Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/DataSetMerger.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/DataSetMerger.java	(revision 2934)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/DataSetMerger.java	(revision 2935)
@@ -306,7 +306,10 @@
             // same version, but target is deleted. Assume target takes precedence
             // otherwise too many conflicts when refreshing from the server
-            // but, if source has referrers there is a conflict
-            if (!source.getReferrers().isEmpty()) {
-                conflicts.add(target, source);
+            // but, if source has a referrer that is not in the target dataset there is a conflict
+            for (OsmPrimitive referrer: source.getReferrers()) {
+                if (targetDataSet.getPrimitiveById(referrer.getPrimitiveId()) == null) {
+                    conflicts.add(target, source);
+                    break;
+                }
             }
         } else if (target.isDeleted() != source.isDeleted()) {