Compensation Position Paper Compensation as Part of a Comprehensive Solution
to the Palestinian Refugee Problem
By Daoud Barakat
More than 51 years have elapsed since the Nakba,
which had lead to the creation of the Palestinian
refugees problem with the evacuation and expulsion
of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their
homeland, but thus far no progress has been made regarding
the implementation of UN Resolution 194.
The Declaration of Principles between the PLO and
Israel has called for negotiating the issue of the
Palestinian refugees within the framework of the final
status negotiations that were supposed to begin in
May 1996. Although final status negotiations started
symbolically in May that year, absolutely no progress
was made during the past three years due to the intransigence
of the former Israeli government. It is believed that
the outcome of the recent Israeli elections and the
composition of a new Israeli government would contribute
to resumption of the peace process and the final status
negotiations; hence, the timing of this workshop seems
to be appropriate and its deliberations may provide
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators with creative
ideas concerning the resolution of the complex issue
of the refugees in general, and compensation in particular.
Compensation to Palestinian refugees in an integral
component of the just and comprehensive solution of
the Palestinian refugees issue. However, in spite
of its importance, it is merely one component of the
solution. The title of this workshop gives an accurate
description of compensation as an element of the just
and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian refugees
issue.
In order to do so, two very basic issues must be
agreed upon before any substantial discussion of the
issue of compensation. These are the issues of the
Definition of the Refugee and the Right of Return.
Academicians, researchers, policy makers and negotiators
have been debating these two issues since the outset
of the peace process, and even since the creation
of the refugees problem, but there is still controversy
over them. It is neither the time nor the place to
reopen the debate over these two issues, but it must
be emphasized that discussion of the issue of compensation
is built on the assumption that these two issues has
to be agreed upon first. In fact, substantive progress
regarding reaching a formula in accordance with which
Palestinian refugees can be compensated cannot be
made without an agreement over these two issues.
Yet this must not prevent us from starting to think
about the various
elements that comprise the issue of compensation and
to allocate the required financial resources, which
will be enormous. Among the questions to be answered:
How many refugees deserve compensation? How to calculate
the size of compensation? How to evaluate and value
claims and losses? Where should the money come from?
Etc.
In order for the calculation of compensation to
be acceptable, it must be based on the calculation
of individual losses because if refugees receive the
true values of losses incurred they will have a feeling
that justice is being served to them. Recent advances
in the field of statistical economics and modeling
have made it possible to obtain considerably accurate
and easily calculable estimates of individual losses.
Moreover, compensation must tackle the issues of lost
property and the historical injustice that created
the refugees issue, which also includes reparation
for the delayed implementation of Resolution 194.
Another important point to affirm here is that the
allocation of financial resources must be the duty
of those who create this problem and those who seek
to solve it permanently.
Moreover, it is important to give answers and guarantees
concerning the availability of financial resources
for compensating the refugees before the conclusion
of any agreement. Such guarantees must be provided
by Israel and the parties that supervise the peace
process and the implementation of concluded agreements;
otherwise, what is the use of reaching an agreement
that admits that the refugees have rights but cannot
guarantee if and when they will gain these rights.
To summarize:
- Palestinian refugees are entitled to compensation
in accordance with UN resolutions. However, the
rights of the refugees are not restricted to the
right to compensation and cannot be undermined by
it.
- Israel shoulders the core responsibility for
allocating the financial resources for an international
fund to be established for compensating the refugees.
This fund should be administered by a UN body similar
to the one that administered claims in the Gulf
War.
- Compensation to Palestinian refugees must not
be linked to the issue of compensation to Jewish
refugees from Arab countries. Such issues must be
raised in bilateral levels with the countries concerned.
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