Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Second Edition

Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg

A key reference text for anyone desiring a better understanding of the Palestinian refugee question and its resolution
Offers a clear and comprehensive analysis of various areas of international law and their relevance to the provision of international protection for Palestinian refugees, including current interpretations of Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and the various definitions of Palestinian refugees
Provides an authoritative account of the subject, including on the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) vis-à-vis Palestinian refugees
Offers an innovative framework for just and durable solutions, building on important developments in the field of refugee law and practice and on a holistic rights-based approach

New to this Edition:

Based on a survey of more than 50 countries conducted with support from UNHCR and UNRWA, the new edition provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the status and treatment of Palestinian refugees in the Arab world and beyond
Applies a consistent legal approach to the question of Palestinian refugees, placing legal rights at the centre of the analysis
An updated analysis of the distinctive regime set up for Palestinian refugees, made of a plurality of UN agencies (UNCCP, UNRWA and UNHCR)
Provides an excursus of how the issue of Palestinian refugee has been negotiated since 1948 and reflections on what approach could lead to a durable solution to their plight

Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Second Edition

Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg

Description

The Palestinian refugee question, resulting from the events surrounding the birth of the state of Israel seventy years ago, remains one of the largest and most protracted refugee crises of the post-WWII era. Numbering over six million in the Middle East alone, Palestinian refugees' status varies considerably according to the state or territory 'hosting' them, the UN agency assisting them and political circumstances surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these refugees are naturally associated with. Despite being foundational to both the experience of the Palestinian refugees and the resolution of their plight, international law is often side-lined in political discussions concerning their fate.

This compelling new book, building on the seminal contribution of the first edition (1998), offers a clear and comprehensive analysis of various areas of international law (including refugee law, human rights law, humanitarian law, the law relating to stateless persons, principles related to internally displaced persons, as well as notions of international criminal law), and probes their relevance to the provision of international protection for Palestinian refugees and their quest for durable solutions.

Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Second Edition

Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg

Introduction
PART ONE: Historical and legal foundations
1:An historical overview of the Palestinian refugee question
2:Palestinian refugees: a distinctive normative and institutional regime
3:On the application of international law to Palestinian refugees
PART TWO: Seventy years of exile: Palestinian refugees around the world
4:The status of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and North Africa: unpacking an unsettling solidarity
5:Palestinian 'diaspora' in Europe, the Americans, Asia-Pacific, and Africa
PART THREE: Protection and solutions
6:Focusing on specific rights
7:Protection of Palestinian refugees
8:The quest for solutions

Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Second Edition

Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg

Author Information

Francesca P. Albanese, Researcher, Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration, and Lex Takkenberg, Former Chief of the Ethics Office, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Francesca P. Albanese is an Affiliate Researcher with the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM). Before dedicating herself to this book writing, she worked as a Legal Officer for the Department of Legal Affairs of UNRWA, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights before then. A law graduate from the University of Pisa, Francesca holds an LLM in Human Rights at SOAS, University of London.

Lex Takkenberg has worked with UNRWA since 1989. He is the former Chief of the Ethics Office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Prior to that, he held positions including General Counsel / Director, Department of Legal Affairs, Director of Operations / Operational Support, and (Deputy) Field Director in Gaza and Syria. Before joining UNRWA, he was the Legal Officer of the Dutch Refugee Council for six years. A law graduate from the University of Amsterdam, he obtained a Doctorate in International Law from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Second Edition

Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg

Reviews and Awards

""Palestinian Refugees in International Law" by Francesca P. Albanese and Lex Takkenberg is a fascinating, comprehensive book which meticulously lays out the case for the right of Palestinian refugees to return home and to be compensated for their 73-year dispossession ..." - Sam Bahour, Palestinian-American business consultant from Ramallah/Al-Bireh in Occupied Palestine, +927 Magazine

"The Palestinian refugee crisis is one of the world's most misunderstood issues, as well as a moral stain on the international community's conscience. If true change begins with understanding, then the second edition of Palestinian Refugees in International Law is an indispensable starting place. Accessible, deeply researched, and alive to the political and legal complexities of the refugee issue, this book is a lucid and responsible exploration of an enduring social problem that is too often shrouded in polemics and mythmaking. How I wish that more books on the Middle East were as intrepid and clear-sighted as this one." - Michael Lynk, Associate Professor of Law, Western University, London, Ontario and UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967

"Rather than merely an update of the first edition, this second edition of Palestinian Refugees in International Law is an expanded, all-encompassing overview and legal analysis of the complex plight of the Palestinian refugees from 1948 to the present. In view of their protracted time in exile - which should haunt us - and the recently tabled, partisan peace plan for the Middle East, the identification of the fundamental elements of a comprehensive refugee response framework for the eight million Palestinian refugees with which the book ends, could not have come at a better time." - Marjoleine Zieck, Professor of International Refugee Law, Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam

"The question of Palestinian refugees proves to be an indelible issue that has survived all challenges for over seventy years. This excellent book takes our understanding of Palestinian refugee rights under international law - with their historical, factual, and legal underpinnings - to a new horizon. It is at present the most thorough and most comprehensive treatise on this subject, and it will be unwise to address the Palestinian refugee issue without consulting it. It will no doubt stand as the bible on the Palestinian refugee question under international law for many years to come." - Anis Kassim, International Lawyer, Chief Editor of The Palestine Yearbook of International Law