Refugee short takes

UN RESOLUTION 194 was issued in December 1948 and has been ratified 135 times since then. Meant to end the war between Israel and the Arab world in 1948, Resolution 194 stipulates that refugees who wish to return "should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date", and compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return.

In May 2003 Israeli Tourism Minister Beni Elon proposed a solution based on the principle that "Jordan is Palestine". According to the proposal, Israel and Jordan would reach an agreement on the status of the Palestinians, and Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would become citizens of Jordan. Elon's plan calls for "exchanging populations" as a way of solving the refugee problem by settling them in Arab countries.

The first step in the plan would be to immediately dissolve the PA, followed by an international recognition of Jordan as the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

On 31 May 2003, Canada's prime minister offered to help in the resettlement of more than 3.5 million Palestinian refugees. A decision by Canada to take Palestinian refugees would presuppose that they would never be allowed to return to their former homes in the occupied territories and in Israel.

In 1964, the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) completed a major programme aimed at determining the size and value of Arab land in Israel in 1948.

UNCCP archived nearly 30 metres of documents behind locked doors at the UN secretariat offices in New York. To this day, special permission is required to view the documents. In 1999, the PLO Department of Palestinian Affairs approached the Jordanian Department of Lands and Survey to computerise 1948 Palestinian property records. In July 2001, the land department publicly announced the completion of the project. Neither the PLO nor the Jordanian government have allowed the public access to its database.

In June 2003, the US House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held its first hearing on Jewish refugees from Arab countries and the looting of their property. The purpose of the hearing was to place the subject of Jews from Arab countries on the agenda to counter the Palestinian demand of the right of return. At the hearing, the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress reiterated the group's position that there had been an exchange of populations between Israel and the Arab world. He referred to the initiative of former US President Bill Clinton at the July 2000 Camp David to establish an international fund to compensate the refugees on both sides.