BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Press release, 12 June 2006 (E/16/06)
World Refugee Day
BADIL Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
In 2005, there were approximately 6.8 million Palestinian refugees and 400,000 internally displaced Palestinians representing 70 percent of the entire Palestinian population worldwide (9.7 million). The legal status of some 400,000 additional Palestinians is unclear, but they too are likely to be refugees. Palestinian refugees represent the longest protracted refugee situation worldwide [1]. Israel's denial of refugee return, combined with the lack of international political will to enforce international law and relevant UN resolutions and the absence of an effective protection regime continue to prevent durable solutions. New Palestinian refugees and IDPs are created by Israel's policies, in particular its illegal Wall under construction in the occupied West Bank (including eastern Jerusalem).
These and many more detailed findings about the current situation of Palestinian refugees and IDP are presented in the Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 2004-2005 released by BADIL on the occasion of World Refugee Day. The Survey is based on information released by UNWRA, UNHCR and a variety of other official and non-governmental sources [2].
Although most Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA (4.3 million) and/or with UNHCR (350,600), the lack of a systematic register for all Palestinian refugees continues to obstruct accurate assessment of the size and protection needs of this population. All data regarding internally displaced Palestinians are estimates as neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority or the United Nations are monitoring internal displacement in Israel and the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).
