Reply #35: Two things

[aranthus]

One. That, as Barghouti stated in the "debate" article that started this thread, the BDS movement is about, among other things, enforcing the right of return. Two. that as Barghouti makes clear in the post by shira, the Palestinian conception of the right of return is of the full right of return.

As to the two publications you posted. I have read the first one; the second will take some more time, and I haven't started it yet. As to the first, the Crisis Group makes some interesting points, but none that refute the fact that Palestinians conceive of the right of return as full right of return. More to the point, what the Crisis Group writes is irrelevant to the discussion. It can't speak authoritatively about what the Palestinian conception of the demand is (and they don't try to). They aren't Palestinian; certainly not Palestinian leaders. It's the Palestinians' demand. They get to define it; not western think tanks or writers. Likewise, the BDS movement is a Palestinian movement. They get to say what it's about. That's why Barghouti's opinion is important. As a Palestinian leader, and a leader of the BDS movement, he can speak with authority on the issue. The movement isn't about what Western supporters of the movement say it's about. BDS is about what the Palestinians say it's about. Barghouti says that it's, in part, about the right of return. Who are you to say he's wrong? That is incredibly presumptuous don't you think?