Estimates of Palestinian Refugees and their Destinations
(1948-1949)

Destination
British Govt.
U.S. Estimates
United Nations
Private Israeli Est.
Israeli Govt.
Palestinian Sources
Gaza
210,000
208,000
280,000
200,000
-
201,173
West Bank
320,000
-
190,000
200,000
-
363,689
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and all other Arab States
280,000
667,000
256,000
250,000
-
284,324
Total
810,000 1 (February 1949)
875,000 2
(1953)
726,000 3 (September 1949)

650,000
(end 1949)

520,000 5
1948

850,276
(November 1952) 7
     
957,000 3
May 1950
600,000 - 760,000
(1948-1950) 4
590,000 6
1992
770,100 - 780,000 (end 1948) 8
           
714,150 - 744,150 9 (mid 1948)


1 PROFO371-754196 E2297/1821/31

2 “The Problem of Arab Refugees from Palestine,” U.S. Government Report of the Subcommittee on the Near East and Africa (Foreign Relations Committee, 24 July 1953). The West Bank refugees are added to those of Jordan.

3 United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine: Report of the UN Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East, UN Document A/AC.25/6, p. 18; Annual Report of the Director General of UNRWA, Director’s Report, UN Document 5224/5223, 25 November 1952.

4 Morris, Benny, 1948 and After, 1990, p. 68.

5 Morris, Benny, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1989, p. 297.

6 Based on the full text of a report prepared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and published in translation by the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds, 10 September 1992.

7 Hagopian, Edward and A.B. Zahlen, “Palestine’s Arab Population,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. III, Walid Khalidi et al., eds., 1974, pp. 32-73.

8 Khalidi, Walid et al., eds., All that Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, 1992, Appendix III, p. 582.

9 Said, Edward et al., A Profile of the Palestinian People, Third Ed, 1990, p. 6; Abu-Lughod, Janet, “The Demographic Transformation of Palestine,” in Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, 1971, pp. 139-63.