The essence of population transfer remains a systematic coercive and deliberate […] movement of population into or out of an area […] with the effect or purpose of altering the demographic composition of a territory, particularly when that ideology or policy asserts the dominance of a certain group over another.3 International law sets clear rules to prohibit forced population transfer, including in the United Nations Charter, through the specific branches of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law and international refugee law. Both internal (within an internationally recognized border) and external displacement are regulated. Historical Context: The Case of Palestine At the beginning of the 20th century, most Palestinians lived inside the borders of Palestine, now divided into the state of Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territory (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip). Five major periods or episodes of forcible displacement transformed Palestinians into the largest and longest-standing unresolved refugee case in the world today. By the end of 2014, an estimated 7.98 million (66 percent) of the global Palestinian population of 12.1 million are forcibly displaced persons.4 Methodology All papers will consist of both field and desk research. Field research will consist of case studies drawn from individual and group interviews with Palestinians affected by forced population transfer, or professionals (such as lawyers or employees of organizations) working on the issue. The geographic focus of the Series will include Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Palestinian refugees living in forced exile. Most of the data used will be qualitative in nature, although where quantitative data is available – or can be collected – it will be included in the research. Desk-based research will contextualize policies of forced population transfer by factoring in historical, social, political and legal conditions in order to delineate the violations of the Palestinian people’s human rights. International 3 4 A.S. Al-Khawasneh and R. Hatano, “The Human Rights Dimensions of Population Transfer Including the Implantation of Settlers”, Preliminary Report Prepared for Commission on Human Rights SubCommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Forty-Fifth Session, BADILResource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, 2 August 1993. Available at: www1. umn.edu/humanrts/demo/PopulationTransferImplantationSettlers_AlKhasawneh.pdf. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, “Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (VIII) 2013-2015”, November 2015, page xiii. Available at: www.badil. org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/publications/survay/Survey2013-2015-en.pdf. 7