Closing the Gaps: from Protection to Durable Solutions for Palestinian Refugees.


Participants: Mohamed Khaled El Azaar, Abdallah El Hourani, Dr. Shafik El Masri, Abdel Kader Yassin, Dr. Susan Akram, Ingrid Garadat, Terri Rimbel, Dr. Mohamed Sayid Said, Dr. Gaber Sulaiman, Dr. Laila Khalil, Jeffy Handmaker, Dr. Amal Yaacoub.

On 6-7 March 2004, ACPSS and Al Badil Center (Ramallah) held a workshop on Palestinian refugees at Al Ahram in which a number of legal experts and politicians from the Arab World, Europe and the US participated. Participants pointed to the missing role of international law in the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and the prevalence of political factors over legal ones. The framework of the negotiations has gone as far as considering resolution 194 as an unrealistic and impractical solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees. And while the plight of Palestinian refugees has received increased attention in recent year this attention has not been sufficient.
It was also noted that the performance of Arab countries when it comes to the question of refugees-including Palestinian refugees-has not lived up to international standards, or even to Arab and Islamic norms and traditions. The Arab Refugee convention drafted in the mid seventies has led to improvements on this front and has led to increased attention by governments and non-governmental organizations in the region to the question of refugees but has not done enough to improve the plight of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries.
Participants agreed that more needs to be done to address loopholes in international refugee laws and to unify strategies and mechanisms for protecting refugees in host countries. They also agreed that greater linkages have to be created between UNRWA and Palestinian NGOs on the one hand and NGOs in host countries on the other in order to identity the weakness of international refugee laws and to pressure policy makers and political parties to find better ways to protect Palestinian refugees. Participants also emphasized the need for special legislations in line with international treaties and agreements to regulate the status of Palestinian refugees in host countries especially in Lebanon