The Point of No Return: The United States, the Palestinian Refugees and the 1967 Post-War Diplomacy

Abstract

Historians contend that the Palestinian refugee question is at the core of the conflict between Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states. Yet, it remains unresolved and consistently excluded from peace efforts. This thesis investigates how the relationship between the United States and Israel affected the Palestinian refugee question in connection to the diplomatic aftermath of the 1967 war. As Israel gained an unparalleled military triumph against its Arab neighbors in the 1967 war, several geographical and political lines were redrawn in the Middle East. While the war was a watershed moment in more ways than one, this thesis argues that for the Palestinian refugees, it also represented a point of no return. Ultimately, the post-war diplomacy resulted in the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s Resolution 242. Supported by the United States, the document established the legal framework for all coming peace efforts related to Israel and the Palestinians. Although it called for a “just settlement of the refugee problem,” it did not include details of such. Thus, by its omissions and ambiguity, Resolution 242 affirmed the Israeli state while demonstrating a renewed testimony to the Palestinian dispossession. For this, Israel became indebted to its strategic, yet informal, partner: The United States. This thesis contributes to existing scholarship by demonstrating the way in which the U.S.- Israeli relationship affected the handling of the Palestinian refugee issue in the aftermath of the 1967 war. By being imperative in the diplomatic process, the United States enabled a final blow to the inclusion of Palestinian refugees in peace efforts.