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We the undersigned, Palestinians and Palestinian refugees in search of a just peace in our
country, are particularly concerned about all efforts, Israeli and international, at
dismissing Palestinian refugee rights, even before Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the
refugee question have actually begun. We wish to emphasize here, that the attempt to push
the Palestinian negotiators into signing an agreement which does not provide for our right
of return endangers the current effort for peace in the region. Five million Palestinian
refugees continue to struggle for their right to return to their homes and property taken
away from them in 1948.
We are particularly
concerned about the stand in respect to our right of return taken by progressive Israelis
and the Israeli peace forces – among them Peace Now - who have shared our struggle
against the illegal Israeli settlements, for human rights, and for a Palestinian
state with Jerusalem as the capital shared by the Israeli and the Palestinian
peoples.
Based on the above, we completely reject the recent
statement of Peace Now saying that,
“The right of return exists. They [Palestinians] have the right of return. But
they don’t have the right to realize that right. Basically, those who want to return
to Jaffa are exactly like the Jew who wants to return to Hebron. Both the Jew who wishes
to return to Hebron and the Palestinian who wants to return to Jaffa are extremists who
will have to forego their desires.” (Mossy Raz, General Secretary of Peace Now,
on Clinton's Comments, interview with Aaron Lerner, 2 July 1999).
The above statement represents just another version of the
well-known Israeli propaganda aimed at negating Palestinian rights. As common for Israeli
propaganda, this argument,
1) Violates international law and UN Resolutions: Israeli settlements in the 1967
occupied territories are illegal according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN Resolution
242, a.o.; the right of return of the Palestinian refugees is protected by UN Resolution
194, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a series of international laws and
principles which have led the international community to enforce the return of Kosovar
refugees to their homes;
2) Is factually wrong in that it compares Jewish people who wish to occupy land and
property in Hebron – which do not belong to them – with Palestinian refugees who
wish to return to lands and homes which rightfully belong to them. The fact that Jewish
settlers in Hebron have no rightful claim to the properties they occupy in Hebron was
clarified by the descendents of the families of Hebron’s Jewish community in a
statement issued already in 1996.
Based on the above, we call on Israeli and Jewish peace
forces in general, and Peace Now in particular, to take serious the challenge presented by
the Palestinian right of return and to work for creating a vision among Israeli society
and Jewish communities world wide that can facilitate the construction of a framework of
peace and coexistence which includes the internationally recognized right of Palestinian
refugees to return to their homes and regain access to their properties taken away from
them in the past. The “Peace of the Brave” must not remain an empty
phrase!
Signed for the BADIL Friends Forum by:
Muhammad al Lahham, Head of Popular Service Committees in Palestinian Refugee Camps/West
Bank;
Jamal Ferraj, Journalist, Deheishe Camp;
Salem Abu Hawwash, Reseacher, Dura/Hebron;
Samir Ata ‘Odeh, Popular Service Com.mittee, Aida Camp;
Nadi Ferraj, BADIL Board, Deheishe Camp;
Issa Qaraq’a, Head, Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Aida Camp;
Adnan Ajarmeh, Youth Activities Center, Aida Camp;
Ibrahim Abu Srour, Rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped, Aida Camp;
Afif Ghatashe, Youth Activities Center, al-Fawwar Camp;
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights |
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