About BADIL  Established 1998; not-for-profit, Palestinian human rights organization;  Advancing a Rights-Based Solution: Empowering Rights Holders and Influencing Duty Bearers  Special Consultative status with UN since 2006 (ECOSOC)  Comprehensive rights-based approach founded in IHL, IHRL  Geographic Scope  Element of Time

Forcible Transfer under IHL  Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDP) 0 Refugees and Internally Displaced persons (IDP) 0 What constitutes “force”? 0 UNRWA and UNCCP

Displaced Palestinians (up to 2015)  66% of the Palestinian population are forcibly displaced persons million people total million are 1948 refugees (5.1 registered) million 1967 refugees 0 720,000 are IDPS (384,200 (Israel) + 334,600 (oPt))  Largest and longest standing refugee population in the world

Obstacles and Solutions: “Maximum Land with Minimum Palestinians” 1. Indigenous Population 2. Property Rights 3. Colonizing with the desired population

Obstacles and Solutions: “Maximum Land with Minimum Palestinians” 1. Indigenous Population 0 Zionism “…it must be clear that there is no room in the country for both people (...) the only solution is a Land of Israel, at least a western Land of Israel without Arabs. There is no room here for compromise. (...) There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries (...) Not one village must be left, not one (Bedouin) tribe.” [1] [1] [1] Benny Morris, 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians (Oxford University Press, 1994), p and Plan Dalet

Obstacles and Solutions: “Maximum Land with Minimum Palestinians” 2. Property Rights 0 Absentee Property Military Order (1948) 0 Absentee Property Law (1952) 0 “Present Absentee”

Obstacles and Solutions: “Maximum Land with Minimum Palestinians” 3. Colonizing with the desired population 0 Link between secular Zionism and Judaism 0 Law of Return

Policies of Silent Transfer (I) 1. Installment of a Permit Regime 2. Land confiscation and denial of use 3. Discriminatory zoning and planning 4. Denial of natural resources and access to services

Policies of Silent Transfer (II) 5. Oppression and Suppression of Resistance and Resilience 0 Collective Punishment & Punitive Practices 6. Non-state actions (with the implicit consent of the State) 0 Non-governmental Israeli Organizations (WZO & JNF) 0 Corporate Complicity 0 Settler/colonist violence

Policies of Silent Transfer (III) 7. Denial of Reparations 0 Prevention of Infiltration Law (1954) 8. Segregation 0 “Israeli” Nationality Law 9. Denial of Residency 0 Family Reunification

Israeli Regime of Forced Population Transfer, Colonization, and Apartheid Jewish Nationals Palestinians with Israeli Citizenship (includes IDPs) Jerusalem Residents West Bank ID Holders (includes refugees and IDPS in the West Bank) Gaza ID Holders (includes refugees in Gaza) Seam and Buffer Zone ID Holders Refugees in exile

Buffer and Seam Zones

Right of Return (I) Guaranteed by: 0 International & Regional Human Rights Law 0 International Humanitarian Law (IHL) 0 Law of Nationality and State Succession

Affirmation and Re-affirmation Of the Right of Return for Palestinians  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13(2) (1948) “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” (Article 13(2), 1948).  5 UN Resolutions: 181 (1947), 194 (1948), 237 & 242 (1967) 3236 (1974)  UN Resolution 194 (passed on 11 December 1948 and reaffirmed every year since): “…the [Palestinian] refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.” Right of Return (II)

Other applicable treaties 0 Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49 (1949) 0 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) 0 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 7(2002) 0 ICJ Advisory Opinion (2004) Right of Return (III)

Obligations of 3rd Party States:  Protect the rights of the Palestinian people, including the rights of the refugees and IDPs;  Condemn Israel's violations and ensure that it respects its legal obligations;  Not render aid and assistance to the unlawful acts committed by Israel, and  Ensure investigation of international crimes and gross human rights abuses, and prosecution and punishment of those found responsible.

Israeli Talking Points 0 Occupation 0 Israel’s right to self defense 0 Palestinian right to resist 0 Singling out Israel

Ongoing Nakba-Ongoing Resistance 0 Armed Resistance 0 Non-armed resistance 0 Popular Resistance 0 Civil disobedience 0 “Sumod” (to exist is to resist) 0 Legal Advocacy 0 BDS Standing here, staying here, permanent here, eternally here and we have one goal one, one: to be. Mahmoud Darwish

Questions?? Return is Our Right and Our Will

BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Bethlehem, Palestine