1) Over 6.7 million Palestinians are currently displaced persons, constituting the largest and longest-running refugee population in the world. This includes those displaced in 1948 and 1967 from what is now Israel. 2) The 1948 displacement, known as the Nakba, involved the forced transfer of indigenous Palestinians from their homes and implementation of laws denying their right to return. This displacement and denial of return continues today through practices like land confiscation and a permit regime. 3) International law affirms the Palestinian right of return, as outlined in numerous UN resolutions and treaties like the Fourth Geneva Convention. Reparations for the injustices suffered are also obligated under international law and principles of equity.

3. The Legal Terminology
0 Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
0 What constitutes “force”?
0 Traditional force
0 Coercive environment
0 UNRWA and UNCCP
0 The protection gap

4. Displaced Palestinians (up to 2018)
0 66% of the Palestinian population are forcibly displaced
persons
0 8.7 million people total
0 6.7 million are 1948 refugees (5.55 registered)
0 1.24 million 1967 refugees
0 At least 760,475 are IDPS (415,876 (Israel) + 344,599 (oPt))
0 The largest refugee population and the most protracted
displaced population in the world

5. The Nakba
0 1948 and Plan Dalet
“…it must be clear that there is no room in the
country for both people (...) the only solution is a
Land of Israel, at least a western Land of Israel
without Arabs. There is no room here for
compromise. (...) There is no way but to transfer
the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries
(...) Not one village must be left, not one
(Bedouin) tribe.” [1]
[1] Benny Morris, 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians (Oxford University
Press, 1994), p. 121.
0 Creation of Israeli laws
0 Absentee property laws
0 Law of Return

6. The Ongoing Nakba
1. Installment of a Permit Regime
2. Land confiscation and denial of use
3. Discriminatory zoning and planning
4. Denial of access to natural resources and services
5. Suppression of Resistance
6. Non-state actions (with the implicit consent of the State)
7. Denial of Reparations
0 Prevention of Infiltration Law (1954)
8. Segregation
0 “Israeli” Nationality Law
9. Denial of Residency

7. Israeli Apartheid
Jewish
Nationals
Palestinians
with Israeli
Citizenship
Jerusalem Residents
West Bank ID Holders
Gaza ID Holders
Palestinian Refugees in Palestine and Abroad

8. Israeli Crimes
0Population Transfers
0 Forced displacement and transfer
0Indigenous Palestinian population
0Direct and indirect force
0 Colonization
0Implantation of settler-colonial population
0De facto and de jure annexation
0Changing the demographic composition
0Denial of self-determination
0 Apartheid

9. Articles on Responsibility of States for
Internationally Wrongful Acts (2001)
0 Positive Duty: Cooperate to bring to an end through
lawful means any serious breach
0 Negative Duty: Non-recognition that includes the
cessation of aid and assistance in maintaining an
illegal situation

10. Right of Return (I)
Guaranteed by:
0International & Regional Human Rights Law
0International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
0Law of Nationality and State Succession
0Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13(2)
(1948)
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his
country.” (Article 13(2), 1948).

11. Affirmation and Re-affirmation Of the Right of Return for Palestinians
05 UN Resolutions: 181 (1947), 194 (1948), 237 &
242 (1967) 3236 (1974)
UN Resolution 194 (passed on 11 December 1948 and reaffirmed
every year since):
“…the [Palestinian] refugees wishing to return to their homes and live
at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the
earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for
the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or
damage to property which, under principles of international law or in
equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities
responsible.”
Right of Return (II)

12. Other applicable treaties
0Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49 (1949)
0International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966)
0Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, Article 7(2002)
0ICJ Advisory Opinion (2004)
Right of Return (III)

13. Obligation for Reparations
0 “It is a principle of international law, and even a
general conception of law, that any breach of an
engagement invokes the obligation to reparation.”
0 “. . . reparations must, as far as possible, wipe out all
the consequences of the illegal act and re-establish
the situation which would in all probability, have
existed if the act had not been committed.”
0 “the principle right victims are entitled to under
international law is the right to effective remedies and
just reparations.”

14. Ongoing Nakba-Ongoing Resistance
0 Armed Resistance
0 Non-armed resistance
0 Popular Resistance
0 Civil disobedience
0 “Sumod” (to exist is to resist)
0 Legal Advocacy
0 BDS
Standing here, staying here,
permanent here, eternally
here and we have one goal
one, one: to be.
Mahmoud Darwish

15. Why Reparations?
0Deterrence
0Principle of equity
0Dignity
0Reduced financial burdens
0Reconciliation

16. Reparations in Principle
0Reparations =>restoration as much as
possible to what was
0 Voluntary Repatriation => return
0 Property Restitution => reclamation of original
property lost
0 Compensation => monetary or other property
0 Satisfaction including guarantees of non-repetition

17. Reparations in Practice
0 Detailed political agreements that:
0 Ensure Individual Rights
0 Repeal discriminatory legislation with an enforcement
mechanism
0 Participation of rights-holders (victims, refugees and
internally displaced persons)
0 International support and political backing
0 Comprehensive legislation framework with review
mechanism
0 A system of return and restitution grounded in the rule of
law
0 Restitution favored over pure compensation

18. Challenges
0 Self-Determination
0 Property Restitution vs Secondary Occupants
0 Security and Stability

19. Self-Determination
0 A collective right that is a framework to facilitate
other rights
0 Does not sanction or require the division of states
0 Satisfied through democratic self-government within
a pre-existing territory
0 Never a license for artificially changing demographic
composition or privileging the rights of one
ethnic/religious group over another

20. Property Restitution vs.
Secondary Occupants
0 Palestinian refugees and IDPs as victims of a
discriminatory land regime (state sponsored) have a
right to restitution (from Israel)
0 The means by which the land was acquired is
important
0 2˚ occupant rights would not block refugee return
0 Not all property rights are equal

21. Security and Stability
0 Addressing the root causes:
0 End ongoing forcible transfer, colonization and
Apartheid
0 Colonization in all its forms: structural, economic,
political, cultural
0 Security and stability are important concerns in
deciding how not if to implement reparation
0 Durable and just solution/s must be consistent with
international law and the requirements of sustainable
stability.

22. Recommendations
0 Justice with stability
0 Rights holders participation
0 Reparation must be organized and systematic
0 Extensive reconciliation efforts
0 Preparation for reparations could and should begin
before political agreements

23. What now?
0 Extensive awareness and education campaigns
0 Principles and Practicalities of Return
0 Return and restitution models
0 Past and present HRVs and crimes
0 Determine the characteristics of durable solutions and
sustainable peace
0 Lobby and advocate for measures to end impunity and
ensure accountability

24. Questions??
Return is Our Right
and Our Will