Palestinian Right of Return
Updated 2024-02-26
2024-02-16 Imperiled Gazans Do Have Somewhere to Go The place where they can go, writes Sam Husseini, is back to the homes in what is now Israel, from which they were forced out in 1948.
As Professor John Quigley has noted: “ “They are entitled to repatriation under international law, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which Israel has signed and ratified.” (See his writing on this subject here and here.)
And of course there’s U.N. Resolution 194 of Dec. 11, 1948 which “Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours 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…”
The extremely pro-Israel U.S. president, Harry Truman, would state the following year that if “Israel continues to reject the basic principles set forth” in that U.N. resolution, the U.S. government “will regretfully be forced to the conclusion that a revision of its attitude toward Israel has become unavoidable.”
U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte would report on Sept. 18, 1948: “It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees, who have been rooted in the land for centuries.”
The prospect of Palestinians going back to their homes continues to bring out the most murderous impulses in Israeli officials. AntiWar.com reports: “Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said on Sunday that Israeli forces should shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza if they get too close to the Israeli border. … ‘We cannot have women and children getting close to the border… anyone who gets near must get a bullet [in his head],’ Ben-Gvir said
Indeed, in 2018 the “Great March of Return” began, as Palestinians in Gaza tried to simply walk back to their homes. More than 215 Palestinian civilians, including more than 40 children, were killed during those demonstrations, and thousands more wounded by live fire during those protests between March 2018 and December 2019. A UN commission of inquiry found that Israel’s use of lethal force against protesters warrants criminal investigation and prosecution and may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/16/imperiled-gazans-do-have-somewhere-to-go/
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