Introducing the Series
This series of working papers on “Forced Population Transfer: The Case of
Palestine” constitutes an overview of the forced displacement of Palestinians
as a historic and ongoing process which detrimentally affects the daily life of
Palestinians and threatens their national existence.
Historical Context: The Case of Palestine
At the beginning of the 20th century, most Palestinians lived inside the borders
of Mandatory Palestine, referring to “historic Palestine”, consisting of Israel,
the 1967 occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
The ongoing forcible displacement policies following the establishment of
the British mandate of Palestine in the 1920s made Palestinians the largest
and longest-standing unresolved refugee case in the world today. By the
end of 2017, an estimated 8.07 million (66 percent) of the global Palestinian
population of 12.1 million are forcibly displaced persons. The ultimate aim of
BADIL’s series is to distill the complex web of legislation and policies which
comprise Israel’s overall system of forced population transfer today. The series
is not intended to produce a comprehensive indictment against the State of
Israel, but to illustrate how each policy fulfills its goal in the overall objective
of forcibly displacing the Palestinian people while implanting Jewish-Israeli
settlers/colonizers throughout Mandatory Palestine.
Despite its urgency, the forced displacement of Palestinians rarely receives
an appropriate response from the international community. This response
should encompass condemnations and urgent interventions to provide relief
or humanitarian assistance, while addressing the root causes of this forced
population transfer. Given the protracted nature and gravity of the violations,
a short-term response from the international community is insufficient to
address this issue and, as such, long-term responses should be developed
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