Israel, the Jewish diaspora, and the Palestinian refugee issue: a mixed relationship

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how powerful diaspora individuals become involved in homeland affairs and the resulting struggles over agency and influence between diaspora and homeland actors. To this end, we analyze plans advanced by Jewish diaspora individuals to resolve the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the wake of the 1967 War and Israel’s reactions to these plans. On the one hand, Israeli officials were interested in the diaspora entrepreneurs’ resources, were careful not to antagonize them, and were willing to hear their suggestions. On the other hand, they generally opposed the diaspora’s involvement in a sensitive political issue such as the Refugee Problem. Israel’s reluctance led to a complex dynamic, in which Israel and the diaspora entrepreneurs negotiated the extent and nature of diasporic action.

KEYWORDS:

• Israel
• diaspora
• Palestinian Refugee Problem
• diaspora entrepreneurs
• Arab-Israeli conflict

Acknowledgments

The research for this article was supported by the Knapp Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, the Golda Meir and Simcha Pratt Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations. An earlier draft of this article was presented at the International Studies Association 2022 Annual Convention. We thank the Argov Center for the study of Israel and the Jewish People at Bar-Ilan University for supporting the production of the manuscript, and Dženeta Karabegović, Yehonatan Abramson, Rebecca Wolpe, Keren Halamit, and the editors and reviewers of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Eshkol to Eban, 23 August 1967: Israel State Archives, Jerusalem (henceforth ISA)/G/6694/3.

2 The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: a digitized version, in: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (Volume 5, Tables 1, 37): https://www.levyinstitute.org/palestinian-census/.

3 ‘Transcript of the Security Cabinet,’ 14 June 1967, ISA-PMO-MinisterialCommitteesSecurity-0013qq9: https://www.archives.gov.il/archives/Archive/0b0717068031be32/File/0b0717068526a92b; US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, document 308: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d308.

4 ‘Transcript of the Security Cabinet,’ 15 June 1967, ISA-PMO-MinisterialCommitteesSecurity-0013qq9: https://www.archives.gov.il/product-page/2334560. The concept of population exchange (or transfer) was considered a legitimate tool in international relations in the mid-twentieth century as a ‘solution’ to the ‘minority problems’ of European nation-states (Frank 2017, 2–3).

5 ‘Transcript of the Security Cabinet,’ 15 June 1967, ISA-PMO-MinisterialCommitteesSecurity-0013qq9: https://www.archives.gov.il/product-page/2334560.

6 Ibid.

7 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Khartoum resolution, 1 September 1967: https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/the-khartoum-resolutions.

8 Harkavi to Hillel and Lorch, 14 February 1969: ISA/MFA/4178/4; ‘Memorandum para o Sr. Chefe do Departamento Consular e de Imigração,’ 4 March 1972: Brazilian Foreign Ministry Archives, Brasília/Memorandos/Secreto/DCI/42.

9 Dotan to Herlits, 23 July 1964: ISA/MFA/3525/20.

10 See, for example, Klabin to Baron Rothschild, 27 July 1967: Israel Klabin Personal Archives, Rio de Janeiro (henceforth IKPA)/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

11 ‘Rothschild vs. Rothschild,’ Maariv, 24 September 1980, 23.

12 Klabin to Javits, 19 June 1967: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

13 New York Times, 17 July 1967, 3; Harman to Bitan, 20 July 1967; MFA to Harman, 27 July 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

14 Javits to Rothschild, 12 July 1967. Attached to Gordon to Ben-Artzi, 20 July 1967: ISA/MFA/7446/12.

15 On the aims of the conference see Maariv, 9 August 1967, 1.

16 Ben Horin to Divon, 30 August 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

17 Divon to Ben Horin, 8 September 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

18 Sapir to MFA, 25 September 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

19 Hillel to Herzog, 22 November 1967; Kidron to Hillel, 12 December 1967; Hillel to Kidron, 15 December 1967: ISA/A/7446/13.

20 Klabin to Herzog, 20 November 1968: ISA/A/7446/13.

21 Klabin to unknown recipient, 10 December 1968: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

22 Aviad to Sasson, 25 August 1970: ISA/A/7446/14.

23 MFA to Aviad, 27 August 1970: ISA/A/7446/14.

24 Shafir to Klabin, 23 March 1970: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

25 See, for example, Shafir to Klabin, 23 March 1970: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

26 Herzog to Remez, 31 July 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

27 Israeli Government Meeting records, 3 September 1967, ISA-PMO-GovernmentMeeting-0002ees: https://www.archives.gov.il/archives/Archive/0b0717068031be30/File/0b07170680348bd6/Item/090717068522d7a2.

28 Josephson to Files, 1 July 1968: ISA/MFA/7446/13.

29 Remez to Comay, 26 July 1968: ISA/MFA/7446/13.

30 Rothschild to Herzog, 24 June 1968: ISA/MFA/7446/13.

31 Comay to Luria, 9 December 1970: ISA/MFA/7446/14.

32 Jerusalem to Washington, 3 August 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

33 Harman to Bitan, 24 July 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

34 Comay to Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, 4 August 1968: ISA/P/4794/5.

35 ‘Meeting on the Refugee Problem,’ 27 August 1969, pp. 23–24: ISA/A/7446/14.

36 Herlits to Jerusalem, 11 August 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

37 Klabin to Baron Rothschild, 1 September 1967: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

38 Rabin to Herzog, 27 May 1969: ISA/A/7446/13.

39 Draft of a letter from Klabin to Zvi Dinstein, sent to Herzog for approval. Klabin to Herzog, 18 February 1970: IKPA/Correspondências/Yaacov Herzog.

40 Klabin to Rabin, 8 October 1969: IKPA/Judaísmo/Refugiados.

41 Comay to Rabin, Tekoah, and Remez, 30 June 1968: ISA/MFA/4633/14.

42 Herzog to Rabin, undated draft: ISA/A/7446/13.

43 Herzog to Rothschild, 4 February 1968: ISA/P/4794/5.

44 Minutes of the Governmental Committee on the Territories, 5 December 1968: ISA/A/7354/3.

45 Herzog to Remez, 4 June 1969: ISA/A/7446/13.

46 New York Times, 17 July 1967, 3; Harman to Bitan, 20 July 1967; MFA to Harman, 27 July 1967: ISA/A/7446/12.

47 Remez to Jerusalem, 3 July 1967: ISA/A/7446/12; Remez to Jerusalem, 17 July 1968: ISA/A/7446/13.

48 Remez to Jerusalem, 4 October 1968: ISA/A/7446/13.