Refugees Into Citizens: Palestinians and the End of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1997. First printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Good. No dust jacket as issued. Minor damp staining and page impact at top and fore edges.. xvi, 232 p. Maps. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliographical Essay. Index. Preface by Rita E. Hauser. Foreword by Rami Khouri. This timely book offers a blueprint for resolving what is often called the most intractable--if not taboo--subject in the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations: a just and permanent solution to the problem of over 3 million Palestinian refugees. The refugee question has never before been treated as the keystone of regional peace and stability. In a hard-hitting, yet balanced and dispassionate analysis, Donna Arzt advocates that the end of the Middle East conflict can only be achieved when all Palestinian refugees are offered citizenship, compensation for lost property, and voluntary absorption options in either a future state of Palestine, other Arab states in the region, the broader international community, or, on family reunification grounds, repatriation in Israel. Comprehensive in scope, yet free of technical jargon, the book is both accessible to generalists and valuable to specialists in the fields of refugee studies, the Middle East conflict, human rights, and public international law. Drawing on the latest historiography, demographic data, and legal texts on the concept of return, statelessness and minority rights, Refugees into Citizens avoids falling into the trap of relitigating old polemics and accusations by inviting the international community into a pragmatic, forward-looking dialogue on this most politically sensitive question. Donna Arzt's innovative and substantial proposal for resolving the complex Palestine refugee issue challenges us to act on the basis that inclusion, reconciliation, compromise, dignity, and belonging are important ingredients in a search for viable, concrete, legal, and lasting resolution to seemingly intractable refugee problems at conflict's end.