The Right Of Return And The Recent Challenge

Omar Kilani     Al-Hayat     2003/08/4

Every time the armed conflict between Palestinians and Israelis tones down and shifts to a political conflict aimed at reaching a settlement or peace, whether based on an agreement, a protocol or a Roadmap as is currently the case, the issue of right of return of the Palestinian refugees surfaces as if it were the heart of the political conflict. The Israelis are calling for canceling or disclaiming this right, while the Palestinians are clinging to it because it is sacred, and cannot be subject to cancellation or modification, and is vital for a fair settlement and sustainable peace.

The current truce between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was hardly achieved, as a first step to start implementing the Roadmap, that Israelis from various spectrums of the society opened the battle to cancel and disclaim the right of return. This requires all Palestinians - the Authority, the factions, the forces and the civil organizations - to mobilize to insist on their adherence to this right and the impossibility of canceling or disclaiming it, regardless of the causes and results. The Israeli Knesset ratified a law that bans the implementation of the right of return. Sharon told the U.S. Secretary of State that he will only approve the Roadmap if the Palestinians give up this right. The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom, ordered the Israeli diplomatic corps to stop using the term "right of return," even if they are calling to cancel it and use instead the term "wish to return." The Israeli minister's legal advisor issued a legal opinion claiming that the right of return means nothing in international law, whether to the Palestinians or to any other people. He advised the Israeli diplomacy to maintain that there is a need to find a solution to the refugees' problem, instead of saying the Palestinians should give up their right of return, because such right means nothing in international law!

The current battle being waged by Israel is merely the continuation of former battles. However, it might be the most ferocious and no doubt, it will not be the last one, no matter how hard Israel keeps trying, as long as the Palestinians kept holding on to this constant right. Israel wants to get rid of the Palestinian refugees' right of return to their land and properties, stipulated in UN resolution 194. It is trying to have the Palestinians officially agree to close the 1948 war file and accept the results of this war.      

According to the Israeli point of view, the Palestinians' recognizing Israel and its right to exist in addition to signing a peace agreement with it, remains legally incomplete unless the Palestinians concede this right and agree to cancel it from the UN resolutions.

In return, every time the Israelis attack the right of return, the Palestinians are mobilizing their forces to defend it, insisting on its sanctity as one of the constant rights. After signing the Oslo Accords and the ensuing agreements, the Palestinian refugees organized themselves in committees, movements and organizations, with a mission to defend this right and refuse its cancellation, as stipulated in the statements issued after the seminars, meetings and conferences that were held for that purpose in many Palestinian, Arab and foreign cities and capitals. Despite everything, the Palestinians are feeling that recent dangers are threatening the right of return, especially when they see Palestinian officials forced to bow a little or a lot in front of Israeli storms, challenges and suggestions, in an attempt to show that they understand or are ready to collaborate with the Israelis on the possibility of canceling this right.

If we read carefully the positions regarding the right of return, we note:

1- Israel will never allow the Palestinian refugees to practice their right in accordance with resolution 194, and the Israelis unanimously refuse this because they believe that if they do, this will undermine the character of Israel as a Jewish state. Hence, it views the Palestinians' upholding of this right as an expression of the Palestinian and Arab desire to cancel the Israeli presence as a whole.

2- The Palestinians, the Authority as well as the factions and the public at large, will never agree to cancel or disclaim this right, regardless of the incentives or threats.

Despite these contradictory stances, dialogue and discussions are still under way between the Palestinians and Israelis, and sometimes with the Americans, in a bid to find a way out of this impasse, especially regarding Israel's insistence that no Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza can be approved as long as the Palestinian Authority clings on to this right. The Israeli tendency, and the American one to a certain extent, suggests that the Palestinian refugees return to the promised Palestinian state and not to Israel, in return for dismantling the settlements from the West Bank and Gaza. While awaiting the results of the contacts, dialogues and negotiations between Israel and Palestine under U.S. mediation, the right to return will remain subject to tempests because it seems to be an impossible task to find a way out. The only possible way to overcome it is when an agreement will be reached between the Palestinians and Israelis regarding the creation of a state. This could be the strongest desire at the official level, both Israeli and Palestinian, and will left as a claim or strategic objective to be achieved in new times, balance of power, psychologies and wills.

*Mr. Kilani is a Palestinian writer