Nov. 10 UPDATE:
Associated Press Corrects
On Nov. 7, in response to action from CAMERA's Israel office, the Associated Press removed its fallacious reporting wrongly claiming that “International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return to their homes,” and dozens of AP clients subsequently corrected as well.
The more accurate formulation now states:
Palestinians say they should be allowed to exercise the right generally recognized under international law for refugees to return to their home countries under certain conditions.
International legal experts have debated how that right applies to the Palestinian refugees. Israel says it does not and has refused their return, arguing it would end the country’s Jewish majority. The issue has been a stumbling block in past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
See here for the detailed update.
The so-called "right of return" has been a fundamental Palestinian demand ever since the initial effort to eliminate the nascent state of Israel failed 76 years ago, but in recent days the Associated Press upgraded the unfulfilled aspiration into international law.
In their Oct. 31 article, "Banning UNRWA will lead to a vacuum and more suffering for Palestinians, the agency's chief says," AP's Baraa Anwer and Sara El Deeb invented: "International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return to their homes."
A Palestinian girl in a 2010 protest in Hebron. The sign says: "There is no doubt that we will return to Palestine," referring to Israel. (Photo by Shy halatzi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
An Oct. 29 AP article by Joseph Krauss, Julia Frankel and Melanie Lidman also erred, citing a non-existent Palestinian right under international law to return to their 1948 homes: "Palestinians say refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million, should be allowed to exercise their right under international law to return home" ("Israel approves two bills that could halt UNRWA's aid delivery to Gaza . . .")
In fact, there is nothing in international law which gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants "the right to return to their homes."
The non-binding U.N. Resolution 194, passed by the United Nations' General Assembly, does not "give" Palestinians "the right to return to their homes." Moreover, its language — “should be permitted” — denotes a suggestion, not a guarantee. The section of the resolution dealing with refugees states:
RESOLVES that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;
INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;
As CAMERA's Alex Safian has previously detailed, the resolution conditions the return of refugees (Palestinian refugees are not specified, and therefore the resolution equally applies to Jewish refugees from Arab countries) on their willingness to “live at peace with their neighbours,” a condition that was not accepted by the Palestinian leadership or the vast majority of the refugees themselves who invoked Resolution 194. Furthermore, the resolution placed repatriation, resettlement and compensation on equal footing; meaning that return is one of several possible options.
Finally, the main part of the resolution called for the establishment of a Conciliation Commission, which convened in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1949. While both the Arab states and Israel attended, the former declined to negotiate directly with the Jewish state and rejected any agreements.
AP has in the past accurately reported that Palestinians demand a right of return, or that they believe they have a right of return. Examples of accurate AP coverage careful not to misreport that Palestinians have a right of return include:
Aug. 29, 2024: "Palestinians believe they have the right to return to their pre-1948 homes."
Jan. 29, 2024: "The Palestinians say the refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million across the Middle East, have the right to return to their homes."
Nov. 30, 2021: "The Palestinians say the refugees and their descendants have a 'right of return' to their homes in what is now Israel, a position supported by host countries."
June 3, 2019: "Symbolically, Palestinians see UNRWA as sustaining their core demand that refugees have the 'right of return' to their lost homes in what is now Israel - a prospect that Israel rejects."
Oct. 8, 2018: "It accuses the agency of perpetuating the conflict by helping promote what it considers an unrealistic Palestinian demand that refugees have the "right of return" to long-lost homes in what is now Israel."
In short, while it's entirely accurate to state that Palestinians demand a "right of return," or Palestinians believe they have a "right of return," it is completely false to say that international law gives Palestinians a "right of return" to homes lost in 1948.
CAMERA yesterday contacted AP to request a correction. As of this writing, no correction has yet appeared, suggesting a commitment to factual accuracy somewhat lagging behind the steadfast Palestinian insistence on the "right of return." Stay tuned for any updates.