3.3.1. UNCCP Established under General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948,353 the UNCCP held a dual mandate: to seek conciliation between the parties of the ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’, and to provide protection to Palestinian refugees worldwide. This duality has profoundly informed the UNCCP’s inaction in the years since its establishment. The inherent contradiction between the two objectives of its mandate eventually led the agency to move away from refugee protection in favor of issues that were less contentious between the parties. Regarding protection, paragraph 11 of UNGA Resolution 194 entrusted the UNCCP to protect the refugees’ most compelling concerns on the basis of the principle of voluntariness– that is, repatriation (or return), property restitution, and payment of compensation for all losses suffered.354 In the early years of operation, many of its activities were similar to the protection functions carried out by UNHCR in other refugee situations. Initially, the UNCCP attempted to persuade Israel to recognize the validity of the right of refugee repatriation. Israel offered a limited repatriation of around 100,000 refugees – an offer that came only in response to American pressure and in the context of Israel’s pending membership to the United Nations. The offer was officially retracted in 1951.355 The UNCCP additionally called for the repeal of the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law, a discriminatory law that continues to this day to confer legitimacy to Israel’s illegal expropriation of Palestinian refugee and IDP property.356 It also aimed to work towards the suspension of all measures by which Palestinian houses have been illegally acquired and occupied, the unfreezing of waqf property (property endowed for religious purposes under Islamic law),357 and the facilitation of refugee access to blocked saving accounts and assets in banks that had come under the jurisdiction of Israel.358 Despite these efforts, the Israeli government and the Israeli Custodian of Absentees’ Property retained a significant portion of the monetary value of accounts and assets through the imposition of taxes and administration fees on Palestinian refugees’ properties. 353 UNGA Res 194 (III) (n 317). Paragraph 11 reads that the UNGA “resolves that the 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 in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible; and Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation […]”. See UNGA Res 194 (III) (n 317), para 11. 355 David P. Forsythe, United Nations Peacemaking: The Conciliation Commission for Palestine (Johns Hopkins University Press 1972), 70. 356 Absentees’ Property Law (1950) 5710 <https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-209845/> accessed 3 October 2022. 357 UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), ‘Work of UNCCP on refugee problem – Conciliation Commission report’ (18 April 1950) UN Doc. A/AC.25/CCP.RWA/2, para 43 <https://www.un.org/unispal/ document/auto-insert-211877/> accessed 3 October 2022. 358 Laura Reanda, ‘The Work of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine’ in ‘International Conference on Palestine Refugees (Paris, 26-27 April 2000)’ (2000) <https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-209960/> accessed 3 October 2022. 354 76