The Regional Dimension of the Palestinian Refugee Issue

Supported by the European Union and the International Development Research Centre, Canada.

This three year project builds upon work already undertaken by the Middle East Programme in facilitating dialogue between Arab and international stakeholders on the Palestinian refugee issue.

The current phase focuses on the regional dimension of the issue - the position in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. This approach aims to raise awareness of the pitfalls of neglecting this dimension and to construct a dialogue leading to new and creative ways of thinking.

Involving representatives from the Arab host countries, Palestinian refugees and members of the international donor community in a range of scenario-building exercises, regional consultations and stock-taking events, the project seeks to raise awareness of the key issues and promote better understanding among regional players of their respective concerns.

Several briefing papers have been published to explore the following aspects of the issue:

  1. The Past as Prelude? Negotiating the Palestinian Refugee Issue
    Dr Rex Brynen, McGill University

  2. Israeli Perspectives on the Palestinian Refugee Issue
    Dr Orit Gal

  3. The Palestinian Refugee Issue: A Palestinian Perspective
    Abbas Shiblak, University of Oxford

  4. The Regional Dimension of the Palestinian Refugee Issue
    Nadim Shehadi, Chatham House

The Middle East Programme's current project on Palestinian refugees builds on research conducted by Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in two previous phases - Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East Peace Process, May 2000-December 2001 and Palestinian Refugees in the Search for Middle East Peace, May 2002-December 2004 - as well as on work conducted in this field by Chatham House and the Centre for Lebanese Studies (CLS) in the 1990s.

A history of Chatham House's work on Palestinian refugees as well as an archive of the materials generated by the project can be found here - The Minster Lovell Process.

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