THE PEACE OF THE BRAVE
WILL INCLUDE THE RIGHT OF RETURN Open
Letter to Peace Now by BADIL Friends Forum/Southern West Bank; BADIL Resource
Center 15 July 1999
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 (see text below).
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 Committee,
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;
“Message from the Original Jewish Community of
Hebron:
EVACUATE THE SETTLERS (28 December 1996)"
Seek Peace of Hebron
We, the descendents of the families of
Hebron’s ancient Jewish community, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of the Jews
who lived in the city for hundreds of years – want peace.
Peace for the City of Hebron, Peace for Israel
Now, when the city of our fathers and forefathers
is in the eye of a storm, threatening to explode the political process and to destroy the
prospects of peace, we feel an obligation to say what is in our hearts.
Settlers living in Hebron’s heart do not have
the right to speak in the name of the old Jewish community, and their pretensions to be
following the path of our fathers is a deceit and deceiving. They are alien to the culture
and way of life of the Hebron Jews, who in the course of generations created a heritage of
peace between peoples and understanding between faiths.
The settlers who have taken possession of Jewish
property in the heart of Hebron and made it theirs, have done thievish work. No one
granted them the right that is not theirs, to be the heirs of our fathers, no matter if we
speak of private property or community property. And they intend to add sins to their
crimes and to possess other lands and structures.
Hebron Will Decided for Good or Evil
Therefore the government of Israel must evacuate
the handful of settlers from the city at once, before they succeed in exploding the peace
process and destroying the prospects of peace.
Amnon Bierman; Rachel Grundland (Zarfati
family); Ronen Doron (Slonim family); Etty Horn (Franco family); Chaim Hazan (Avishar
family); Ovadya Hassun (Hassun family); Tamar Hassun (Hassun family); Ofra
Yerushalmi-Seidof (Zarfati family); Dafne Mendelowitz (Zarfati family); Yaakov Meshorer
(Mani family); Meir Slonim (Slonim family); Yonah Rochlin (Mani, Hassun); Sima Schneider
(Slonim family); Moshe Gelmor (Hassun family); Ahuva Donivksy (Zarfati family); Yael Doron
(Slonim family); Chaim Hanegbi (Bajaio family); Michal Hassun (Hassun family); Rami Hassun
(Hassun family); Orit Hassun-Walder (Hassun family); Yair Kidan (Schneierson family);
Asher Meshorer (Mani family); Orah Slonim (Slonim family);
Batya Perla (Kleiers family); Eliezer Shani (Slonim
family);
For further information contact: BADIL Resource
Center, PO Box 728, Bethlehem, Palestine; tel/fax. 02-2747346; email: info@badil.org. |