Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
The question of refugees is often identified as one of the most difficult and sensitive issues in any Palestinian-Israeli peace process. For Palestinians and Israelis alike, it touches upon both deeply-held historical narratives and even existential values: the partition of Palestine, the establishment of the state of Israel, the forced displacement and refugee experience of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian right of “return,” and Israel’s fundamental desire to remain a Jewish state.
For these reasons, the refugee question proved particularly problematic throughout the Madrid and Oslo eras, and into permanent status negotiations at Camp David, Taba, and elsewhere. These difficulties, however, should not blind one to the very real progress that was made. Should the parties once more find themselves in permanent status negotiations, they will undoubtedly find themselves further apart than they were at Taba in January 2001—but perhaps still closer than they were when the peace process began in Madrid a decade earlier. Access the full report>>