Refugees | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel Passes Draconian Law on Illegal Immigrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - January 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's parliament approved harsh new penalties on illegal immigrants yesterday in an effort to stop mainly sub-Saharan Africans seeking refuge from conflict and poverty. Although the law stopped short of enacting some of the most draconian penalties sought by the government, it has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups. The law allows the state to imprison illegal migrants for life if they commit certain crimes and detain them and their children for three year terms simply for being caught entering Israel.

Israel prepares for fall of Assad, Syria refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis, Ari Rabinovitch - January 10, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Israel is making preparations for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a flood of refugees from his minority Alawite sect into the Golan Heights, Israel's military chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. "Assad cannot continue to hold onto power," a committee spokesman quoted Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz as saying. "On the day that the regime falls, it is expected to result in a blow to the Alawite sect. We are preparing to take in Alawite refugees on the Golan Heights."

Implementing a Negotiated Settlement on the Palestinian Refugee Question: The International Dimensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chatham House
by Leila Hilal - (Analysis) January 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Today there are an estimated six million Palestinian refugees. Resolving their plight has been a core part of the peace agenda in the Middle East since 1948. While considerable diplomatic effort in the past two decades has centred on reaching a bilateral Israeli–Palestinian permanent status agreement, implementing any such agreement will present an equally massive challenge.

Clashes in Lebanon refugee camp, one killed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 18, 2011 - 12:00am

AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Sporadic clashes broke out between armed factions in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday after the bodyguard of an official there was killed, a witness and security officials said. Fighters supporting the mainstream Fatah party clashed with gunmen suspected of belonging to extremist Islamist parties, shooting at each other and firing rocket propelled grenades in Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon. Armed clashes are common in the camp, which houses 50,000 refugees, and militant Islamists are known to operate there.

Israel's Palestinian refugee video racking up views, strong responses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 11, 2011 - 12:00am

A brief animated YouTube video recently released by the Foreign Ministry focusing on the Palestinian refugee issue has drawn tens of thousands of page views so far, as well as arousing strong pro and con sentiments. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon last week posted the five- and-half-minute long clip, entitled "Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Refugees." In it, he compares the disparity in treatment by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of Palestinian refugees, to that of other refugee groups which have been resettled in other areas.

Israel deputy FM: UNRWA 'morally, politically unacceptable'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 9, 2011 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's deputy foreign minister accused the UN agency for Palestinian refugees of perpetuating Palestine's conflict with Israel, in a speech at the UN refugee headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported. Calling UNRWA "morally and politically unacceptable," Danny Ayalon said the UN applied double standards by not resettling Palestinian refugees through its central body for refugees, UNCHR, and creating the separate Palestinian refugee agency.

UNRWA project breaks down stereotypes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Olivia Alabaster - (Analysis) October 11, 2011 - 11:00pm

Through increasing communication between young Lebanese and Palestinians, “Dignity for All,” a program organized by the U.N. Refugee and Works Agency, is hoping to combat the danger of stereotyping. En route to visit a refugee camp for the first time, Lebanese schoolchildren are asked how they view Palestinians, of which there are an estimated 400,000 in the country. Many answer that, “We know they are terrorists, and that they sell drugs.’”

Palestine statehood won’t cancel right of return
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Annie Slemrod - (Opinion) September 7, 2011 - 11:00pm

A successful statehood bid at the United Nations would not stand in the way of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees eventually exercising their right of return, Palestine’s Social Affairs Minister said Wednesday. In an interview with The Daily Star, Majeda al-Masri discussed some of the stickier aspects of the potential Palestinian state, and how it might affect the future of Lebanon’s approximately 400,000 Palestinian refugees.

Does the Palestinian UN bid threaten refugee rights?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Opinion) August 31, 2011 - 11:00pm

As the leadership in Ramallah prepares to approach the UN for membership in September, it is also fighting back charges that its initiative is shortsighted and even a threat to Palestinian refugees. Last week Ma'an published for the first time findings by an international law expert that the gambit could alter the PLO's status as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. The legal opinion, by Guy Goodwin-Gill of Oxford University, argued that the Diaspora could be left disenfranchised if this happened.

National reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Nermeen Murad - August 28, 2011 - 11:00pm

The underlying political current against reform in Jordan is closely tied to the continued ripple effects of the 1970 clash between Palestinian “resistance groups” and the Jordanian government. Unspoken is the fear that any relaxing of the restrictions on the security-driven containment of the Jordanians of Palestinian origin or refugee residents of camps in Jordan could recalibrate the tenuous political balance in the country and provide grounds for civil conflict.