How significant is the Palestinian refugee crisis in the search towards a working peaceful and lasting solution in the Middle East crisis? Is the solution political or religious? And what role does the international community play in the process of resolving the humanitarian crisis? This research proposal seeks to answer the above questions by exploring the historical trajectory of Palestinian refugees and how their movement has contributed to the worsening of the Israeli-Palestinian relations. The paper will rely on literature on Middle Eastern politics.
This research is important because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged on for half a century since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 but little scholarly effort has been placed in analyzing the condition and future place of the Palestinian refugee (Bastaki 78). The violent nature of the conflict led to a massive humanitarian crisis that made Palestinians, the largest refugee in the whole world.
The sources to be used in this research include Bastaki’s exploration of representation of Palestinian refugees. He explores the possibility of the right to return home under more peaceful circumstances (77). Also concerned with the future of Palestine is Falk, who argues that an exploration of the writings of Edward Said, an important scholar on politics and culture and a Palestinian refugee, help illuminate the challenges of Palestinian refugees (2). Cook’s edited book, The Plight of Palestinians: A Long History of Destruction is another critical source that looks at decades of displacement and death in Palestine. It uses disparate voices in the analysis of the Plight of Palestine. The fourth text used in this paper is Pappe’s The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel. Pappe explores the complex nature of Palestinians living in Israel territory and how their position complicates the peace process in the Middle East.
Works Cited
Bastaki, Jinan. “Who Represents Palestinian Refugees? The Sidelining of the Core of the
Palestine Question”. Perceptions 20.1 (2015): 77-91.
Cook, W. The Plight of Palestinians: A Long History of Destruction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
Falk, Richard. “Edward Said and the Future of Palestine”. Ritan 34.3 (2015): 1-21.
Pappe, Ilan. The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel.New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 2011.
