Israel and the palestinian refugee Issue

Since the beginning of the Oslo process in 1993 the relative weight and attention given by Israeli policy-makers to each of the final status issues has significantly evolved. Initially, the greatest political and conceptual challenge centered on the question of Palestinian statehood, and the territorial configuration of a future Palestinian state. The refugee issue was largely ignored by Israel and was postponed to the latter stages of the negotiations. Indeed, it was not until early summer 2000, just prior to the Camp David summit, that Israeli policy-makers undertook any significant preparatory work on this issue.