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Hostility between Israelis and Palestinians stems from conflicting claims of two groups to the same territory. The United Nations attempted to reconcile this tension in 1947 by partitioning the British-controlled Palestine into two independent nation-states. Palestinians rejected the partition plan, arguing that neither Jewish history nor the recent tragedy of the Holocaust invalidated Arabs' rights as legal residents of Palestine. In 1948, Jewish settlers declared an Israeli state, precipitating the first Arab-Israeli War. At this time, eighty-five percent of Palestinians who lived in what became Israel were driven out of their homes. Approximately one-third fled to the West Bank, another third to the Gaza Strip, and the remainder to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. 2 By 1950, about 914,000 Palestine refugees had abandoned their homes. 3 During the Six Day War in 1967, another 300,000 Palestinians fled from the West Bank and Gaza, to Jordan, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere. Of these, approximately 180,000 were first-time refugees ("displaced persons"), while the remainder were 1948 refugees uprooted for the second time. 4 Between four and five million Palestinians are refugees today. 5 Population density and unemployment rates within Palestine refugee camps are among the highest in the world, resulting in chronic poverty, overcrowding and a low standard of living. 6 1. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
2. Global Exchange 3. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 4. Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet 5. "Palestinian Refugees and the Permanent Status Negotiations," Washington, D.C.: Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, 1999), by Salman Abu-Sitta, Policy Brief Number 7. 6. Global Exchange |
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