Speeding up the Slow Return to Gaza

Israel has approved the return of another 35 Palestinian refugees from Canada Camp in Egypt to the Tel as-Sultan quarter of the Gaza Strip. Some 6,000 Palestinian refugees were stranded in Egypt with the signing of Camp David Accords and the establishment of an international border between Egypt and Israel. About 4,500 Palestinians (496 households) from Rafah Camp were transferred to the Sinai when Israel began widening roads in the camp in the 1970s under the pretext of security. The remaining 2,000 are members of the Malalha Bedouins, originally from the Beer Sheba area. Israel has refused to allow this group to return.

The recent approval means that 277 households have now been permitted to return to Gaza or slightly more than half the total number of refugee households. Each household is provided with a total grant of US$12,000 for relocation and construction costs. While the costs were initially covered by the Egyptian government, the majority of the costs after 1994 have been financed by donations from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development.

Approximately 60% of committed funds have been used to date leaving funds available for the relocation of approximately 82 additional households, including the recent 35 households. Another $2 million will be necessary to facilitate the return of the remaining households from Canada Camp to Gaza.

Relocation Process

1982 - 1992: 133 households
1994: 70 households
1997 - 1998: 39 households
1999: 35 households

On average, approximately 10 households have been permitted to return to Gaza since the agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1982. At that rate, it will take another two decades for the remaining households to return to Gaza, although another agreement was reached in September 1998 to speed up the return process and allow all remaining households to return to Gaza by April 2001. If all Palestinian refugees were permitted to return to Palestine at the rate of those returning from Canada Camp over the past three decades, it would take more than 80,000 years. Even with the increased rate of return now scheduled for residents of Canada Camp, it would take more than 7,000 years for all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands.