Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: US Senate dramatically scales down definition of Palestinian ‘refugees’ [View all]aranthus
(3,385 posts)Last edited Fri Jun 8, 2012, 04:14 PM - Edit history (1)
I will attempt to explain so that all can understand.
1. Israel is being asked to agree that all people who now call themselves Palestinian refugees, and their descendants, forever and ever, have the right to return to israel and become citizens of the state.
2. Since it is a "right" to return, that means that Israel will not have the right to exclude anyone who can show that they are a descendant of a Palestinian from moving to Israel. If the government gives you the right to speak it can't then limit the right to only saying what the government wants.
3. That means that any and all of the current 4.5 million "refugees" will be able to return to Israel, along with anyone else who can reasonably claim to be a descendant of the 1948 or 1967 refugees.
4. The Arab states and the new Palestinian state will not take them.
5. No other country will take them, or they would have by now.
6. As economic and political conditions are far better in Israel than they are in Arab countries, there is going to be a large economic and political pressure for the Palestinians to go to Israel.
7. As the intent of having the refugees return was always to destroy the Jewish state and replace it with an Arab state, there is going to be a huge cultural and political pressure for the "refugees" to return to finish the job of re-conquering Palestine for the Arabs by force of demographics.
8. As Israel will have agreed to the "right" of the Arabs to do this, Israel will not be able to prevent it. The instant Israel stops a "refugee" from returning, it will have violated the peace agreement and the war is on again.
9. Any agreement which this generation of Palestinians may make to not return, will not be binding on future generations. In contrast, once Israel agrees to the "right" of return, it is bound by that forever.
In short, there is only one right of return. It means that all Palestinians can return to Israel whenever they want, and Israel can't do anything to stop them. The Israelis know this, which is why they would never agree to it. It means declaring that the Jewish state has no legitimacy, come on in and take it away from us.