The Ottawa Process: Workshop on Compensation and Palestinian Refugees

This article uses the July 1999 conference on refugee compensation, the second in a series of workshops initiated by Canada and known collectively as the Ottawa process, to map out the major issues of compensation, highlighting the gaps between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. The conclusion examines some conceptual differences between the sides and implications of the Ottawa process itself concerning a resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue.

Terry Rempel is coordinator of research and information at BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in Bethlehem. His recent research includes contributions on Palestinian restitution in Jerusalem for the book, Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighborhoods and Their Fate in the War (Institute for Jerusalem Studies and BADIL, 1999).