SPE,CIALME,ETII{G TO MARK SIXTY YE,ARS OF DISPOSSESSION PALESTINEREFTIGEES OF
UnitedNations .r, NewYork OHead.Q;ilf

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Refugeeproperties and compensation

Paperpresented by

Michael R. Fischbach,Ph.D.

r P ofessor of Hi story,-Ra?i:jr,* ac n c oIIege yo

I

Introduction The origins of the Palestinian refugeeproperty issueextendbackto the first Arab-Israeliwar of 1948and the upheavalthat it causedin Palestine't That war for the control of Palestineresulted in a victory for the new stateof Israel and the shafteringof Palestiniansociefy.Approxim ately 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelledacrossthe bordersand cease-fire lines during and shortly after the war. During their flight, the refugeesleft behind vast amountsof land and other property that were confiscatedby the Israeli government.Israel statedit would compensate refugeesfor certain the categories propertythey left behind,but categoricallyrefusedany large-scale of repatriation. the On whole, the refugeeshave refusedto acceptcompensation and permanent exile, demandinginsteadthe right of return and properly restitution.Because this connectionbefweenproperly claims and the right of of returu,and because the ongoingconflict after 1948,no wide scalepropertycompensation of or restitutionhasbeen r"u'rdertakenthe six decades in sincethen. This paperexatnines refugeeproperfyquestion,specificallystudyinghow Israel confiscated the the refugees'property;variousattempts determinethe scopeand value of the properfy;early U.N. to efforls to deal with the propertyquestion;and how the questionhas beendealtwith in Israeli-Palestinial peace talks since 1993. The Flight of the Refugeesin L948and Israel's Confiscation of Their Property The 1948Arab-Israeliwar transfonnedPalestine. Israeli forcesendedup controlling seventysevenpercentof British mandatoryPalestine the time armisticeagreements by were signedin 1949,areas that becamethe new stateof Israel.If Jewscelebrated creationof their new state.Palestinians the mournedthe war as a disaster the first order of magnitude. comparable of No Palestinian stateemerged after the war. The remaining twenty-threepercentof the country that was not occupied by Israel - the areastlrat came to be called the West Bank and Gaza- were under the control of Jordan and Egypt, respectively, after the war. On the demographic and socio-economic levels,however,the devastation was even greater.The new Israeli statelargely had beenemptiedof its Palestinian populationduring and irnmediatelyafter the war. Indeed,approximatelyeighty percentof the Palestinians who had beel livilg in thosepartsof Palestine that became Israelwere goneby 1951.Approximately 750,000Palestinials fled or were expelledby Jewishforces,to find themselves refugees the West Bank, Gaza,and tl"re in surroundingArab states. Even a substantial numberof the 150,000Arabs who remainedin Israel were refugees living outsidetheir homes. During their flight, theserefugees left behind homes,farrnland,businesses, bank accounts,houses of worship,cemeteries shrines, and notto mentionfarm and business equipment, and personal property. Because Palestinian Arab societyand economylargelyhad beenbased aroundagriculture, most of the refugees had their lives' investments up in homes,fields,farm animals, tied and tools,capitalthat they had abandoned and that now lay beyondtheir reach. Therefore, most were renderednot merely refugees, property-less but refugees who lackedthe capitalnecessary establisha new to existeuce exile as well. The scopeand scaleof theselosses in were economicallycatastrophic. this lies In the genesis the Palestinian of refugeeproblem. The vast atnountof abandoned propertythe refugees left behindrepresented massivewindfall a for Israel.As they prevettted refugees'return,Israeli authorities the quickly moved first to secureand laterto confiscate properfy.As soonas Zionist forcesbegantaking over Palestinian the villages, land,and propeffy in the spring of 1948,beforeIsrael's declaration independence the entrance regular of and of armedforcesfrom surrounding Arab states, Zionist rnilitary and civilian committees were established to

J

securethesespoils of war. By July 1g48,all such committeeshad been folded into a cabinet-levelbody, the Ministerial Committee for AbandonedProperty. That samemonth, a Custodianof Abandoned land, property was createdto take control of this property. Israel quickly beganutilizing the abandoned including by leasing it to Jewish agricultural communitiesto farm. It was this committeethat took the decision on 20 August lg48 to adopt a plan that provided for the outright confiscationof someabandoned just one month refugeeproperfy now under Israeli-conirol,not merely leasingit.2The cabinethad voted land undoubtedlyflowed from this earl[r to preventthe refugeesfrom returning; expropriatingtheir decision.Alongside the poti.y to preventthe return of refugees,this decision set in motion the entire refugeeproperty dilemma. During the war's first truce of June and July 1948,the provisional Israeli cabinet also adopted to severalmeasures provide sometype of legal framework for controlling this property. On 20 June,the Israeli authoritiesfroze refugeebank accountsin Israel. The next day, they beganenactinga seriesof property. One laws to extendthe government'sauthority and control over other types of"abandoned" of thesewas the Palestinian which extendedIsraelijurisdiction over Abandonedprope.ry OtAinance, up on24 June with the AbandonedAreas Ordinance,which gavethe state property. This was iollowed "abandonedareas"in general.In order to properfy, but also over authoriiy not just over abandoned maintain agritultural production in the face of the refugees'flight from their land, the Emergency for Regulation-s the Cultivation of Fallow Land and the Use of Unexploited Water Sourceswas enacted later on 11 October Lg4S,which allowed the stateto cultivate refugeeland and requisition crops' This law was later extendedon 6 January 1949,by the EmergencyRegulations(Cultivation of Waste Lands) (Extension of Validity) Ordinance. The most important of thesefirst Israeli laws was the EmergencyRegulations(Absentees' property) law that was enactedon 2 December 1948,which was basedon laws governing the property This by abandoned Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs during the Indo-Pakistanipopulation exchangeof 1947.3 a new legislation rhiftrd the definition of refugeeproperly from the property itself to the owner. It created "absentee."An absentee included anyonewho, on or after the U.N. partition plan was lelal definition: an citizenof an Arab state;was in an Arab country; was in any part of adlpted on 29 November 7947 was a , palestinenot under Jewish control; or was "in any place other than his habitual residence,even if such a territory." lJnder the legislation,the state place as well as his habitual abodewere within Israeli-occupied The law could confiscatethe properly of any personwho met the sweepingcriteria of an absentee. replacedthe Custodianof ,4bandonedProperty with a Custodtanof AbsenteeProperty.This law laid the but the basisfor understanding refugees' property not as temporarily abandoned, as permanentlyleft was obliged to keep accountsinto which he would pay any behind under Israeli control. The Custodian the funds rea1izedby leaseof the refugees' land. In the eyesof the Israeli authorities,however,the no refugees longerheld legal title to the land, which was now vestedwith the Custodian. Property)law did not do was allow the (Absentees' Regulations One thing the Emergency of with passage the most to sell the land under his control.This changed Property Custodianof Absentee PropertyLaw of I4 March 1950. property,the Absentees' sweepingIsraeli law dealingwith the refugees' It This i* *ould govern the iate of the refugees'property for decades. was essentiallya modified "absentee"somewhat. version of the EmergencyRegulations,although it narrowedthe definition of an What was particulariy significant about this law was that it allowed the Custodianof AbsenteeProperty "DevelopmentAuthority," although such a body property, but to sell it to a not merelyto control absentee did not yet exist in Israel at that time. The DevelopmentAuthorify (Transfer of Property) law of July 1950 a purchased largeamountof land from the later createdsuch a public body, which subsequently 1953." Custodianin Februaryand September a The other agencythat purchased large amount of refugeeland was the Jewish National Fund and the established JNF in 1901to acquireland in Palestine (INF). The World ZionistOrginization

/.\

4
nearby countries,land that would be held on behalf of the Jewish people in perpetuity.The INF's charter forbade it ever from selling its land. The charteralso required that it leasethe land only to Jews,who agreedthat they would only employ Jewish labor in developing and farming the land. In January 1949, the JNF agreedto buy a huge amount of refugeeproperfy from the state- although legally, the state's Custodian of AbsenteeProperty could not sell land to anyone (even after passage the Absentees' of Property Law of 1950,the Custodiancould only sell land to the Development Authority). The stateand the JNF signed a secondpurchasedeal in October 1950.The statebeganthe lengthy processof registering refugee land, having the Custodiantake the legal stepsof selling it to the DevelopmentAuthority, which then transferredit to the INF.'By the mid-1950s,the Israeli governmentconsideredthat the refugees' landedproperty had passedpermanentlyinto the handseither of the stateor the JewishNational Fund. Israel usedthe confiscatedrefugee land, homes,and apartmentbuildings to settlenew Jewish immigrants who arrived during and after 1948.Hundredsof thousandsof immigrants streamedinto Israel startingwith the declaration Israeli statehood May 1948,including Holocaustsurvivorsfrom Europe of in and Jews arriving from Arab countries.From 1948-1953, JewishAgency, a non-government the Zionist organizationresponsiblefor settlementin Israel, had established 345 new Jewish towns and villages.u The vast majority of thesewere constructed confiscated on refugeeproperfy.By 1954,one-thirdof Israel's Jewishpopulationlived on confiscated refugeeproperly. By the mid-I950s, the landsabandoned the refugees by during their flight would have been scarcelyrecognizableto them. This was especiallytrue of homes and other buildings. Israeli authorities physicallydestroyed buildings in somewhere the between360 and 429villages.sIn somelocales, mosqueswere turned into art galleriesand restaurants. Agricultural land was also transformed,resurveyedand re-registered, and usedto build new Jewish settlersand farmers.Householdfurniture and other Spes of moveableproperty were sold. Israeli authoritiesstatedearly on that while they were willing to pay compensationfor certain types of landedrefugeeproperty, they insistedthat the land had been absorbedpermanentlyinto the landholdingsof the stateand the JNF and would not be restituted. jointly by the new Beginning in 1960,thesetwo types of land were calledIsraelLands,and managed Israel Lands Administration. ln addition to land, Israel also confiscatedmoveableproperty left behind by the refugees.This included farm implementsand animals,householdfurniture, vehicles, and factory inventory. The Custodianof AbsenteeProperty sold most of this property in the first years after 1948. Estimates of the Value of the RefugeeProperfy How much properfy did the refugeesleavebehind, and what was it worth? No two sourcesever have agreedon this point. Over the years,variousIsraeli,Arab, and United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine(LTNCCP) figures have surfacedpurporting to indicate the total amount and value of refugeeproperty that was abandoned. Some studiesinclude communally owned land, while othersonly include statisticson individually owned land. Someinclude statistics personal on property suchas household furniture,while othersdo not. The following table showsdata from someof these studiesof the scopeand value of 1948Palestinian refugeeland and real estate(but not moveable properfy)losses:

Estimates of 1948 PalestinianRefugee Land and Real Estate Losses

Studv
Israeli Weitz/Danin/Lifshits Comm ittee Yosef Weitz Custodianof AbsenteeProperty Ministry of Justice Arab Arab Higher Committee Arab League

Year

Scooe(dunums)*

Value fUS$)**

1948 1948, 1950 19 5 0 1962

2,oog,l14 3,584,600 3,299_,447

329,445,000 261,950,000 36,691,935 over 564,200,000

l9s5 1956

6,553,193,000 either 7,789,990,000 * or 5,412,400,000*x 6,611,250 1,625,702,0A0 954,304,000 2,580,006,000 2,131,467,000

Yusif Sayigh Plus 173;000 buildings Total HadawilKubursi United Nations Conciliation Commission for P alestine Global Estimate TechnicalProgram

t966

1988

19,031,012

1951 1964

19,083,921 6,057,032

444,546,448 824.780.808

* one dunu m : 1 ,0 0 0s q .m . ** in 1947-1948dollars * x * 1fiedifference lies in the fact that the study did not indicate whether the value reflected 1947-1948dollars (the higher amount)or 1956 dollars(the lower amount) "Report on a Settlement the Arab Refugee Israel StateArchives USA] (138) 244513, Sources: of [Issue]" (25 "le-Hanhil Adama Hadasha" November 1948),appendix9; Yosef Weitz, of New Land], Molad 2,12 [Bequest (March 1949),p.325; Weitz, The Strugglefor the Land (Tel Aviv: Lion the Printer, 1950),p. I l3-1la; ISA (a3) "Report of Custodianof Absentees' 5440/1582, ProperryOffice" (31 March 1950);CentralZionist Archives ICZA] "Commentson Value Assessments Absentee A246157, of Landed Property"(12 November 1962);Arab Higher Committee,al-Laji'un al-Filastiniyyun: Dahayaal-Isti'mar wa'l-Sahyuniyya[The Palestinian Refugees: Victims of Imperialism and Zionisml (Cairo: 1955),pp. 8l-93, andArab Higher Committee, (Beirut: 1961),pp. l9Statement 24, in Yusuf Sayigh,al-Iqtisadal-Isra'ili [The IsraeliEconomy] (Cairo: Leagueof Arab States, Institutefor Higher Arab Studies,1966),pp. I l2-ll3; J. Khoury, Arab Propertyand Blocked Accountsin OccupiedPalestine (Cairo: League Arab States, of General Secretary, Palestine Section,1956),p.20.Sayigh,al-Iqtisad al-Isra'ili,pp. 107-l l0; SamiHadawi, Palestinian Rights & Lossesin 1948.A Comprehensive Study.Part V: An EconomicAssessment of Total Palestinian Losseswritten by Dr. Atef [sic] Kubursi (London: Saqi Books, 1988),pp. I I 3, 187;CZA 2;611995, "Valuation of AbandonedArab Land in Israel"; U.N. document NAC.25|W.84, "Working PaperPrepared the by Commission'sLand Expert on the Methodsand Techniques Identificationand Valuationof Arab Refugee of ImmoveablePropertyHoldings in Israel" (28 April 196$; United Nations Secretariat Archives [I-INSA] DAG-13-3, L|NCCP.Subgroup: Principal Secretary. Series: RecordsRelatingto the TechnicalOffice/Box 1611952-57lLand IdentificationProjecVJarvis Report;document:NAC.25lW.83, "Initial Reportof the Commission'sLand Expert on the Methods and Techniques Identificationand Valuation of Arab RefugeeImmoveableProperfyHoldings in of Israel"(15 September 1961);ibid, document:NAC.25/W.83ADDl, "Initial Reportof the Commission's Land Expert on the Methods and Techniquesof Identification and Valuation of Arab RefugeeImmoveableProperfy Holdingsin Israel"(10 September 1961)

Various figures also have emergedover the years about the value of moveablerefugeeproperty losses, including personalgoods,householdfurniture,and capitalgoods.In 1951,the LINCCP's JohnM. Berncastledeterminedas part of the UNCCP's Global Estimate(seebelow) that abandoned moveable propertytotaledapproximately$80,600,000 1947-1948 in dollars.n 1961,the LTNCCP's In Frank Jarvis secretlydevelopedthree estimatesof such lossesas part of the UNCCP's massiveTechnical Program(see below), eachbasedon a differentmethodologyand eachreflecting 1947-1948 dollars: $169,538,070; and $77,073,750.10In 1966,Syrian-borneconomist Yusif Sayighcameup with an estimate $70,122,000; (in of $453,375,000 1947-1948 dollars)for abandoned refugeecapitalgoodsand moveableprop.try.tt United Nations Efforts to Deal with the Property Question The first U.N. efforts to deal with the refugeeproperfy issuecamewhen the GeneralAssembly adoptedResolution186 (S-2) of 14 May 1948,which created positionof a Mediator for Palestine. the The Security Council choseas Mediator Folke Bernadotte.The plight of the refugeesand their abandoned property soonbecameone of his major concerns. progress Bernadotte's reportto the GeneralAssemblyof l6 September 1948notedhis firm belief that Israel shouldallow the refugees return: to From the start, I held the firm view that, taking into considerationall the circumstances, right the of theserefugeesto return to their homes at the earliestpracticabledate should be established... It is, however, undeniablethat no settlementcan be just and completeif recognition is not accorded to the right of the Arab refugeeto return to the home from which he has been dislodgedby the hazardsand strategyof the armed conflict betweenArabs and Jews in Palestine... It would be an offence againstthe principles of elementaljustice if theseinnocentvictims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrantsflow into Palestine,and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanentreplacementof the Arab refugeeswho have beenrooted in the land for centuries.l2 Regardingthe refugees'properfy,he noted: There have been numerousreports from reliable sourcesof large-scalelooting and plundering, and of instancesof destructionof villages without military necessity.The liabilify of the Provisional Governmentof Israel to restoreprivate property to its Arab owners and to indemniff those owners for property wantonly destroyedis clear irrespectiveof any indemnitieswith the ProvisionalGovernment mav claim from the Arab States.l3 Jewish militants assassinated Bernadottethe very next day, and he was replacedby Ralph Bunche. Severalmonthsafter Bernadotte's murder,the GeneralAssemblyadoptedResolution194(III) of I 1 December1948,which calledfor refugeerepatriationand propertycompensation, thus raisingthese issues the level of international to discourse. Paragraph 1 of 194 (III) states I that the GeneralAssembly: Resolvesthat the refugeeswishing to return to their homesand live at peacewith their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliestpracticabledate,and that compensationshould be paid for the properfy of thosechoosingnot to return and for the loss of or damageto properfy which, under principles of internationallaw or in equity, should be made good by the Governmentsor authoritiesresponsible. Paragraph11 is instructive on severalpoints. First, it indicatesthat the GeneralAssembly elevatedrefugeerepatriationand properfy compensationfrom a matter for the belligerent partiesto work

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linked out, to a formal call from the internationalcommunity. Second,the fnst clausein the sentence for refugeesshould either be allowed to go home, or be compensated their repatriationand compensation: 11 is silent about whether Israel must restitute(give properly if they chosenot to. Paragraph abandoned "refurn to their homes" (note: it back) any confiscatedproperfy to returning refugees,althoughthe phrase does say "return to their country") implies restifution at leastof their actual homes.The secondand refugeesfor properfy lossesand lengthier clausein Paragraph11, moreover, calls for compensating "international law" or "equity" (a damageinflicted by governmentsor authoritiesthat go against referenceto damageinflicted outside of normal military operationswithout referenceto whetherthis applied to returning or non-returningrefugees).Does this meanthat in addition to non-returningrefugees, even returning refugeeswere entitled to compensation(for illegal war damages)? by The UNCCP, established the sameresolutionto implementits provisions(seebelow), said yes. It offered its interpretationof what the secondclausemeant in a backgroundpaper entitled "Returning Refugeesand the Question of Compensation"it drew up in February 1950:that compensation and to repatriatedrefugeeswho should be paid both for the property abandonedin Israel by non-returnees The paper returnedto find that their property had been looted or destroyedwithout military necessity. statedthat repatriatedrefugeeswho returnedto find that their property had been damagedor destroyed This during the cours of normal milttary operations,however,were not eligible for compensation.la e reportsof wide-scalelooting to clausein Resolution194 (III) seems have beenwritten with Bernadotte's and destructionof Arab property in Israel in mind. The paragraphis silent, however, about returning refugeeswho find that Israel had confiscatedtheir property, and whetherthe Jewish stateowed them in compensation suchcases. Conciliation ResolutionI94 (III) did somethingelseas well. It createda three-member Commission to take over the role of the Mediator. In addition to this, the resolution chargedthe new body and compensation. The resolution: 11's specificcall for refugeerepatriation with carrying out Paragraph lnstructs the Conciliation Commissionto facilitate the repatriation,resettlementand economic and to maintain close and social rehabilitation of the refugeesand the paymentof compensation, relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for PalestineRefugeesand, through him, with the appropriateorgansand agenciesof the United Nations; Three nations were appointedas membersof the new commission,France,Turkey, and the United States who were assisted their tasksby U.N. in of America. They posteddiplomatsto the commission, one month later, in January 1949. The I-INCCPcommencedfunctioning from Jerusalem bureaucrats. of conciliation meetingswith representatives Israel and the Arabs TINCCP officials held separate that and later brought the partiestogetherin Lausannefor a conference in the Middle East in early 1949, lastedfrom 27 April to 12 September1949 but that failed to bring about peace.The conferencealso failed on to make political progress the refugeeissuegenerally,and the propertyquestionspecifically.The (30 efforts at the GenevaConference Januarythrough 15 July 1950)and the LINCCP's later peacemaking (13 September through 19 November 1951)also failed. The GeneralAssemblythen ParisConference concerned that "the governments adoptedResolution512(VI) on 26lanuary 1952,which recognized primary responsibilityfor reachinga settlement their outstanding of [i.e., not the U.N.] havethe differencesin conformity with the resolutionsof the GeneralAssembly on Palestine."Neither the I-INCCP nor any other party has made any seriousprogresson the refugeeproperfy issuein the years since. instead After Paris,the UNCCP effectively abandonedits conciliation efforts and concentrated "facilitate the repatriation,resettlementand to almost exclusively on more limited, focusedmeasures as and the paymentof compensation" called for in of economicand socialrehabilitation the refugees

8 Resolution 194 GID. Among these efforts were two studiesof the scopeand value of the refugeeproperfy. The IINCCP issuedits Global Estimateof the refugees' lossesin August 1951,and later carried out a much more thorough reckoning of Arab property in Israel from 1953-1964calledthe Technical Program. Both intendedto provide concretefigures for potential diplomatic use (seefigures on refugeeproperty in the table above).This secondstudy remainsthe most detailed and accuratestudy to date on this question. beginning in 1952by which Israel returnedfrozen bank The UNCCP also brokeredthree arrangements accountsand items in safe deposit boxes to their refugeeQwners. The commission essentiallyceasedfunctioning in 1966,although it technically still exists.The recordsof its massiveTechnical Program,detailing ownership of over 458,000 individual parcelsof land Archives in New that were owned by Arabs as of 14May 1948,remain locked in the U.N. Secretariat york.rs Despite the demise of the IJNCCP and the lack of progresson the refugeeproperty issue,the U.N. in GeneralAssemblyover the yearshas continuedto issueresolutions supportof the refugees'property still passed Resolution36l146C affirming that the refugees rights. On l6 December1981,the assembly title to their land, in spite of Israel'sconfiscationlegislation.The resolutionalso called on retainedlegal to the UNCCP and the Secretary-General protect and administerthe property on behalf of its refugee owners. It read in part: Considering thatthe PalestinianArab refugeesare entitled to their property and to the income derived from their property in conformity with the principles ofjustice and equity, Recolling,in particular,its resolution394 (V) of 14 December1950,in which it directedthe United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine,in consultationwith the parties for concerned,to prescribemeasures the protection of the rights, property and interestsof the PalestinianArab refugees, Taking note of the completion of the programmeof identification and evaluationof Arab properfy, as announcedby the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestinein its twenty-secondprogressreport, of 27 May 1964,and that the Land Office has a scheduleof Arab owners and file of documentsdefining the location, areaand other particularsof Arab property, to the Requests Secretary-General take all appropriatesteps,in consultationwith the United l. for Palestine,for the protection and administrationof Arab Nations Conciliation Commission and properfy rights in Israel, and to establisha fund for the receipt of income property, assets derivedtherefrom,on behalf of their rightful owners... The GeneralAssembly has reenactedresolutionscalling for creation of property fund for a number of just weeksafter of n yearssincethen,the most recentbeing Resolutio 621105 17 December2007,passed at peaceprocess the Annapolis Summit.That resolutionalso calls on resumptionof the Israeli-Palestinian to Israeli and Palestinianpeacemakers exert efforts to deal with the properly issue.It: (Irges the Palestinianand Israeli sides,as agreedbetweenthem, to deal with the important issue of Palestinerefugees' propertiesand their revenueswithin the framework of the final status of negotiations the Middle East peaceprocess... Finally, it is worth noting that the U.N., in conjunction with the PalestineLiberation Organization Archives and createda (PLO), scannedthousandsof UNCCP recordsin the U.N. Secretariat propertydata.The GeneralAssembly'sResolution51/129of 13 of computerizeddatabase Palestinian "preservation and modernization"of the IINCCP's calling for the December1996includedlanguage People Exerciseof the InalienableRights of the Palestinian The U.N.'s Committeeon the records. The computerprogram, copies of which thereaftercoordinatedthe project, which lastedfrom 1991-2000.

9
are held by the Secretariat Archives and the Office of the PermanentObserverof Palestineto the U.N. in New York, also revealedsomemistakesin the Technical Program's original 1964estimates, ffid therefore offer more accuratestatisticson the scopeand value of refugeelosses. RefugeeProperty and the Israeli-PalestinianPeaceProcessSince 1993 The Oslo Accord signedby Israel and the PLO in August L993set the stagefor the first about the refugeeproperfy to take place sincethe 1950s.The question significant diplomatic discussions was broachedmost significantly at two peaceconferences the first decadeof the twenty first century, in both of which ultimately failed to reach a final peacefulsettlementto the conflict. The first of thesewas the Camp David II summit called by U.S. PresidentBill Clinton in July 2000. Going into the summit, the official, public PLO negotiatingposition called for property restitution,not compensation. This policy noted: Moreover, real properly owned by the refugeesat the time of their expulsionshould be restoredto its lawful Palestinianowners or their successors. Internationallaw regardsprivate ownership as sacrosanct. Accordingly, the various discriminatory laws and administrativeschemes, notably the AbsenteeProperfy Law, enactedby the Israeli authoritiessince 1948to seizethe properfy of the refugeesand transfer it to the stateof Israel, its agencies,or to the handsof Jewish individuals must be repealedand the seizedproperty should be restoredwhetherthe refugeechooses return to or not.16 compensation, restitution. It proposedcreationof an not At the summit, however, Israel discussed international forum to deal with property compensation claims from all sidesin the conflict, including the refugees.However, PLO negotiatorsinitially rejectedthe idea. Clinton later claimed, however,that the did an Palestinians express "interest" in the idea.17 After the failure at Camp David, Israeli and Palestiniannegotiatorslater met again at Taba, Egypt, in late January 200I. According to publishedaccountsof the negotiations,the two sidescame as close as they ever have to reachinga peacedeal. The talks included seriousdiscussions the refugee of property issue.rtPLO negotiatorsoffered a detailedproposal outlining three overall approaches refugee to property: restitution of the land of repatriatedrefugees,compensationfor abandoned movable property for for repatriatedrefugees,and compensation both land and movable property for non-returningrefugees.[n "impossible, impractical or inequitable"to restituteland to the repatriates, caseswhere it would be the PLO position called for Israelto give them other land in Israel.This position,then,did not call for restitution of legal title to the land of the majority of the refugees,that is, those who would not be Th. Israelis continuedto reject property restitution, and offered a written response the returning.tn to Palestinianposition that once again proposedcreationof an internationalfund and an international commissionfor handlingcompensation claims. The breakdownof the peaceprocess from 2001until its resumptionat the AnnapolisSummit in November 2007 has kept the refugeeproperfy questionin continuedabeyance. With the commemoration in 2008 of sixty yearssincethe refugees'exodusand their properfylosses, wide-scale property compensationand/or restitution still has not occurred. Conclusion The 1948 lrab-Israeli war shattered PalestinianArab society and led to wide-scalePalestinian dispossession. war madeapproximately The 750,000Palestinians one-halfof all of Palestine's Arabs, and eighty percent of the Arabs living in the areasof Palestinethat becameIsrael - refugeesliving outside their homes,and in someinstances, outsidePalestine altogether. Israelrefusedlarge-scale refugee

10
repatriation,and confiscatedthe substantiallanded and moveableproperty abandoned the refugees by during their flight. Despite the early efforts of the United Nations Mediator for Palestineand the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine,the U.N. was unableto make political progresstoward large-scalerefugeereturn and property compensationand/or restitution.To date,the bilateral IsraeliPalestiniannegotiationsbegun in 1993 have not yielded progresson the questioneither. It is not within the purposesof this paperto offer practical solutionsto this problem, or propose guidelines for future peacetalks. But it offers a warning: failure to take full considerationof the various dimensionsof the refugeeproblem, including the question of property lossesand will be detrimentalto any lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite compensation/restitution, passage time and the changingof circumstances, essence the refugeeproblem remainsthe the the of of same.Negotiators would do well to considerthe full ramifications of this fact when proposing lasting peaceproposals, elsesuchefforts will be doomedto failure. or

t This paper is basedon the author's books Records of Dispossession: PalestinianRefugeeProperty and the ArabIsraeli Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press,2003), and The PeaceProcessand Palestinian Refugee Claims: Addressing Claimsfor Property Compensationand Restitution (Washington:United StatesInstitute of PeacePress.2006). More detailedinformation about the various subjectsbroachedin this paper can be found in thesetwo works. t Arnon Golan, "The Transferto JewishControl of AbandonedArab Lands during the War of Independence," S. in (Albany, N.Y.: StateUniversity of New Ilan Troen and Noah Lucas, eds.,Israel: The First Decade of Independence Yor k P r es s , 1995 )p p .4 l 7 -4 1 8 . 3 Israeli Minister of Finance Ell' ezer Kaplan statedas much to the Knesset,Israel's legislature in 1949. Joseph , The Problem (New York: Philosophical Library, 1952),p. 93. Schechtman, Arab Refugee o pp. Recordsof Dispossession, 53-58 for details. SeeFischbach,

t Ibid, pp. 58- 68. u Zvi Zinger fZvi Yaron], "State of Israel (1948-72)," Immigration and Settlemenr. The Israel Pocket Liberary (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House,1973),p. 159. t Don Peretz, Israel and the Palestine Arabs (Washington:Middle East Institute,1958),p. 143. t n pp. of Seea discussion the variousfiguresin Fischbach, Recordsof Dispossession, 3-5, 14-15.

U.N. document AlAC.}11W.81/Rev. "Historical Surveyof Efforts of the United Nations Conciliation 2, Commissionfor Palestine Secure Implementation Paragraph of GeneralAssemblyResolution194 (III)" to the of 11 (2 October 1961),secs.94, 95. Most public U.N. documents relatedto Palestine and the Arab-Israeliconflict can be found on a web site majntainedby the U.N.'s Division for Palestinian Rights: http://domino.un.orgAJNISPAL.NSF ?OpenDatabase.

11

United Nations SecretariatArchives [hereafter,UNSA] DAG l3-3,UNCCP. Subgroup:Principal Secretary. Papers;document:"Discussionof the Series: RecordsRelatingto CompensationlBox20ll96l-64lBackground Value of Movable Property"(December196l), App. I, II, III. 1rYusuf Sayigh, al-Iqtisad al-Isra'iti fThe Israeli Economy] (Cairo: Leagueof Arab States,Institute for Higher p A r ab S t udies1 9 6 6 ), p . 1 0 8 -1 0 . , 1 i2 Bernadotte's 1948). report is containedin U.N. document N648 (16 September t'Ibid. to RecordsRelatingto Compensation/Box Principal Secretary. Series: LTNSADAG-13-3, LTNCCP. Subgroup: "ReturningRefugees and the document:W136, l8/1948-51/ BackgroundInformationRelatingto Compensation; (7 February1950). of Question Compensation" tt p. for SeeFischbach Recordsof Dispossession details,especially 339. ,

to

'u This policy formerly was postedon the web site of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. SeeFischbach Recordsof Dispossession,and The PeaceProcessand Palestinian RefugeeClaims, for more , details. '* I bid. tt

lePalestinianProposal Studies3l,2 (Winter 2002):145148. onPalestinianRefugees, inJournal of Palestine cited