| Palestinian Residency Rights in the Peace Negotiations - News about Jerusalem? A sub-commission of the Multilateral Working Group on Refugee Affairs met in Tunis on February 7, 1994. The sub-commission attempted to reach a basic and common definition of the Palestinian family which should serve as a guideline for future decisions regarding who is eligible to return to the Palestinian autonomous territories in the framework of: family reunification; re-instatement of residency rights to persons whose ID cards were declared invalid due to prolonged absence abroad (“Lost IDs”); and in the framework of agreements regarding the return of “displaced persons” (1967 refugees).
According to a report by Dr. Salim Tamari, head of the Palestinian delegation, the discussions were characterized by an esoteric atmosphere, and by the un-bridgeable gap between the minimalist position (family as the western nuclear family) presented by the Israeli delegation, and maximalist definitions including members of the extended family proposed by Arab and Palestinian delegates.
No joint final statement was issued, a fact which - due to the prior decision that this meeting would not be binding - was a minor loss.
Efforts by the Palestinian delegation and its legal expert Atty Ussama Halabi (who was denied entry to the meeting room by the Israeli delegation due to his origin from inside 1948 Israel) to place Jerusalem residency issues on the agenda remained futile. The Multilateral Working Group on Refugee Affairs meets again in Cairo on May 9.
- The Israeli delegation strongly insisted that the discussion about the re-instatement of “Lost IDs” be transferred to the bilateral talks, where Israel is not subject to international pressure.
- Renewed efforts by the Palestinian delegation to raise problems of family reunification in Jerusalem were met by strong Israeli opposition, on grounds that this debate belongs to the final status negotiations. Therefore, the joint final statement includes nothing more but another vague reference to Jerusalem: “ ... the right to family reunification applies irrespective of the geographical area of the applicant’s residence.”
- All the delegations agreed that the 4-Party Committee on the 1967 “displaced persons” should meet within one month. |
