Terry Rempel

'Known Knowns' and 'Unknown Unknowns': the UN and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Terry Rempel 7 April 2007



Presenting his last report to the UN Security Council in December 2006 outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan lamented that the ‘greatest irony’ in the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict was that there was “no serious question about the broad outline of a final settlement.” The only thing that was needed was a “new and urgent push for peace”. This simple assertion has become somewhat of an ‘article of faith’ among seasoned diplomats and policy analysts. Annan’s summary of the contours of a final settlement, however, is more specific than the Road Map, referring specifically to a solution for refugees “consistent with the character of States in the region.” 

Of war and population transfer

Terry Rempel 21 October 2002

How real is the threat of population transfer in Palestine-Israel today, asks Terry Rempel, the research coordinator at BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in this contribution to EI? The fact is that population transfer is ongoing, with or without a US-led war against Iraq, through the revocation of residency rights, destruction of thousands of Palestinian homes over the past two years among other measures. As pro-transfer rhetoric heats up in Israel and the US heads towards war what are the prospects for outright ethnic cleansing?