Provides background information concerning Palestinian refugees in several areas of direct relevance for the upcoming permanent status negotiations. The objective is not to dwell on the tragic circumstances surrounding Palestinian dispersal from the homeland in 1948 and again in 1967, but to delineate the main policy and informational components of what lies behind various perceptions and definitions of the refugee issue.

The refugees: An overview --Refugee definitions and the Palestinians -- Estimates of the Palestinian population -- Refugees in Arab states and the occupied territories -- Legal status -- Social and living conditions -- Patterns of adaptation -- Refugee attitudes and the peace process -- Israeli approaches to refugees -- Official approaches -- Semiofficial approaches: Shlomo Gazit -- Nonofficial approaches: Other writers -- Palestinian approaches to refugees -- Official approaches -- Opposition to Oslo -- Nonofficial approaches -- Other approaches to refugees -- Right of return, resettlement, and compensation -- Self-determination and the right of return -- Conclusions and implications