Published by the Palestinian Return Centre, this study examines the situation of internally displaced Palestinians – people who were driven from their villages and towns in 1948 but remained inside what became Israel. Classified by Israeli law as “present absentees”, they were made citizens yet were barred from returning to their homes, and their land was confiscated under the Absentees’ Property Law.

The book traces the history of their displacement, the legal mechanisms used to dispossess them, the destruction of their villages and their ongoing struggle to return. It situates their case within international law on refugees and internally displaced persons and the broader Palestinian right of return.