bank Renewed). 
[Source: Salim Tamari, Technical Committees - Refugee Working Group] 

Several months ago, the Jordanian delegation to the multilateral working group on refugee affairs compiled a list of 6,250 names of Palestinians who have been living in Jordan since Israel canceled their residency rights in the occupied territories. The names were submitted to the Israeli delegation for repatriation. The Jordanian request for repatriation is based on the agreement reached during earlier sessions of the multilateral negotiations, that Israel would consider the repatriation of such persons, whose total number is estimated at 80,000 - 90,000. Israel has not yet responded to this request.