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Records of
Dispossession - Palestinian Refugee Property
and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
by Michael R. Fischbach
No issue
in the Arab-Israeli conflict has proven
more intractable than the status of the
Palestinian refugees. This work focuses
on the controversial question of the property
left behind by the refugees during the first
Arab-Israeli war in 1948. Beyond discussing
the extent of the refugees' losses and detailing
the methods by which Israel expropriated
this property, the book also notes the ways
that the property question has affected,
and in turn been affected by, the wider
Arab-Israeli conflict over the decades.
It shows how the property question influenced
Arab-Israeli diplomacy and discusses the
implications of the fact that the question
remains unresolved despite numerous diplomatic
efforts.
From late
1947 through 1948, more than 726,000 Palestinians—over
half the entire population—were uprooted
from their homes and villages. Though some
middle class refugees were able to flee
with liquid capital, the majority were small-scale
farmers whose worldly fortunes were the
land, livestock, and crops they left behind.
This book tells for the first time the full
story of how much property changed hands,
what it was worth, and how it was used by
the fledgling state of Israel. It then traces
the subsequent decades of diplomatic activity
on the issue and publishes previously secret
UN estimates of the scope and value of the
refugee property. Michael Fischbach offers
a detailed study of Israeli counterclaims
for Jewish property lost in the Arab world,
diplomatic schemes for resolving the conflict,
secret compensation efforts, and the renewed
diplomatic efforts on behalf of property
claims since the onset of Arab-Israeli peace
talks.
Based largely
on archival records, including those of
the United Nations Conciliation Commission
of Palestine, never before available to
the public and kept under lock and key in
the UN archives, Records of Dispossession
is the first detailed historical examination
of the Palestinian refugee property question.
Contents
Refugee
Flight and Israeli Policies Toward Abandoned
Property
UNCCP's Early Activity on the Refugee Property
Question
Early Israeli Policies Affecting the Property
Question
Early Arab and International Policies Toward
the Property Question
UNCCP Technical Program
Follow Up to the Technical Program
Refugee Property Question After 1967
Conclusion
Appendix One: Comparison of Studies on the
Scope and Value of Refugee Property
Appendix Two: Chronology of Events Relating
to Refugee Property
About the
Author
Michael
R. Fischbach is professor of history at
Randolph-Macon College. He specializes in
land issues relating to Israel, Jordan,
and the Palestinians and is the author of
State, Society, and Land in Jordan.
Awards &
Reviews
Benjamin L. Hooks Outstanding
Book Award Honorable mention
"The
book will undoubtedly figure in discussions
of the Palestinians' 'right of return.'"
—Publishers Weekly
"[Fischbach]
presents the most detailed and extensive
discussion of the issues related to Palestinian
refugee property available to the public
to date ... The volume is an important guide
to primary data and is itself a source of
previously unpublished information concerning
Palestinian refugee property and the compensation
issue."
—Don Peretz, Middle East Journal
Related Links
The
Impact of Return on Compensation for Palestinian
Refugees
Do
Israeli Rights ConflictwiththePalestinian
Right of Return? Identifying Possible Legal
Arguments
Palestinian
Refugee Rights: Part Two — Israel’s
Legal Maneuvers
Electronic
Intifada - Refugee section
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