CONTENTS

List of Tables

Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliteration

Introduction

 

1.  Refugee Flight and Israeli Policies Toward Abandoned Property

Flight of the Refugees

Initial Israeli Attitudes Toward Refugee Property

The Legal Basis for Expropriation: the Custodian of Absentee Property

Policies of the Custodian of Absentee Property, 1948–1953

Early Israeli Estimates of the Scope and Value of Refugee Property: the Weitz-Danin-Lifshits Committee

The Custodian Sells Refugee Land to the Development Authority

The Jewish National Fund Acquires Refugee Land

Settling the Refugees’ Land with Jewish Immigrants

Disposal of the Balance of Refugee Land

 

2.  UNCCP’s Early Activity on the Refugee Property Question

Establishment of the UNCCP

Early American Approaches to the Question

Lausanne Conference

Clapp Mission

New Directions for the UNCCP

UNCCP’s Global Estimate

Paris Conference

UNCCP’s Compensation Efforts

 

3.  Early Israeli Policies Affecting the Property Question

Secret Israeli-Jordanian Talks

Lif Committee

Counter Claims for Prewar Jewish Property Abandoned in 1948

Counter Claims for Property Abandoned by Jews in Arab Countries After 1948

Linking German Reparations with Palestinian Compensation

Horowitz Committee

Release of Blocked Refugee Bank Accounts

Reorganization of Israeli Land Agencies

Secret Israeli Moves to Compensate Individual Refugees in the 1960s

 

4.  Early Arab and International Policies Toward the Property Question

Early Arab Estimates of Refugee Property

UNRWA Estimates of Refugee Property

Arab and International Efforts on Behalf of Refugee Property

Britain Disposes of Filmed Copies of Mandatory Land Records

The Property Question After the 1956 Suez War

 

5.  UNCCP Technical Program

Origins of the Technical Program

Identification of Arab Property

Work Issues

Valuation of Property

Final Statistics on Scope and Value of Arab Property

 

6.  Follow Up to the Technical Program

Johnson Mission

UNCCP’s New Plan for Compensation Fails

UNCCP Solicits Refugee Inquiries

Response to the Technical Program

Demise of the UNCCP

The Arabs Obtain Copies of UNCCP Documents

 

7.  Refugee Property Question After 1967

1967 War

Declining Interest in the Property Question

New Estimates of Refugee Property

Refugee Property and Diplomatic Sites in Jerusalem

Peace Process: Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon

Refugee Property and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

Conclusion

Appendix One: Comparison of Studies on the Scope and Value of Refugee Property

Appendix Two: Chronology of Events Relating to Refugee Property

Notes

Bibliography

Index