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PALESTINIAN REFUGEES AND
THE RIGHT OF RETURN: A SYNOPSIS
Adel. K. Afifi, M.D., May, 2004
ii. Israel denies them their right of
return. ii. The second lie is the slogan propagated
by Israel that “Palestine was a land without people for people
without land.” 2. A comparison of the depopulation date of each captured village and town with the date of Israeli military operations shows that practically no exodus took place outside the period of hostilities, their departure had been forced on them by military action. 3. Accounts of expulsions reveal that, when expelled, villagers and town people moved to a nearby safe place or stayed with relatives, awaiting an opportunity to return. Those who attempted to return to their villages were shot as infiltrators. Soon after their houses were destroyed and their harvest burned to prevent their return. 4. In 1994, the number of refugees had grown to almost four and a half million (4,476,000). Of these, 30% still live in the West Bank and Gaza, 53% live in neighboring Arab countries. Thus, in toto, 83% of the Palestinian refugees, and 88% of the Palestinians, are still in Palestine or within 100 miles of its borders. The rest are located in the Gulf States, Europe, and the Americas. 5. The numbers of Palestinian refugees in 2004, if defined to include descendants of 1948 refugees and those displaced from the West Bank and Gaza strip displaced in 1967, stand at between four and six million, comprising two-thirds of the Palestinian people. 6. Ninety-two percent (92%) of contemporary
Israel is made up of Palestinian land. Eighty-five percent (85%) of
the land belongs to Palestinians who became refugees, 7% belongs to
Palestinians who remained in Israel. 8. In 1948, the Israeli State began to
consolidate an official discourse that enabled most Israeli Jews to
“forget what they once knew – that during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,
a large number of Palestinian Arabs were ethnically cleansed from
the territories that became the State Of Israel, The official Israeli narrative regarding the exodus, propagated by Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister and Defense Minister, states: a. that the refugees were not expelled but fled before and during 1948, encouraged to do so by local and external Arab leaders. b. that there are also Jewish refugees
(inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter of the old city in Jerusalem and
of isolated settlements captured by Egyptians in the Negev.) The Palestinian narrative about causes of
the exodus, as developed initially by Walid Khalidi and later by Nur
Masalha, provide evidence for a master Zionist plan (Plan Dalet) for
expulsion of Palestinians. This narrative states that those who left
on their own are some of the elite families, estimated to be
approximately 70,000 who left by January 1948. Even those left with
the intention of returning. They left without their possessions and
did not sell their property.
V. CATEGORIES OF REFUGEES b. 1967 Refugees c. Internal Palestinian Refugees. Israeli Palestinians who are in Israel and were there before its creation, but who were denied return to their homes and villages inside Israel. d. Palestinian inhabitants of the city of
Jerusalem (Refugee problem in the making). When Israel occupied East
Jerusalem in the 1967 war, it treated the Palestinian inhabitants of
Jerusalem as “residents” and issued them with resident permits
subject to renewal at the discretion of Israeli authorities. They
were then treated as “aliens”, not as people who have lived in their
own country for generations. Many Jerusalemites who happened to be
away for work or study at the time of the occupation lost their
right to return to their hometown, Jerusalem. a. Article 13 of the Declaration states: “Every one has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”. Under the Declaration, this right is absolute, and its exercise is at the will of the individual and not the authority in control of the country. b. Under Article 30 of the Declaration, states are prohibited from taking measures which may destroy any of the rights guaranteed under the Declaration, including the right of return. c. Israel is thus in violation of articles
13 and 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 12 of the Covenant states “ No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” The Covenant refers to one’s “own country”
and not “country of nationality”, i.e. Israeli nationality. Article 49 of the Geneva Convention
states “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as
deportation of protected persons from occupied territory to the
territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country,
occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of the motive.” On September 17, 1948, one day before his
assassination in Jerusalem by members of the Zionist terrorist
organization, the Stern Gang, UN mediator Count Bernadotte submitted
a report to the UN in which he states “The right of innocent
people, uprooted from their homes by terror and ravages of war, to
return to their homes, should be affirmed and made effective, with
assurances of adequate compensation for the property of those who
may choose not to return.” On December 11, 1948, the UN General
Assembly adopted resolution # 194 which states “Resolves that the
refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with
their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the
property of those choosing not to return and for the loss of or
damage to property which, under principles of international law or
in equity, should be made good by the Government or authorities
responsible.” 1. The draft of resolution #194 was introduced by the United Kingdom. 2. Guatemala suggested that Israel should be required to repatriate only upon an overall settlement and proposed an amendment adding “after the proclamation of peace by the contending parties in Palestine, including the Arab States.” 3. In floor debate, Israel supported the Guatemalan amendment. 4. The United States opposed the amendment and argued that the displaced Palestinians “should not be made pawns in the negotiations for a final settlement” (UN Assembly official record, 3rd session, Part I, Sept 21-Dec 8 meeting 1948, 909). 5. The Guatemalan amendment was defeated by 37-7 votes with 5 abstentions. 6. In subsequent resolutions, the General
Assembly clearly viewed any Palestinian wishing to return as having
a right to do so. In a subsequent resolution (GA Resolution #2326,
1974), the UN General Assembly referred to “the inalienable right of
the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which
they have been displaced and uprooted.” When the war in Abkhazia (part of former
Soviet Union) generated an outflow of refugees, the Security Council
affirmed the right of “refugees and displaced persons to return to
their homes” (Social Security Resolution #876, 1993). Regarding displaced Bosnians, the Security Council resolved (Resolution #779, 1992) that “All displaced persons have the right to return in peace to their former homes.” Regarding Serbs displaced from their home
area in Croatia, the Security Council demanded (Resolution # 1009,
1995) that Croatia “in conformity with internationally recognized
standards ----- respect fully the rights of the local Serb
population including their rights to remain, leave, or return in
safety, and create conditions conducive to the return of those
persons who have left their homes.” When the warfare in Nambia (Under South
Africa) led to an exodus of refugees, the Security Council called on
South Africa (Council Resolution #385, 1977) to “accord
unconditionally to all Namibians currently in exile for political
reasons full facilities for return to their country.” When Turkey’s intervention in Cyprus in
1974 resulted in Greek Cypriots fleeing from Northern Cyprus to the
South, the UN General Assembly (Resolution #37/253) called for
“respect of the human rights of all Cypriots and the institution of
urgent measures for the voluntary return of the refugees to their
homes in safety.” 1. Israel is divided into 41 natural regions. 2. The first eight of these (8% of Israel) is where the majority (68%) of Jewish Israelis live (Area A). It is the size but not exactly the location of the area in which Jews lived in the pre-1948 Palestine. 3. The next 5 natural regions (Area B) constitute 7% of Israel in which 10% of Israelis live. 4. Thus 78% of the Jewish Israelis live on 15% of the land. 5. Area C (85% of Israel) is similar in size and location but not exactly identical, to the land from which the Palestinian refugees were driven. It is currently occupied by about 800,000 urban Israeli Jews, 154,000 rural Israeli Jews, and 465,000 Israeli Palestinians. In effect, 154,000 Israeli Jews cultivate the land of 4,476,000 refugees who are prevented from returning to it. 6. With return of the Palestinian refugees, the overall population density will be 482 persons per square kilometer (instead of the present 261 person per square kilometer) which is an acceptable figure. 7. With the exception of central districts
of Israel, relatively few villages sites are occupied by modern
construction. Most kibbutzim buildings are installed away from old
Arab village sites. c. Historical Perspectives 1. German restitution after World War II. 2. Treaty between Spain and France, 1678. 3. Treaty of London, 1839, whereby the independence and neutrality of Belgium was agreed. In #2 and #3 above, provisions were made for restitution to those who, as a result of wars or sequestration, had lost effects, movables, and immovables. 4. Treaty of Sevres signed with Turkey after the First World War required the Turks to pay compensation to Armenians who had fled from Turkey. 5. India-Pakistan partition in 1948. In the
riots that followed partition, an estimated eleven million people on
both sides fled their homes. The Indian and Pakistani governments
set up a machinery to assess the damage and extent of movable and
immovable property belonging to the displaced persons and custodians
were appointed to look after the property while claims were
processed. Refusal of Israel to implement UN
resolutions has been the main obstacle to the resolution of the
refugee problem. Israeli violations of UN resolutions have been
protected by USA vetoes. 1. Jamal Aslan et al vs Military Governor
of Galilee In February, 1950, villagers of Ghabisiya, a village in
North Galilee were ordered by the Israeli Military Governor to leave
their village. The village was declared a closed area. The villagers
submitted a complaint to the Israeli Supreme Court. The Court judged
that the declaration of the area as “closed’ was a legal act. They resorted to the Israeli Supreme Court.
On July 31, 1951, the Court ordered the Israeli authorities to allow
the villagers to return to their village. Israeli authorities
refused to implement the decision of the Court and declared the area
“closed.” Villagers appealed against the action. On the date fixed
for hearing their appeal (December 25, 1952), the Israeli army gave
the villagers (all Christians) a Christmas present. It blew up all
of the houses in the village. A settlement of the conflict that denies
that gross injustice was done to an entire people in 1948 would
essentially Acceptance of responsibility by Israel is
an official recognition that the deliberate action of Israel’s
founding Precedents for acceptance of the weight of
history are seen in German-Jewish, Korean-Japanese relationships as
well as in South Africa. The Road Map says nothing about justice, or about the historical punishment meted out to the Palestinian people for too many decades to count. It leaves to the final stage of the Road
Map “negotiations between the parties ‘to include’ an agreed, just,
fair, and realistic solution to the refugee issue”. According to the Israeli historian Benny
Morris, on July 12 and 13, 1948, Israeli troops carried out Allon’s
orders expelling 50,000- 60,000 inhabitants of Lydda and Ramle. The
deputy commander then was Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel
from 1974-1977 and 1992-1995. Contributed by the author |
