http://www.fmreview.org The August 2006 Issue of Forced Migration Review focuses on Palestinian Displacement: A Case Apart.
It was planned long before the humanitarian crisis which has displaced 20% of the Lebanese population.
Articles look beyond the current events to what most international observers regard as the root causes of conflict and displacement in the Middle East. The first article Lebanon: Civilians Pay the Price looks at the latest refugee crisis. There is also an article about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Background information is provided by Terry Rempel author of Who Are Palestinian Refugees? The ongoing plight of Gazans in Jordan is discussed by Oroub el Abed. Gabriela Wengert and Michelle Alfaro ask whether the Palestinians in Iraq can find protection. The plight of the Bedouin in Negev is described by Kathrin Koeller.
In the introduction to the 72-page issue, brilliantly illustrated with colour photographs, editors Marion Couldrey and Tim Morris point out that the great majority of the seven million Palestinian refugees still live within 100km of the borders of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip where their homes of origin are located.
They are refugees because Israel – committed to a permanent Jewish majority and granting citizenship to any member of the Jewish diaspora – denies Palestinians their basic human right to return to their homes of origin.
Palestinians may be the world’s largest refugee population, yet hardly any of
them register on the global refugee tally kept by UNHCR as their initial displacement
predates the 1951 Geneva Convention and the establishment of the refugee agency.
The fact that the Palestinian refugee crisis continues to fester represents perhaps
the gravest failure of the UN since its foundation. The international community
has not exerted sufficient political will to advance durable solutions consistent
with international law and Security Council resolutions requiring Israel to withdraw
from occupied Palestinian territory.
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