The Right to a Return of the Refugees: Palestine’s Promise to the West Bank, the East Jerusalem, and the Promise of the Future

The Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, wrote that he is not a traveler and that his homeland is not a suitcase. I am the lover, and the land is the beloved.”

Perhaps their best-case scenario would be to leave the camps and move to a future Palestinian state. A Palestinian state is not something that is in the cards today.

A new Israeli law has barred UNRWA from operating in Israel. The agency says that will be a challenge, but that UNRWA still works in Gaza, the West Bank and Arab countries.

In the past Israel has said that it would be swamped demographically by a mass return of Palestinian refugees. Israel has been at odds with UNRWA for decades, saying it perpetuates a cycle of dependency as refugee status is passed on from one generation to the next.

I have the right to come back. This is an individual right. Me, my children, my grandfather and my grandmother — all of us have the right to return,” said Fadi Deeb, a 52-year-old resident of the Jaramana Camp.

The UN passed a resolution in December of 1948, saying that refugees should be able to come back to their homes at the earliest possible time.

That 1948 Mideast War erupted at Israel’s founding and pitted Israel against several Arab states. There were a million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East during the war.

The U.S. policy on Gaza has been that the territory is part of the future Palestinian state that includes the West Bank and a capital in East Jerusalem.

There’s a pie in the sky. It is not going to happen. And there are many reasons why it’s not going to happen. Hussein Ibish, with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington said, “It’s not going to happen.”

The Israeli-Hamamai Correspondence: How quickly will the Israeli-Japan Agreement resume? Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are ready to return

The original tented encampment has long since turned into a permanent neighborhood of cinderblock houses, with children running through the narrow, muddy streets beneath a tangle of electrical wires overhead.

The Arab armies were saying that they were going to fight for you. Leave for eight days, and we will liberate the land,'” she said. People locked their doors and left carrying their house keys. So people left thinking they would return in eight days.”

When her family fled their home in the Arab Israeli war, she was just 3 years old.

“If you want to approach this from a humanitarian perspective, return them to their original villages,” she said. If you really care about humanity, rebuild and return them. But don’t deceive people with false claims.”

Israel warned it may resume hostilities with Hamas if hostages are not released under the ceasefire agreement.

A senior official with knowledge of the matter who is not authorized to speak publicly clarified later that Israel expects three hostages to be released on Saturday — as previously scheduled — and another six “a few days later.” This would mean all hostages who are still believed to be alive and who were supposed to be released in the deal’s first phase would be released in the coming days, faster than originally outlined in the agreement.

Netanyahu added that he welcomed President Trump’s remarks Monday demanding the release of hostages by Saturday, “as well as his revolutionary vision for Gaza’s future.”

Hamas alleged that Israel did not allow temporary shelters and tents, debris removal equipment and fuel required by the ceasefire agreement into the enclave. Israel is in control of all aid to the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu instructed the military to amass forces in and around the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it was sending additional troops and calling up reservists to the area.

Last weekend, Israel and Hamas exchanged three Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian detainees and prisoners. In the first five exchanges, 16 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been freed in exchange for more than 670 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas had originally agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages in the deal’s first phase in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

After the start of the ceasefire, thousands of Palestinians poured north in Gaza and returned to homes that were damaged in the fighting.

The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants from Hamas and other groups broke through the border with Israel and killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli authorities.