Rami G. Khouri: The refugees, still essential to peace
[Rami G. Khouri is published twice-weekly by THE DAILY STAR.]
I have attended hundreds of meetings, conferences and symposia on Arab-Israeli peacemaking all my adult life during the past 40 years, and I am able to report that there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Israelis and Arabs wish to achieve a negotiated, peaceful end to their conflict. The bad news is that this inclination to negotiate peace and coexistence is not being translated into a lasting agreement because of Israel’s refusal to come to grips with the core issue that matters for the Palestinians, which is their status as refugees.
The United States’ efforts this year to negotiate a resumption of negotiations captures both of these realities. It seems time to admit that attempts to evade, sugar-coat, or postpone coming to grips with the events of 1947-1948 in Palestine will always wreck all other signs of progress or hope. The prospects of agreeing on resolving the Palestinian refugee issue are slim right now, but they are not nil; yet the prospects of achieving a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace without resolving the refugee issue are absolutely zero.
It is time for all parties to the conflict, and all those abroad who are trying to help resolve it, to come to terms with this simple fact. Two things happened in 1947-1948 that must be addressed simultaneously and seriously if a lasting peace accord is ever to be forged by Arabs and Israelis: Zionism triumphed and, in its eyes, the state of Israel was established as the homeland of the Jewish people; and, the national community of Palestinians was shattered and half the people were forced into exile, either by deliberate Zionist ethnic cleansing or by the normal dynamics of war that caused civilians to flee temporarily to safer areas.
A permanent resolution of the conflict must simultaneously address the core demands of Zionists and Palestinian and Arab nationalists. When this happened between Egypt, Jordan and Israel, permanent peace prevailed. For the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese to sign a peace agreements with Israel, the same approach is needed, which means a return of occupied land in exchange for normal relations. With the Palestinians, there is the added issue of resolving the problem of the approximately 750,000 refugees from 1947-1948, who, with their descendants, now number some 4.5 million...
Read entire article at The Daily Star
I have attended hundreds of meetings, conferences and symposia on Arab-Israeli peacemaking all my adult life during the past 40 years, and I am able to report that there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Israelis and Arabs wish to achieve a negotiated, peaceful end to their conflict. The bad news is that this inclination to negotiate peace and coexistence is not being translated into a lasting agreement because of Israel’s refusal to come to grips with the core issue that matters for the Palestinians, which is their status as refugees.
The United States’ efforts this year to negotiate a resumption of negotiations captures both of these realities. It seems time to admit that attempts to evade, sugar-coat, or postpone coming to grips with the events of 1947-1948 in Palestine will always wreck all other signs of progress or hope. The prospects of agreeing on resolving the Palestinian refugee issue are slim right now, but they are not nil; yet the prospects of achieving a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace without resolving the refugee issue are absolutely zero.
It is time for all parties to the conflict, and all those abroad who are trying to help resolve it, to come to terms with this simple fact. Two things happened in 1947-1948 that must be addressed simultaneously and seriously if a lasting peace accord is ever to be forged by Arabs and Israelis: Zionism triumphed and, in its eyes, the state of Israel was established as the homeland of the Jewish people; and, the national community of Palestinians was shattered and half the people were forced into exile, either by deliberate Zionist ethnic cleansing or by the normal dynamics of war that caused civilians to flee temporarily to safer areas.
A permanent resolution of the conflict must simultaneously address the core demands of Zionists and Palestinian and Arab nationalists. When this happened between Egypt, Jordan and Israel, permanent peace prevailed. For the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese to sign a peace agreements with Israel, the same approach is needed, which means a return of occupied land in exchange for normal relations. With the Palestinians, there is the added issue of resolving the problem of the approximately 750,000 refugees from 1947-1948, who, with their descendants, now number some 4.5 million...