Israel, the Jewish Diaspora, and the Palestinian Refugee Problem

This paper analyzes the involvement of Jewish diaspora members in attempts to resolve the Palestinian Refugee Problem after the 1967 War. When the war ended, Israel controlled around 250 thousand refugees who lived in rapidly deteriorating conditions in refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. While Jerusalem took measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, it was unwilling to consider the repatriation of refugees and promoted their resettlement overseas.

The paper examines the attempts of influential and well-connected Jewish diaspora entrepreneurs to resolve the Refugee Problem, both in collaboration with Israel and independently. Some entrepreneurs prepared resettlement plans or offered their services as brokers and negotiators with foreign countries that might admit refugees. Others proposed projects in the Occupied Territories that would improve the refugees’ living conditions and tried to mobilize the support of governments, organizations, and individuals for those projects, utilizing a wealth of material and social resources to advance them.

Although the diaspora entrepreneurs perceived their actions as assistance to Israel, Israeli officials were mostly unenthusiastic about what they saw as foreign interference in a sensitive issue related to Israel’s security. Thus, Jerusalem attempted to dissuade the entrepreneurs from pursuing their plans while being careful not to antagonize them and risk losing access to their political and financial resources. However, the analysis shows that the entrepreneurs were not always willing to capitulate to Israel’s demands to stop their operations. Their power, leverage, and positionality often allowed them to push their agendas forward even in the face of Israeli resistance. The exchanges between Israeli officials and diaspora entrepreneurs regarding this issue reveal the complex dynamics of homeland-diaspora ties in general and of Israel’s relationship with the Jewish diaspora in particular.