What is the claim of “return” for Palestinian refugees?
At the same time that the Palestinians are calling for a state of their own, they also demand a “right to return” to land inside the State of Israel’s pre-June 1967 lines. However, no such right exists under general international law, the relevant UN resolutions or the agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The immediate cause of the plight of Palestinian refugees was the Arab leadership’s rejection of UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 (which would have partitioned the British Mandate area into two states) and the war they then started in the hope of destroying Israel. During the hostilities, many Arabs abandoned their homes, whether following calls from Arab leaders to avoid hindering the progress of their advancing armies or out of fear. With few exceptions, almost all the Arabs who left did so voluntarily, ignoring Israel’s calls (including in its Declaration of Independence) to stay in Israel. Those who chose to remain in Israel after 1948 became Israeli citizen
