The UNCCP was thus established with a dual mandate. First, as suggested by its name, the Commission was to seek conciliation between the parties to find, in accordance with UNGA Resolution 194(III), a permanent solution to all outstanding problems of the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Palestinian refugee problem. Second, it was to provide protection to the refugees by safeguarding their right to return and other related rights, including their right to restitution of the refugees’ property.163 The UNCCP tried to persuade Israel to permit the return of certain categories of refugees (i.e., citrus grove owners and laborers) – without prejudicing the right of all refugees to return to their original homes – based on humanitarian considerations. The UNCCP also attempted to reunite separated Palestinian families, such as dependents of breadwinners who had remained in the territory that became the State of Israel on 15 May 1948. While a small number of refugee dependents were able to return and be reunited with their families, other groups of refugees, including the owners of citrus groves and their laborers, were not allowed to return. The UNCCP also facilitated the release of blocked accounts and assets belonging to refugees. The UNCCP attempted to facilitate the return of Palestinian refugees primarily through intervention with Israel and by carrying out the preliminary technical work required for returns. One of the first steps taken by the Commission was to gather basic information about refugees, as well as the policies and political positions of Arab host countries and Israel. The UNCCP also attempted to facilitate restitution of refugee property through calls for reform of Israeli property laws,164 intervention with relevant authorities, and actual documentation of Palestinian property inside the borders of the new State of Israel.165 In 1950, the Commission established a sub-office (“Refugee Office”) to identify Arab property ownership inside Israel and examine various interim measures through which refugees could derive income from their properties. A global and individual identification of Palestinian property was conducted based on British mandate records.166 In the early 1960s, the identification was completed: 430,000 records Susan M. Akram and Guy Goodwin-Gill, “Brief Amicus Curiae” Submitted to the United States Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review, Board of Immigration Appeals (Falls Church, Virginia, 1999).See also Terry Rempel, The United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Protection, and Durable Solution for Palestinian Refugees (Bethlehem: BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, June 5, 2000), 3, Brief No. 5. 164 At the time, these included the following laws: Abandoned Areas Ordinance (1948); Emergency Regulations Concerning Absentee Property (1948); Emergency Regulations (Security Zones) (1949); Emergency Regulations (Cultivation of Waste [Uncultivated] Lands) (1949); Absentees’ Property Law (1950); Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law (1950). 165 Salman Abu Sitta, “The Palestinian Nakba 1948, The Register of Depopulated Localities in Palestine” (Palestinian Return Center London, 2001); Terry Rempel, “Housing and Property Restitution: The Palestinian Refugee Case,” in Returning Home: Housing and Property Restitution Rights of Refugees and Displaced Persons., ed. Scott Leckie (New York: Transnational Publishers, 2003), 296. 166 Michael R. Fischbach, Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003). 163 The Palestinian Refugee Problem: An Overview 29