Right to return essential to peace
The recognition and implementation of the right of Palestinian
refugees to return to their homeland is an essential prerequisite
to any just and lasting peace between Israelis and
Palestinians.
Zionist ideology and the founding of the State of Israel are
based on transferring the native population ““ a practice
known today as “ethnic cleansing.” Jewish leaders
talked about the need to “spirit the penniless population
across the frontier” (Theodore Herzl, 1895); “We must
be prepared either to drive out by the sword the (Arab)
tribes” (Israel Zangwill, 1904); and “The way is to
transfer the Arabs. … Not one village, not one tribe should be
left” (Joseph Weitz, 1940).
In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their
homes through the use of terror. In Deir Yassin, Jewish
paramilitaries went from home to home and slaughtered men, women
and children. This news was relayed to other villages as a signal
of what could befall them if they stayed.
Today, the Palestinian refugees and their descendants number
more than 5 million, and they are still waiting to return to their
homes. Their right to return is enshrined in international law and
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his
own, and to return to his country.”
U.N. resolutions have been passed that reaffirm the Palestinian
right to return, including Resolution 194, which “resolves
that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at
peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the
earliest practicable date.”
Any agreement based on the violation of this basic and
inalienable human right is one that attempts to legitimize
injustice, and cannot possibly lead to peace.
True to Zionist ideology, Leeron Morad (Letters, April 18) is
concerned about maintaining the “Jewish character” of
Israel. The zero-sum equation of Zionist reasoning dictates that
the survival of the colonialists’ illegitimate statehood is
based on the dispossession of the Palestinians, and the continued
violation of their human rights. A “Jewish state,” by
definition, is one based on religious supremacy. As such, it needs
to be replaced by one more consistent with the civilized ideals of
equality and democracy.
The refugees must be allowed to return and live as equals, in
one state for all its citizens, free of institutionalized
discrimination. Just as in South Africa, justice and equality are
essential components of a durable peace.
Haithem El-Zabri Organizer, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right
to Return Coalition