Any settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must provide a
solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, one of the core issues
of the conflict. The Palestinian refugees who were subjected to
massacres (Deir Yassin, Tantora, al-Khatib...etc.), massive
expulsion, and physical and psychological intimidation left their
homes hoping to return as soon as the canons had stopped. No
civilian is required to stay in the battlefield, especially when
there is a real threat to his safety. The Palestinian refugees'
Right of Return or compensation is guaranteed in UN General
Assembly resolution 194.
On the other hand, the Israelis argue that Israel was established
as a Jewish state to provide an answer to the Jewish need for a
national homeland. They insist on preserving the Jewish majority of
their state, and fear that a massive return of Palestinian refugees
may endanger that majority. The injustice done to the Palestinian
people by uprooting them from their homeland, and turning them into
refugees, could never be justified. Even those Palestinians who did
not leave their homes and stayed in Palestine, whether in what
became Israel, or in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
are not in a better situation.
The Palestinians who remained in their villages inside the newborn
state of Israel may have become citizens of that state but never
enjoyed all the same rights of its Jewish citizens. They were
subjected to internal displacement, military rule for more than two
decades and obvious discrimination compared with their Jewish
fellow citizens. This discrimination is not just against the Arab
individual, but also against the Arab Local Councils and
institutions especially in land acquisition, town planning and
budgets.
Yet, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are subjected to
further land confiscation and oppression by the Israeli military
occupation and by Jewish settlers in the Palestinian Occupied
Territories.
The Israelis argue that on the background of their bitter
historical experience, especially the Holocaust, they need a Jewish
state, with a Jewish majority. For many Palestinians this sounds
strange. They are not capable of understanding why they cannot go
back to their homes and lands inside Israel, and live in a
bi-national state together with the Jews, as equal citizens of the
same state.
We should not debate the past. Each side will come with a long list
of arguments to support his own position, and another list of
atrocities done to him by the other. Debating the past will lead
nowhere, except to more bitter feelings on both sides. But knowing
what happened in the past could help to provide a vehicle to move
from the present to a better future. Examining the present tells us
that the clock could not be turned back. A realistic look at the
Palestinian refugees in their different geographical locations will
show that many have already started another life somewhere else.
Most would rather stay where they are, yet they will demand two
things: a Palestinian state with which they will sympathize and
even identify, and have as a national shelter in case of future
persecution anytime, anywhere. And their individual claims for loss
of property, or damage or human suffering. This could be addressed
by compensations according to UN resolution 194. Only a small
portion of refugees, especially those in Lebanese and Syrian
refugee camps, still need to be settled. They insist on their Right
of Return, to state, and to national dignity.
Within a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli Palestinian
conflict, Israel should initiate the establishment of an
International Fund to compensate the Palestinian refugees who will
choose not to return, and those who will not be able to practice
their Right of Return to their homes and lands, including those who
will practice this right but to the future Palestinian state. The
future should be addressed with openness, realism, and a spirit of
conciliation. Negotiations over the Palestinian refugee problem
could be established according to UN resolution 194. But any
solution to this problem should be agreed upon by both sides.
UN resolution 181 lays down the foundations and the international
legitimacy for the creation of two states in Palestine. A Jewish
state, and an Arab state. If this is the understanding of the
political settlement to the conflict, then it is well understood,
that any solution to the refugee problem in accordance to UNGA
resolution 194 should not revoke resolution 181. The two state
solution should be respected. A Palestinian Arab State alongside
the Israeli Jewish State.