Source: International Relations and Diplomacy, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2017

Abstract: Since its origin in the first Middle East War in 1948, the Palestinian refugee problem has not been properly resolved. Over the years, the key stakeholder Israel has put forward a variety of plans and countermeasures on refugee issues in multilateral and bilateral diplomatic stages. Researches on these policies of Israel on Palestinian refugees are crucial for solving this problem. The right wing and the left wing of political parties in Israel - Israel’s Likud and Labor Party had the longest and most influential rulings in the country. The refugee policies they have taken during their administrations have an impact on the development of the peace process in the Middle East, and also play a direct role in solving the problem of refugees. Through the analysis on refugee policies of the ruling party in various stages of the evolvement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, we can compare the Labor Party’s and the Likud Party’s policies for Palestinian refugees, and found that the policies of these two parties are consistent and similar on the issue of refugees, for example, neither of them recognize the responsibility of Israel on refugees, and they both denied the “right to return” of refugees, etc. In terms of the specific implementation of the policies, there are differences between them: the Likud Party was significantly tougher than the Labor Party. Both Labor and Likud is being affected by domestic and international factors, such as homeland security, the Jewish state property, political system, Jewish mentality and the support of the United States and other factors, so their policies are consistent; however, due to different historical factions, different voter groups, and national interests as well as the interests of the parties in different periods, the two parties have different refugee policies.

Key Words: Palestinian refugees, Israeli politics, the Labor Party, the Likud Party, policy comparison

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