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CNN Live At Daybreak

Right of Refugees to Return to Homes Crucial Issue in Mideast Conflict

Aired April 11, 2002 - 06:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For Palestinians, it is a crucial issue, the right of refugees to return to their homes. For Israel, it's a deal-breaker that threatens its existence.

CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, takes an in-depth look at this divisive issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Palestinian refugees are at the heart of the Middle East conflict. Everyone agrees on that. But there is no agreement on anything else. Here is what we know.

(voice-over): The United Nations Relief and Works Agency defines Palestine refugees as, "Persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June, 1946 and May, 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict," plus their descendants.

In 1950, they numbered 914,000. By 2001, half a century later, the number of registered Palestine refugees, including descendants, reached 3.9 million.

Most of the refugees live in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, but they are not citizens of those countries. Who is responsible to these refugees? The Arabs say Israel drove them out and refuses to allow them to come back. Israel's response:

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Israel is not ready to allow or discuss the return of refugees into its boundaries, refugees which escaped because of a war that was forced on Israel. Because what that would mean is the end of Israel as a Jewish state.

SCHNEIDER: The core of the problem is the Palestinian refugee camps, where people live in desperately poor and crowded conditions. Of the 3.9 million refugees, 1.2 million, nearly a third, live in the 59 camps. About half the camps are in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The rest are in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Camp sounds temporary, but these camps are far from temporary. Some date back over 50 years. They have become ramshackle cities with schools, hospitals and mosques, alongside anger, desperation and violence.

Israel claims the camps are havens for terrorists, so this year for the first time, the Israeli military has gone into the camps to destroy the terrorist infrastructure. The camps have become the deadliest battle ground in the conflict.

The United Nations Relief Agency runs the camps, but who pays the bill? Of the $414 million in contributions last year, most of the money came from European countries. The United States provided $123 million, about 30 percent. Japan contributed $15 million, and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and the Palestinian Authority, a total of 7 million. The refugees have become the world's problem.

(on camera): The irony is that Palestinians outside the Middle East tend to do well. Many are prosperous and successful; unlike in the place they call Palestine.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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