Middle East Issues - Palestinian Refugees

Bob's Definition:
In 1948 (and 1967) Israeli troops invaded many Palestinian villages, forcing them to leave. These unfortunate folks took the clothes on their backs and their house keys and fled to other areas, expecting to return in a week or two. It's been over 50 years, they still hold their house keys, and they've never been allowed to return. Refugee camps were set up in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, but most live outside of camps now. The UN passed a resolution saying the refugees had the right to return, but Israel has never allowed it. What's remaining for these Palestinian families to return to? Probably not much. Their homes were either demolished or are now occupied by Israeli families. Still, I have talked to Palestinian refugees living in surrounding countries and universally their dream is to someday visit their home villages.

A Better Definition from Americans for Middle East Understanding:
Refugees. Individuals who flee from or are driven from their homes, especially in time of war, and are unable to return. The United Nations defines a Palestinian refugee as a person “whose normal residence was Palestine for a minimum of two years preceding the conflict in 1948, and who, as a result of this conflict, lost both his home and his means of livelihood and took refuge in 1948 in one of the countries where the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (U.N.R.W.A.) provides relief. Refugees within this definition and the direct descendants of such refugees are eligible for Agency assistance under certain circumstances. A total of 757,000 refugees were estimated in 1948 and several hundred thousand additional persons became refugees in 1967. By 1999, the U.N. had registered 3.5 million refugees living in camps or assimilated into the populations in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. In 1948, the United Nations recognized the right of all refugees to return to their homes (Resolution 194). Today, 33 percent of all Palestinian refugees live within 59 camps maintained by U.N.R.W.A. [www.badil.org]