Palestinian refugees and the right of return

The status of Palestinian refugees such as this woman in Gaza has been a sticking point in peace negotiations.

The establishment of the state of Israel and the war that followed resulted in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing, or being forced out, of their homes in mandate Palestine and what was to be Israel.

Despite a U.N. resolution recognizing the Palestinians' right to return to their homes, Israeli law barred those Palestinians from re-entering Israel at the end of the war. The Palestinians became refugees, taken in by other Arab states.

The United Nations established the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East to help care for those Palestinians. More than 3.7 million Palestinians -- the refugees and their descendants -- are registered with the agency in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza.

More than 1 million of those refugees live in 59 U.N.-operated refugee camps -- 27 of them in the West Bank and Gaza. Almost half of the roughly 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are refugees, and more than 600,000 of them live in the camps. Gaza's population has particularly increased: U.N. figures indicate 824,000 out of 1.1 million are refugees.

Jordan hosts the most refugees -- about 1.6 million, of which 280,000 live in 10 camps. Another 376,000 live in Lebanon, with 210,000 of those living in 12 camps. And in Syria, 112,000 of the country's 383,000 refugees live in 10 camps.

Al-Awda -- the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition -- says there are an additional 2 million refugees unregistered and living in other neighboring countries, but those refugees are not directly covered by U.N. resolutions and programs.

Israeli viewpoint

Israeli leaders have held the position that the right of return is nonnegotiable. It would create a demographic problem for Israel, making it unable to continue as a Jewish state. Israel has suggested it would accept a proposal for some 10,000 Palestinian refugees to rejoin their families inside Israel as a "humanitarian gesture" and financial compensation for refugees, to be funded by Western donors.

Palestinian viewpoint

The displacement of Palestinians cuts to the core of Palestinian national identity. Many Palestinians say their right to return goes beyond the U.N. resolution, stemming from a right of a people to live in their homeland. For Palestinians, it's a matter of principle and historical reproachment -- Israel acknowledging the wrongs it has caused to the Palestinian people.