UN General Assembly
1967

141. The situation in the Middle East cannot be touched on without some mention of the question of the Arab refugees. It is this problem more than any other which ensured that bitterness, tension and violence would remain endemic in the area. In the recent conflict, as in that of 1948, Arab families fled from the dangers of war. Many of those families now find themselves dispossessed of their homes and their fields. The weight of world opinion has prevented the Israeli authorities from closing the door entirely to people who are trying to return to their homes. But the prospect of return remains small for the majority of those refugees who were unable to make use of the limited facilities for return in the limited period of time allotted for this purpose. Israel's illegal occupation of Jordanian territory has thus compounded the problems and increased the bitterness created by the existing refugee situation, It is a clear illustration of that Zionist policy which has already dispossessed so many of the Arab people and which aims at continuing the process.