The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem

The 1948 war ended in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their villages and homes. Israeli settlers moved in to occupy their land and the Palestinian refugees found themselves in camps, or in the neighbouring Arab countries. Today there are nearly four million Palestinian refugees - and they want the right to go home. Their problem is the greatest and most enduring refugee problem in the world. The aim of this book is to analyse Israeli policies towards the Palestinian refugees as they evolved from the 1948 catastrophe to the present, looking in detail at Israeli law and policy surrounding the refugee question. Drawing on primary sources and previously classified archive material, Masalha discusses the 1948 exodus; Israeli resettlement schemes since 1948; Israeli approaches to compensation and restitution of property; and Israeli refugee policies during the Madrid and Oslo negotiations. Masalha asks, what rights do Palestinians possess under international law? How can a refugee population be compensated, and will they ever be able to return to their homes? Masalha also questions the official Israeli position that the only solution to the problem is resettlement of the refugees in Arab states or elsewhere.