“right of return”

No refugees in modern history have been granted a collective “right of return” as a legally enforceable entitlement, especially after 76 years—now spanning three generations—particularly when their own leaders instigated the crisis. The Palestinian case, rooted in 1948, is unique in its persistence, driven by Arab rejectionism rather than international precedent.

• Over 40 million people became refugees of wars and revolutions between 1945 and 1958.  The international community did not demand a “right of return” for them, but rather resettled them in other countries.

• The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2010 that it could not uphold a right of return or “impose an unconditional obligation on a Government… for the rehousing of potentially large numbers [of people].”

• Arab and Palestinian leaders were primarily responsible for the Palestinian refugee crisis, because they rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan and unleashed a war to destroy the Jewish state instead.

UN Resolutions 194 and 237 do not give Palestinian refugees a “right of return” to Israel.

• United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 was rejected by Arab states and is not legally binding.

• Resolution 194 recommended “resettlement” or “repatriation” of the refugees, similar to the treatment of other refugees in the post-World War II period. It did not mention a “right of return.” 

• Resolution 194 recommended that Palestinian refugees be permitted to return only if they wished to live at peace with their neighbors. Since 1948 Palestinian and Arab leaders have made it clear they do not intend to live in peace by launching numerous wars and terrorist campaigns against Israel.

   

• Resolution 237 referred only to the West Bank and Gaza, not Israel. In 1993 Israelis and Palestinians agreed that the admission of persons displaced in 1967 would be negotiated as part of a final peace treaty.