The Contemporary Middle East. A Documentary History

to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to
do so at the earliest practicable date”; those who did not return should be compensated
for the property they had lost or left behind. Little came of this provision because Israel
would accept only 100,000 of the refugees; in 1951 Israel offered to help pay for reset-
tling the refugees in Arab countries, but nothing came of this offer. Palestinians con-
tinue to cite the resolution as the legal basis for refugees’ and their descendants’ so-
called right of return to Israel, an interpretation the Israeli government rejects.
It was not until January 6, 1949, that Egypt—the last Arab country engaged in seri-
ous fighting against Israel—agreed to UN-sponsored negotiations to craft a formal
armistice. The negotiations, held on the island of Rhodes, were mediated by American
diplomat Ralph Bunche, who had been Bernadotte’s chief assistant. The Egyptians
refused at first to meet face-to-face with the Israelis, forcing Bunche to shuttle between
the two delegations until the Egyptians agreed to joint meetings. Bunche secured an
armistice agreement on February 24 that locked in place most of the existing lines that
each country controlled. It in effect extended Israeli control over the Negev but allowed
Egypt to control the Gaza Strip, recently crowded with Palestinian Arab refugees.
The armistice did not constitute a peace treaty nor, at Egyptian insistence, did it
imply Cairo’s recognition of the State of Israel. The agreement simply held out the

ARABS AND ISRAELIS 73

CYPRUS

Port

Said

Gaza

Jerusalem

Tel Aviv

Haifa

EGYPT

JORDAN

ISRAEL

LEBANON

SYRIA

Suez

Suez

Canal

EGYPT

Dead Sea

Sea of Galilee

Gulf ofSuez

Mediterranean Sea

Gulf of Aqaba

100 KM

100 Miles

0

0

Jewish

State

Israel after the 1948–1949 War.