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The Right of Return, a Basic Right Still Denied
* During and after the establishment of Israel, almost 800,000 Palestinian refugees were created by a process of ethnic cleansing. These refugees and their descendants are the largest and most persistent refugee population in the world. Over 3.7 million registered by the United Nations and more than 2 million unregistered live largely in countries and regions sometimes within a very short distance of their original homes and lands. * The international community felt a deep sense of responsibility for this tragedy. Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN Mediator stated: "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" (UN Doc Al 648, 1948). This remains true today as any person of the Jewish faith can gain automatic citizenship while Palestinians are not allowed to return to their homeland. * The Right to Return has a solid legal basis. The United Nations adopted Resolution 194 on December 11, 1948. Paragraph 11 states: "...the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date... compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return. Resolution 194 was affirmed practically every year since with a universal consensus, except for Israel and the U.S. The resolution was further clarified by UN General Assembly Resolution 3236 which reaffirms in Subsection 2, "the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return". Hindering return is an act of aggression, which deserves action by the Security Council. Israel's admission to the UN were conditional on its acceptance of relevant UN resolutions including 194. * The Right to Return does not derive its validity merely from UN Resolutions. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 13 reaffirms the right of every individual to leave and return to his country. Moreover, the Principle of Self Determination guarantees, inter alia, the right of ownership and domicile in one's own country. The UN adopted this principle in 1947. In 1969 and thereafter, it was explicitly applied to the Palestinian People, including "the legality of the Peoples' struggle for Self-Determination and Liberation", (GAOR 2535 (xxiv), 2628 (xxv), 2672 (xxv), 2792 (xxvi)). International law demands that neither occupation nor sovereignty diminish the rights of private ownership. When the Ottomans surrendered in 1920, Palestinian ownership of the land was maintained. The land and property of "the refugees" remains their own and they are entitled to return to it. * Research not only shows that the right of refugees to return is sacred and legal but also possible. Demographic studies show that 78% of Israelis live in 14 percent of Israel and that the remaining 22% live on 86% of the land that belongs to the refugees. Further, of the 22%, 20% live in Palestinian cities while the remaining 2% live in kibbutzim and moshavs. By contrast, approximately 5,000 refugees live per square kilometer in the Gaza Strip, while over the barbed wire their lands are practically empty.
* According to a 1999 report by Amnesty International, Israel has destroyed
2650 Palestinian houses in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, since
1987 on the pretext of not having building permission. Further, thousands of
acres of Palestinian owned-land have been confiscated to build settlements
in these occupied territories. The settlements contravene the 4th Geneva
Convention Article 49 which states that the "Occupying Power shall not
transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it
occupies." The AI report is available at: * The inalienable rights of refugees cannot be left to "negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. International law considers agreements between an occupier and the occupied to be null and void if they deprive civilians of recognized human rights including the rights to repatriation and restitution. * The government of the United States of America is bound by American law not to fund regimes that violate human rights and basic freedoms. There is no more elemental right than one's right to his/her home and to live in his/her land. The government of the United States of America could use the leverage of the massive financial support it gives to Israel to press for this right.
Annex 7: Agreement on Refugees and Displaced Persons Text of US-sponsored Dayton Peace Agreement documents initialed in Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995 and signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. The agreement is known as the Dayton Peace Accords. The following text was released by the Office of the Spokesman, December 1, 1995. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republika Srpska (the "Parties") have agreed as follows:
CHAPTER ONE: PROTECTION 1. All refugees and displaced persons have the right freely to return to their homes of origin. They shall have the right to have restored to them property of which they were deprived in the course of hostilities since 1991 and to be compensated for any property that cannot be restored to them. The early return of refugees and displaced persons is an important objective of the settlement of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Parties confirm that they will accept the return of such persons who have left their territory, including those who have been accorded temporary protection by third countries. 2. The Parties shall ensure that refugees and displaced persons are permitted to return in safety, without risk of harassment, intimidation, persecution, or discrimination, particularly on account of their ethnic origin, religious belief, or political opinion. 3. The Parties shall take all necessary steps to prevent activities within their territories which would hinder or impede the safe and voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons. To demonstrate their commitment to securing full respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons within their jurisdiction and creating without delay conditions suitable for return of refugees and displaced persons, the Parties shall take immediately the following confidence building measures: (a) the repeal of domestic legislation and administrative practices with discriminatory intent or effect; (b) the prevention and prompt suppression of any written or verbal incitement, through media or otherwise, of ethnic or religious hostility or hatred; (c) the dissemination, through the media, of warnings against, and the prompt suppression of, acts of retribution by military, paramilitary, and police services, and by other public officials or private individuals; (d) the protection of ethnic and/or minority populations wherever they are found and the provision of immediate access to these populations by international humanitarian organizations and monitors; (e) the prosecution, dismissal or transfer, as appropriate, of persons in military, paramilitary, and police forces, and other public servants, responsible for serious violations of the basic rights of persons belonging to ethnic or minority groups. 4. Choice of destination shall be up to the individual or family, and the principle of the unity of the family shall be preserved. The Parties shall not interfere with the returnees' choice of destination, nor shall they compel them to remain in or move to situations of serious danger or insecurity, or to areas lacking in the basic infrastructure necessary to resume a normal life. The Parties shall facilitate the flow of information necessary for refugees and displaced persons to make informed judgments about local conditions for return. 5. The Parties call upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ("UNHCR") to develop in close consultation with asylum countries and the Parties a repatriation plan that will allow for an early, peaceful, orderly and phased return of refugees and displaced persons, which may include priorities for certain areas and ce.. http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/bosnia/dayann7.html
For the full text of the US-sponsored agreement see: Source: http://al-awda.org/factsheet/ http://www.miftah.org |