Friday, September 05, 2003
Right to Return of Palestinian Refugees
One of the basic tenets of Zionism involves taking the land of Palestine and getting rid of its people. This tenet was realised by all possible means: expulsion, massacres, closures, house demolitions, starvation, harassment and other means made possible by the great imbalance of power between the occupier and the occupied. This is called "ethnic cleansing" in modern parlance and in the language of the Statute of Rome of July 1998 which gave birth to the International Criminal Court.
Ethnic cleansing, that is expelling inhabitants from their homes, is a war crime. To prevent these once slighted inhabitants from return, no matter what the reason for their exodus, is also a war crime. That is why international law is very clear and specific on this point. It is no accident that article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the UN on 10 December 1948, stipulates that every person has the right to return to his home. It is also no accident that on the following day, 11 December, the UN passed the famous resolution 194, calling for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.
This posed a serious problem for Israel: fighting against this solid body of international law. For Israel, there was an additional problem. Israel's admission to the UN as a member state was conditional upon its compliance with two UN resolutions: (1) accepting a full fledged Palestinian sovereign state according to resolution 181 (Partition of Palestine), and (2) accepting the return of the refugees to "their homes" according to resolution 194.
In the last five decades, Israel and its supporters advanced over three dozen schemes to resettle Palestinian refugees anywhere in the world except their homes. Western emissaries came and went, threatening and bribing neighbouring states through water schemes, joint projects, financial aid or through the political rhetoric of branding them as extremist, terrorist-harbouring states or calling them a threat to world peace.
All this failed. So did five wars and innumerable Israeli raids. Millions of Arabs became destitute; hundreds of thousands were wounded, imprisoned or saw their lives shatter; tens of thousands lost their lives. Despite this hardship none of the Palestinian refugees accepted the injustice of rights deprivation. None forfeited their rights. [...]
One of the basic tenets of Zionism involves taking the land of Palestine and getting rid of its people. This tenet was realised by all possible means: expulsion, massacres, closures, house demolitions, starvation, harassment and other means made possible by the great imbalance of power between the occupier and the occupied. This is called "ethnic cleansing" in modern parlance and in the language of the Statute of Rome of July 1998 which gave birth to the International Criminal Court.
Ethnic cleansing, that is expelling inhabitants from their homes, is a war crime. To prevent these once slighted inhabitants from return, no matter what the reason for their exodus, is also a war crime. That is why international law is very clear and specific on this point. It is no accident that article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the UN on 10 December 1948, stipulates that every person has the right to return to his home. It is also no accident that on the following day, 11 December, the UN passed the famous resolution 194, calling for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.
This posed a serious problem for Israel: fighting against this solid body of international law. For Israel, there was an additional problem. Israel's admission to the UN as a member state was conditional upon its compliance with two UN resolutions: (1) accepting a full fledged Palestinian sovereign state according to resolution 181 (Partition of Palestine), and (2) accepting the return of the refugees to "their homes" according to resolution 194.
In the last five decades, Israel and its supporters advanced over three dozen schemes to resettle Palestinian refugees anywhere in the world except their homes. Western emissaries came and went, threatening and bribing neighbouring states through water schemes, joint projects, financial aid or through the political rhetoric of branding them as extremist, terrorist-harbouring states or calling them a threat to world peace.
All this failed. So did five wars and innumerable Israeli raids. Millions of Arabs became destitute; hundreds of thousands were wounded, imprisoned or saw their lives shatter; tens of thousands lost their lives. Despite this hardship none of the Palestinian refugees accepted the injustice of rights deprivation. None forfeited their rights. [...]
themassesareasses© on blogger Friday, September 05, 2003 
