Returning to the Right of Return
Aussie Dave | Oct 10, 2007 | 3 comments
Message to EU: FU
The right of return must be included in all negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a senior spokeswoman for the European Union told Israeli reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.
Christiane Hohmann said the EU supports the Arab initiative in full, including all of its clauses.
She added that the matter of the right of return of Palestinian refugees will be discussed in talks between the parties and that a widespread solution was needed to solve the deep conflict.
And if the so-called palestinian refugee issue is brought up, it is incumbent on Israel to bring up the Jewish refugee issue, as I recently discussed here.
Meanwhile, here’s a palestinian right of return I can support.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: Uncategorized
Bringing up the Jewish refugee issue gives legitimacy to the Palestinian one. There have been population shifts throughout history. Refugees cease to be refugees after they have been re-settled. Certainly the children and grand children of refugees are no longer refugees. I do not want to see the Jewish refugee issue of over 60 years ago acknowledged in exchange for serious present day concessions on the part of Israel. I can just see the Iranian governmet saying to Jews “okay you can return to Iran if Palestinians can return to Israel (wink wink)”. There are no refugees now. The Palestinian “refugee” issue is for Lebanon, Gaza, and any other Arab country where the Palestinians were not allowed to assimilate. This is not the responsibility of Israel anymore than present day Israelis of Iraqi decent are the responsibility of Iraq.
Stan
I disagree that bringing up the Jewish refugee issue gives legitimacy to the palestinian one. It is important that the world know that the so-called palestinian refugees cannot return to Israel, just as the Jewish refugees cannot return to the Arab lands from which they had to flee. By ignoring the Jewish refugee issue, we actually allow the palestinians to gain free PR points, and keep the so-called right of return on the table.
But what you say about population shifts and descendants of refugees is spot on.
Permit me to post this bit of not entirely off-topic self-pimpage:
Ahmadinejad warns against passage of Holocaust bill
http://atlantarofters.blogspot.com/2007/10/ahmadinejad-warns-against-passage-of.html