There Is No International Law Demanding a Palestinian ‘Right of Return’

The so-called “right of return” has been a fundamental Palestinian demand ever since the initial effort to eliminate the nascent state of Israel failed 76 years ago.

In recent days, however, the Associated Press (AP) upgraded the unfulfilled aspiration into international law.

In their Oct. 31 article, “Banning UNRWA will lead to a vacuum and more suffering for Palestinians, the agency’s chief says,” AP’s Baraa Anwer and Sara El Deeb invented: “International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return to their homes.”

An Oct. 29 AP article by Joseph Krauss, Julia Frankel, and Melanie Lidman also erred, citing a non-existent Palestinian right under international law to return to their 1948 homes: “Palestinians say refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million, should be allowed to exercise their right under international law to return home” (“Israel approves two bills that could halt UNRWA’s aid delivery to Gaza . . .”)

In fact, there is nothing in international law which gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants “the right to return to their homes.”

The non-binding UN Resolution 194, passed by the United Nations General Assembly, does not “give” Palestinians “the right to return to their homes.” Moreover, its language — “should be permitted” — denotes a suggestion, not a guarantee. The section of the resolution dealing with refugees states:

RESOLVES that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours 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;

INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;

As CAMERA’s Alex Safian has previously detailed, the resolution conditions the return of refugees (Palestinian refugees are not specified, and therefore the resolution equally applies to Jewish refugees from Arab countries) on their willingness to “live at peace with their neighbors,” a condition that was not accepted by the Palestinian leadership or the vast majority of the refugees themselves who invoked Resolution 194.

Furthermore, the resolution placed repatriation, resettlement, and compensation on equal footing; meaning that return is one of several possible options.

Finally, the main part of the resolution called for the establishment of a Conciliation Commission, which convened in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1949. While both the Arab states and Israel attended, the former declined to negotiate directly with the Jewish State and rejected any agreements.

In the past, the AP has accurately reported that Palestinians demand a right of return, or that they believe they have a right of return.

Examples of accurate AP coverage careful not to misreport that Palestinians have a right of return include:

Aug. 29, 2024: “Palestinians believe they have the right to return to their pre-1948 homes.”

The post There Is No International Law Demanding a Palestinian ‘Right of Return’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.