Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Issue: The Formulation of a Policy, 1948-1956

Examining the development of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinian refugee issue, this book spans the period following the first Arab-Israeli War until the mid-1950s, when the basic principles of Israel’s policy were finalized.

Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Issue outlines and analyzes the various aspects that, together, created the mosaic of the "refugee problem" with which Israel has since had to contend. These aspects include issues of repatriation, resettlement, compensation, blocked bank accounts, internal refugees and family reunification.

Drawing on extensive archival research, this book uses documents from Israeli government meetings, from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and files from the office of the Prime Minister’s advisor on Arab affairs to address the many diverse aspects of this topic, and will be essential reading for academics and researchers with an interest in Israel, the Middle East, and political science more broadly.

Dr. Jacob Tovy is a research fellow at the Herzl Institute at the University of Haifa, specializing in the political history of the Jewish community in Palestine during the British Mandate period and the State of Israel during the first decade following its establishment. To date he has published three books in Hebrew, this is his first book in English.