The
August 2006 issue includes a major feature on Palestinian
displacement. Twenty-eight articles by UN, Palestinian
and international human rights organisations, Palestinian scholars
in the diaspora and Jewish and Israeli activist groups examine
the root causes of the displacement of Palestinians, the consequences
of the failure to apply international humanitarian law in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory and Palestinian entitlement to
protection and compensation.
The
articles in this issue discuss how failure to address the Palestinian
refugee crisis represents perhaps the gravest shortcoming 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 Palestinian territory it occupied
in 1967. Durable solutions for displaced Palestinians have been
discussed without reference to the legal norms applied in other
refugee cases. Refugee rights, entitlements to compensation or
restitution and the rights to protection of those Palestinians
living under continued military occupation were not central to
the now-moribund Oslo peace process – nor are they part
of the subsequent US-sponsored ‘Performance-Based Roadmap
to a Permanent Two-State Solution’. Creeping annexation
continues unchecked. Upon completion of Israel’s Wall,
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be restricted
to a series of non-contiguous enclaves which constitute an eighth
of the area of historic Palestine. Despite pro-democracy rhetoric,
Western response to the internationally-validated Palestinian
legislative elections in January 2006 has sparked a politically-induced
crisis and crippled the Palestinian economy. Ordinary Palestinians
are suffering as donors freeze funding required to maintain humanitarian
assistance and development programmes.
This
issue is published in English, Arabic, French and
Spanish - and Hebrew. We hope it may improve understanding of Palestinian
displacement and would welcome your support in ensuring copies
reach policy- and opinion-makers in the United States, Europe
and the Middle East. If you are able to assist with distribution,
please email the editors.
We encourage
you to circulate or reproduce any of these articles in their entirety
but please ensure you cite this url: http://www.fmreview.org/palestine.htm
We would also be grateful if you could let us know if you do so.
