At least 700,000 Arab refugees (See Israeli Map and Israeli Estimate), and more than 600,000 Jewish refugees (See Map and Israeli Estimate, were created during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which led to the founding of Israel. Jewish refugess from Arab lands immigrated to Israel, while Arab refugees were not able to find a replacement homeland and have remained in refugee camps up to the time of writing (See Map).
The Palestinians claim that the question of the Palestinian refugees is one of the world's largest and most enduring refugee disasters. Discussions on granting Palestinians right of return have yet to reach a definite conclusion.
Objections which have been raised by Israel include:
- The introduction of millions of non-Jewish refugees would likely lead to considerable demographic change within Israel, changing that state's character from a Jewish sectarian quasi-democratic state to a non-denominational Western-style democratic state. Such a demographic change would violate the Law of Political Parties (1992) [1], specifically provision 7a(1), which states:
- A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:
- (1) negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people
- Doubts as to whether Palestinian refugees are in fact refugees.
- The United Nations created a second definition of the term "refugee" in regards to Palestinian Arabs. For this group, an Arab is officially considered a Palestinian refugee even if that person had recently immigrated to the British mandate of Palestine in the last two years before 1948. By this definition, it is claimed, some of the Palestinians refugees actually were never Palestinians, but in fact were Arabs from outside Palestine. Many Israelis consider this redefinition of the term to be an act of anti-Zionism, aimed at weakening the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
- Palestinians claim that the bulk of Palestinian refugees had been inhabitants of Palestine for many generations, and the decision to consider Palestinians as any inhabitants since 1946 is purely administrative.
- Denial that Palestinians exist. For example:
- Theodore Herzl wrote in The Jewish State (ISBN 0486258491) of Palestine as "a land without a people"
- Israeli former Prime Minister Golda Meir said to Life magazine that "There is no such thing as Palestinians."
UN Resolution 194 was specifically enacted in order to protect the rights of Palestinian refugees, while the United Nations set up an agency, UNRWA, specifically to protect those Palestinian refugees until their situation is settled.
Further reading: