United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 was adopted on December 11, 1948, near the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Resolution defined principles for reaching a final settlement and returning Palestine refugees to their homes. It resolved that “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 equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.” (Article 11)[1]
The resolution also called for the establishment of the United Nations Conciliation Commission to facilitate peace between Israel and Arab states, continuing the efforts of UN Mediator Folke Bernadotte, following his assassination.[2]
Of the 58 members of the United Nations at that time, the resolution was adopted by a majority of 35 countries, with 15 voting against and 8 abstaining. Significantly, all six Arab League countries then represented at the UN – Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, all of which were parties to the conflict in question – voted against the resolution. The other significant group which voted against comprised the Communist bloc member countries: Byelorrusian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukrainian SSR, USSR, Yugoslavia,[3] all of which had already recognised Israel as a de jure state. Israel was not a member of the United Nations at the time, and objected to many of the resolution's articles. The Palestinians were not directly consulted.
The resolution, especially Article 11, has been cited in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 establishing the UNRWA and other UN resolutions. It has also been invoked in support of claims of Palestinian right of return, claims which have been rejected by Israeli governments.
Article 11—Refugees
Since the late 1960s, Article 11 has increasingly[by whom?] been quoted as a basis for the right of return of Palestine refugees. The UN General Assembly has reaffirmed Resolution 194 every year since 1949.[2] Multiple subsequent resolutions from the United Nations have reaffirmed the right of return, including General Assembly Resolution 169 (1980),[2] and Security Council Resolution 237 (1967).[6]
Joshua Muravchik has contested this reading, pointing out that the text states that the refugees "should be permitted" to return to their homes at the "earliest practicable date" and this recommendation applies only to those "wishing to... live at peace with their neighbors"[7].
Israel has not offered to readmit any refugees. The one exception was at the Lausanne Conference, 1949, where a Joint Protocol was accepted by the Israeli government and the Arab delegates on May 12, 1949 in which Israel offered to repatriate 100,000 refugees in exchange for a comprehensive peace treaty with the Arab states and for annexation of all territories it had captured up until the 1949 Armistice Agreements. The number would have included 50,000 refugees who had already found their way back to their homes in Israel. The offer was quickly withdrawn by David Ben-Gurion.
See also: Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return (Arabic: حق العودة, Ḥaqq al-ʿawda; Hebrew: זכות השיבה, zkhut hashivah) is the political position or principle that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees (c. 30,000 to 50,000 people still alive as of 2012)[3][4] and their descendants (c. 5 million people as of 2012),[3] have a right to return, and a right to the property they themselves or their forebears left behind or were forced to leave in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories (both formerly part of the British Mandate of Palestine), as part of the 1948 Palestinian exodus*, a result of the 1948 Palestine war, and due to the 1967 Six-Day War.
Formulated for the first time on 27 June 1948 by United Nations mediator Folke Bernadotte**,[5] proponents of the right of return hold that it is a sacred right,[6] as well as a human right, whose applicability both generally and specifically to the Palestinians is protected under international law.[7] This view holds that those who opt not to return or for whom return is not feasible, should receive compensation in lieu. Proponents argue that Israel's position stands in contrast with its Law of Return that grants all Jews the right to settle permanently, while withholding any comparable right from Palestinians.[8]
Opponents of the right of return hold that there is no basis for it in international law, and that it is an unrealistic demand.[9] The government of Israel does not view the admission of Palestinian refugees to their former homes in Israel as a right, but rather as a political issue to be resolved as part of a final peace settlement.[10][11]
* The 1948 Palestinian exodus, also known as the Nakba (Arabic: النكبة, al-Nakbah, literally "disaster", "catastrophe", or "cataclysm"),[1] occurred when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs — about half of prewar Palestine's Arab population — fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Palestine war.[2] Between 400 and 600 Palestinian villages were sacked during the war, while urban Palestine was almost entirely extinguished.[3] The term nakba also refers to the period of war itself and events affecting Palestinians from December 1947 to January 1949.
Palestinian refugees leaving the Galilee in October–November 1948
** Folke Bernadotte,
Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish diplomat and King Oscar II's grandson with a comital title from Luxembourg. During World War II, he negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps, including 450 Danish Jews from the Theresienstadt camp. They were released on 14 April 1945.[1][2][3] In 1945, he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler, though the offer was ultimately rejected.
After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948 by the paramilitary Zionist group Lehi while pursuing his official duties. Upon his death, Ralph Bunche took up his work at the UN, successfully mediating the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt.
1946 m. pabaigoje, britų bei amerikiečių sudarytos komisijos duomenimis, Palestinoje gyveno 1 269 000 arabų (67,6 %), 608 000 žydų (32,4 %).[6] Dėl imigracijos žydų procentas nuolat augo, į Izraelio (kuris buvo įkurtas 1948 metais) teritoriją palestiniečių pabėgėliai sugrįžti neturi teisės.
O KUR GI JT GENERALINĖS ASAMBLĖJOS REZOLIUCIJA NR. 194?
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