More Articles on The Right of Return
Also see: More Articles on Recognizing Israel
Olmert
Rejects Return Of Any Palestinians Refugees
Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert has told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that
Israel will not allow the return of any
Palestinian refugees as part of a future statehood deal, Olmert's office
said on Thursday.
The rare official statement was issued in response to reports Olmert
proposed absorbing 2,000 refugees per year for 10
years as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state in most of
the occupied West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip.
-August 18
2008
all displaced palestinians will return to a future palestinian state, not
to israel. if the palestinians
cant accept this they can stay in the shitholes that they have made for
themselves!
Israel,
Palestinians Say No Deal On Refugees
Both
Israel and the Palestinians were denying a report on Thursday that they
had made any kind of deal on the issue of
Palestinian refugees.
-August 14
2008
the only deal should be: all palestinian refugees return to A FUTURE STATE
OF PALESTINE,
and give up all the nonsense of even one refugee returning to Israel. If
both sides cannot agree on
this, there will never be an agreement on this issue.
The
Forgotten Refugees
While
the Palestinian refugee problem has been granted preferential treatment
compared to any other refugees, it appears that the question of Jewish
refugees has been forgotten. The issue has been dealt with mainly by NGOs
such as the Justice for Jews of Arab Countries (JJAC) and Jewish leaders
such as Irwin Cotler.
-June 8 2008
What
Really Happened In The Middle East
-April 29 2008
i was originally not going to post this because it
is too pro-Jewish and talked too much about jewish persecution. but i have
decided to post it because it reveals some startling facts about the
middle east which many do not know. so pay attention to the history, not
the pro-jewish bias
US
Congress: Don't Forget About Jewish Refugees
The US House of
Representatives on Tuesday passed a non-binding resolution calling on the
administration to remember about the the hundreds of thousands of Jewish
refugees from Arab nations when conducting the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process.
-April 9 2008
as long as the US House does not degrade, neglect or
belittle the arab refugees, i have no problems with, and believe its
perfectly fair and balanced, for my government to take on this important
issue!
Saudis
Urge Right Of Return For Palestinians
Saud al-Faisal, the
Israeli official said, listed the core "final status" issues
that have to be resolved in the accelerated negotiating process launched
here, but specified the need for a "right of return" to the
refugees‚ a demand that was not specified in the public address by
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, nor contained in the Arab
League peace plan.
-December 2 2007
translation: Saudi Arabia has just called for
israel's destruction
Vatican
Official Says Palestinian Refugees Have Right Of Return
A Vatican official
said Wednesday that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their
homeland, and said he hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would address
the issue.
"It is my hope that all the parts of the problem are taken into
consideration such as that of the Palestinian refugees, who like all other
refugees, have the right to return to their homeland," Martino said.
-November 28 2007
the vatican just indirectly called for israel's
destruction. are we going to see the same rioting from the jews that we
saw from the muslims last year?
BBC:
Obstacle to Understanding on Refugees
Asser’s
depiction of the situation is, to use his word, “emotive,” but it’s
not factual. First, while there are, no doubt, some Palestinian refugees
whose families did inhabit the area for generations, the United Nations
definition for Palestinian refugees makes it very clear that many did not.
According to the Web
site
of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the UN body which handles
Palestinian refugees, those who inhabited Mandate Palestine for as little
as two years could qualify as refugees:
Under
UNRWA's operational definition, Palestine refugees are persons whose
normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948,
who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948
Arab-Israeli conflict. UNRWA's services are available to all those living
in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered
with the Agency and who need assistance. UNRWA's
definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became
refugees in 1948. The number of registered Palestine refugees has
subsequently grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than four million in 2002,
and continues to rise due to natural population growth.
(emphasis added)
The UNRWA definition, as well as Asser’s grossly inflated figures, count
the descendants of refugees as refugees, despite the fact that this
definition is contrary to international law. Thus, under the 1951
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who:
owing
to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,
is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such
fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or
who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former
habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such
fear, is unwilling to return to it.
-August 24 2007
the "refugee"
issue is an obstacle to peace in the israeli/palestinian conflict. Israel
is under no obligation to accept any refugees displaced in 1948 for THESE
REASONS. Israel was not 100% responsible for their displacement.
allowing even half of the displaced refugees will lead the destruction of
Israel as we know it, and this is why the palestinianss are pushing it.
The
"Nabka"
Recorded
documentation over a 55 year period prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that
both Arabism [Arab Nationalism] and Palestinian Leaders are responsible
for waging war; creating the refugee problem; and intentionally prolonging
the suffering and refugee status of the Palestinian people.
Not only the Fatah, but Arab leaders and media have unabashedly admitted
that the refugee issue and right of return are being used as a means to
destroy Israel. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser told an interviewer
on September 1, 1961
"If the refugees return to Israel, Israel will cease to exist."
-April 25 2007
Palestinians
Reject The Right of Return
A
large and growing number of young Palestinians born abroad have no
interest in coming to the Palestinian Authority or Israel, Palestinians in
London have told Ynetnews.
"If
we returned to the Palestinian territories, we would feel like second
class citizens,"
he added. "We have different accents. We
don't have any homes in West Bank and Gaza. For us, it will be more
desirable to live in Arab countries and Europe,"
he explained.
"No one wants to live there, not because we don't like our country
Palestine, but because we can't live there," Rahim added. "If we
all went, it would destroy the Palestinian economy. If we got an
opportunity to live in Europe, we would enjoy a good standard of life. We
can visit Palestine," he said.
"There are thousands of us who share this view," he said.
"We want to start a campaign. We have the right to determine our own
destination. Not all refugees want to return to Palestine, it's not
practical," he added.
Tarek, another Palestinian living in London, agreed. "I don't want to
go back," he said, speaking on the phone from London. "I'm ok
here. I can work, I have a job, and a house. This is a good, safe place,
and I want to stay," Tarek said.
-April 18 2007
my question to all
Palestinians: if you hate Israel so much why the hell do you insist on
going back there?
Saudi
Journalist: The Right of Return is an Illusion
In
the first article, published March 5, 2007 and titled "On the
Impossible [Idea] of the Right of Return," Al-Sweidan wrote:
"...The slogan 'right of return'... which is brandished by
Palestinian organizations, is perceived as one of the greatest
difficulties and as the main obstacle to renewing and advancing the peace
process between the Israelis and the Palestinians based on the Road Map
and a two-state solution.
"It is patently obvious that uprooting the descendents of the
refugees from their current homes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and other
countries, and returning them to Israel, to the West Bank, and to Gaza is
a utopian ideal and [a recipe for] anarchy. More than that - it is an idea
that cannot be implemented, not only because it will upset the demographic
[balance] in a dangerous and destructive manner, and will have
[far-reaching] political, economic and social ramifications in such a
small and constrained geographical area, but [mainly] because the return
[of the refugees] stands in blatant contradiction to Israel's right as a
sovereign [state], while the Palestinian Authority lacks the
infrastructure to absorb such a large number of immigrants as long as the
peace process... is not at its peak..."
"Clearly, the refugee problem is mainly the result of cumulative
mistakes made by the countries where [the refugees] live... such as Syria
and Lebanon, which have isolated the refugees in poor and shabby camps
lacking the most basic conditions for a dignified human existence. Instead
of helping them to become fully integrated in their new society, they let
them become victims of isolation and suffering... Later, the worst of all
happened when Arab intelligence agencies used the Palestinian
organizations as a tool for settling scores in internal Arab conflicts
that probably have nothing to do with the Palestinians...
-April 16 2007
no. this seems a little too
good to be true. i did some research on this author, and i could not find
any other reference to him other than this one article. The partisan,
MEMRI, is not the most reliable source of information. this article is
100% correct though.
The
Right of Return: What If The Shoe Were On The Other Foot?
Even
if some were in fact forced to leave by Israeli military commanders, such
actions were in response to the attack by the Palestinians.
Olmert is absolutely right as a matter of principle. The best proof of the
correctness of his view is to imagine what would be happening today if the
shoe were on the other foot. Imagine if the Palestinians had won and many
Israelis had been forced to leave, while others left of their own volition
or as the result of fear. Now imagine those Israelis seeking a right of
return, either in the immediate aftermath of the war or sixty years later.
It is inconceivable that a Palestinian state would grant Jewish refugees a
right of return. Certainly that would be true if the number of Israeli
refugees and their descendants threatened to outnumber the Palestinian
population. How can a right of return go only one way?
-April 9 2007
Olmert:
Not One Refugee Can Return
While the Prime
Minister's Office had no formal reaction to the Arab League's
land-and-refugees-for-peace initiative relaunched in Riyadh on Thursday,
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told The Jerusalem Post there is absolutely no
wiggle room on the refugee issue.
Olmert reiterated that Israel would not accept the return to Israel of any
refugees. It is "out of the question," he said. "I'll never
accept a solution that is based on their return to Israel, any
number."
"I will not agree to accept any kind of Israel responsibility for the
refugees. Full stop," he said. "It's a moral issue of the
highest level. I don't think that we should accept any kind of
responsibility for the creation of this problem."
-March 30 2007
wow! olmert said something smart! the right of
return is based on the ficticious claims that 1) the zionists expelled the
Arabs from their homes in 1947-48 and 2) Israel was responsible for the
refugee problem. The majority of Palestinians left Israel WILLINGLY either
to escape an upcoming war between the Zionists and the Arab armies, or on
the order of the Arab leaders. The Arabs were encouraging Israel's Arab
population to leave so that no Arabs would be killed during the invasion.
The Israeli Arabs were psomised that the Zionists would be defeated and
that they would return to their homes as victors. The rest his history.
The Arab leaders are responsible for the refugee problem and THEY must
take responsiblity for it, not Israel.
The right of return is just another way for calling for Israel's
destruction. If there is one thing Olmert is doing right, it is that he is
protecting his country by rejecting the right of return
Arab
League to Israel: Present Your Own Peace Initiative
"We expect an
offer by Israel," Moussa told reporters after talks with Jordanian
Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah al-Khatib. He did not provide details on the
kind of initiative the Arab League hopes for from Israel.
"In so far as peace is concerned, we fail to see any offer, any
serious talk of peace," he said of Olmert's government. "What we
see is the same old policy of building settlements, procrastination, of
resorting to tricks one after the other in order to waste time."
-March 20 2007
that is an excellent idea! Why doesn't Israel offer
a counter-proposal to the Arab League that does not include the
provocative "right of return" clause? Even if the league rejects
it, the world will see that Israel has tried to make peace with its Arab
neighbors.
Why
There is No Palestinian State Today
Its been almost 60
years since the passage of U.N. Resolution 181 which created the state of
Israel. The same resolution also called for the creation of an Arab
Palestinian state. Yet today, in 2007, there is no Palestinian state, and
it doesn't look like there is going to be one anytime soon. Why is this?
Is it because the Palestinian people have never been offered a chance at
statehood? Is it because those greedy, evil Israelis aren't allowing a
Palestinian state to be formed? Is it because the rest of the world
doesn't want, or is preventing the formation of a Palestinian state? Or is
it because the Palestinians are simply incapable of handling statehood?
The answer is none of the above. The Palestinians have been offered (and
will probably continue to be offered) their own state many times
throughout history. The Israelis and the rest of the world have no problem
with, and in fact would prefer the existence of a Palestinian state. And
the Palestinians are perfectly capable of handling statehood. There is,
however, one major reason why the Palestinians dont have a state, and why,
at this moment, they do not deserve a state. And this reason is their
refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. This is also the #1
source of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Palestinian terrorism and
Israeli settlement activity are secondary problems. The Palestinians'
consistent refusal to recognize Israel is by far the #1 problem.
-March 15 2007
The
Saudi Peace Plan
The Israelis
rejected this proposal for one reason: the clause calling for Israel to
accept the right of return. While the first four terms of this proposal
are reasonable, Israel should and must reject the last item. The right of
return is based on the false assumption that the Zionist forcibly expelled
the Arabs living in pre-state Israel. If Israel were to accept the right
of return, they will effectively be admitting to a crime they did not
commit. Aside from this, Israel must reject the right of return in order
to preserve their demographic identity.
The peace conference to be held later this month is supposedly intended to
improve the peace offer to end the Israeli-Arab conflict and establish
peace with Israel. However, it seems unlikely that the Arab league will
modify the proposal to one that is acceptable for Israel. The Arabs want
the Palestinian refugees to return to Israel to get them out of their
respective countries. Another motivation for the Arab League to push for
the right of return is because they know that Israel cannot accept this
term because if even half of the 4 million refugees return, Israel wont be
Israel anymore. The Arabs know that Israel will reject the right of return
clause no matter what. Therefore, the motivation of the Arab league to
offer this proposal is to show the rest of the world that the Arabs are
trying to make peace and it is Israel that is rejecting it.
-March 15 2007
Palestinian
Refugee's Right of Return
Palestinian Arabs
claim that any peace agreement with Israel must allow the descendants and
families of these refugees, numbering about 4 million, to return to
Israel. This is the position adopted at present (2006) by the moderate
Palestinian leadership of Mahmud Abbas, enunciated in the
"moderate" Palestinian Prisoners' Document and presented as well
by Palestinian negotiators at Taba in 2001: In the Palestinian
"compromise" proposal, all refugees would return to Israel
gradually. Jews would became a minority in their own state. Return of the
refugees would put an end to Jewish self determination and the Jewish
homeland, yet Arab Palestinians and their supporters insist that this
solution is "justice" demanded by international law. Here, we
examine the legal and humanitarian considerations behind this claim.
-March 15 2007
UN
Committee: Israel Should Accept the Right of Return
A United Nations committee
has called on Israel to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their
property and land in Israel and to ensure that the bodies responsible for
distributing property, such as the Jewish National Fund, not discriminate
against the Arab population.
-March 12 2007
oh yea, like the U.N. has any credibility left when
it comes to Israel
Jordan's
Palestinians Debate the Right of Return
"They cannot do this.
They don't have the right to give up this section [of the proposal]. No
one does," says a Palestinian refugee, originally from Haifa, living
in Amman.
"I am a Palestinian, and so I have the right to go to
Palestine," says A, whose family came from the Beersheba area. He now
resides near Jerash, north of Amman. "I am not grounded in this
country, so of course I have to go back to Palestine," he says.
"At university, none of my Palestinian friends was politically
active, or anything like that," says one recent graduate. "We
are Palestinian, but for some it is nothing more than a name. I am maybe
different, for me it is important. Palestine is something missing for
me."
"It doesn't mean return to the same house or the same street. I don't
care if the flag is blue and white. The right of the Palestinians is to
their homeland. If people, the Israelis, have immigrated to this homeland,
then these newcomers do not have superior rights, they should have equal
rights."
"For the sake of peace, I would give up the return to Palestine, and
stay here in Amman, because I have a home and my family is here, and I am
a full citizen with a passport. But I would still have the right to
visit," says a Palestinian in Amman whose family fled to Jordan from
Lod in 1948.
-March 12 2007
Analysis:
Why the Arab Summit Will Not Accept Israel's Demand to Modify the 2002
Peace Plan
It's highly unlikely
that the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia later this month will accept Israel's
demand to "modify" the section in the 2002 Arab peace plan that
calls for the right of return for all Palestinian refugees "in
accordance with United Nations Resolution 194." The reason: The Arab
governments want the refugees out - and the sooner the better.
Almost half of the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA
live in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, where they have long been suffering
from severe and inhuman restrictions involving residency rights, freedom
of movement and employment, as well as property ownership rights.
"The Arab countries don't want to absorb the Palestinian
refugees," said an official with the PLO Department of Refugees.
"They are eager to get rid of the refugee camps in the Arab
countries. That's why they are insisting that the Palestinians should
return to their homes."
Both the PLO and Hamas are strongly opposed - for political reasons - to
the resettlement of refugees in Arab countries and insist on their
"right of return." This, despite the fact that some of the
refugees are aware that they will never be allowed to return to their
original homes inside Israel.
On the other hand, many of these refugees are unlikely, under the current
circumstances, to accept an offer to move to the West Bank or Gaza Strip,
where their chances of improving their living conditions are slim. There
is no doubt that many would agree to stay in the Arab world once they are
offered citizenship, jobs and a better life away from the impoverished
refugee camps.
-March 5 2007
see: With
Palestine Against the Palestinians.
Israel
Pushing to Improve Saudi Peace Initiative
Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni presented Israel's demands yesterday. First and foremost, she
said, Israel objects to the document's section on the Palestinian
refugees, which was not part of the initial Saudi draft, but was added at
the 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut.
Livni said that the original draft presented by King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia "was, in my view, positive." That draft called for a full
Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders in exchange for peace and
normalization with the entire Arab world.
"Admittedly, the initiative spoke of the 1967 lines, but I only wish
we were in a situation in which the conflict was just a border
dispute," she added.
The new article inserted at the 2002 Beirut summit, however, demanded a
"just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, to be agreed upon
in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194," and that
resolution calls for allowing the refugees to return to Israel. It
therefore contradicts Israel's vision of a two-state solution, which,
explained Livni, calls for a Jewish national homeland alongside a
Palestinian national homeland, with the latter serving as the solution for
the Palestinian refugees.
-March 2 2007
Israel is more than happy to accept this peace deal
with the Arab world IF they drop the so called "right of
return". and thats perfectly reasonable. The right of return is based
on the very common myth that the Zionists forcibly expelled the displaced
Arabs out of Israel in 1947-48. By accepting the right of return, Israel
will be indirectly confirming this myth to the rest of the world, and
thereby accepting responsibility for a crime they did not committ. The
"right of return" is just a fancy way of calling for Israel's
destruction. If even half of the 4 million refuge
