responsibility for the displacement of Palestinians, as well as, to a certain extent, what Israel calls the ‘exchange’ of Palestinian refugees for Arab Jews. Israeli policy makers are concerned that compensation might be construed as a tacit admission of moral guilt; an admission of responsibility for the displacement of Palestinians.145 Additionally, they are fearful of the large sums compensation would entail.146 Israel has also sought to link the issue of Jewish refugee claims in Arab states to that of Palestinian refugee claims in its own state, partly to seek compensation for the former but more so in an effort to offset or cancel out any liability for the latter.147 More importantly, Palestinians have exercised and expressed their right to outright reject offers of reparations packages that include only compensation as a solution to their right of return, refusing it as an alternative to return or restitution, which ought to be prioritized as per international legal principles.148 Palestinians seek a solution that implies more than a simply financial transaction with Israel; namely one that is founded on a rightsbased approach, which carries liability for their dispossession.149 This became particularly pertinent in the 1990s as the Balkan Wars reinvigorated international focus on the need for repatriation and reparations.150 Similarly, the post-Oslo period saw Palestinian refugees become a core element of permanent status negotiations.151 During this process, Palestinians rejected Israel’s offers of compensation in exchange for basic rights such as return and restitution. Also problematically, these offers were to be funded by third states, as Israel claimed that compensation was the sole responsibility of the international community.152 Arab states have also resisted compensation schemes proposed by Israel and the US, which seek to finance the large-scale resettlement of refugees 145 Rex Brynen, “Compensation for Palestinian refugees: Law, Politics and Praxis,” Israel Law Review 51, no. 1 (2018): 29-46, available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/ content/view/C5CE1B9FEE96AB8DA5C7CB3F7F1D63E8/S0021223717000255a.pdf/compensation_ for_palestinian_refugees_law_politics_and_praxis.pdf 146 Ibid. 147 Ibid. 148 Ibid. 149 Ibid. 150 Lena El-Malak, “Reparations for Palestinian refugees,” Forced Migration Review, 2006, available at: http://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/palestine/elmalak.pdf 151 Ibid. 152 Jacob Tovy, “Negotiating the Palestinian Refugees,” Middle East Quarterly Spring 2003 Volume 10: Number 2, 1 March 2003, available at: https://www.meforum.org/articles/other/negotiating-thepalestinian-refugees [accessed 10 July 2018]. 52