Drawing the Line II

Drawing the Line: Activists Press Hard for Palestinian Refugees' Right of Return
By Laurie King-Irani, Freelance writer, former Editor of Middle East Report

Notes on the Conference (Part 2 of 2) See this page for Part One

Dr. Naseer Aruri, president of the Trans-Arab Research Institute, noted in his opening speech that "Palestinians are now facing their greatest challenge since the nakbah of 1948: The final status negotiations, which will touch on the most arduous and crucial issue of all--the refugees." Reminding his audience that Israel prefers to act as though 1967, not 1948, is the reference point for all issue concerning borders, demographics and refugees, Aruri emphasized that "nearly five million Palestinians, if we count the descendents of those who fled Palestine in 1948, lost everything, yet they are excluded from decisions that will have a profound impact on their individual and collective rights. No one should be allowed to take these refugees' rights away!" Aruri's speech and many others conveyed an implicit warning to the PNA: They have no right to bargain away the inalienable rights of refugees who did not vote for them or grant them power-of-attorney over their ultimate political fate. Aruri concluded by asserting that "a true, lasting peace in the region requires the full implementation of the right of return. Without justice for the refugees, there can be no long-lasting peace or stability for Arabs or Israelis."

In his keynote speech, Dr. Edward Said, visibly affected by leukemia, though as passionate and eloquent as ever, noted with some astonishment that this conference was the first of its kind since the implementation of the Oslo accords seven years ago. In that time, much damage has been done to Palestinian rights, not to mention Palestinians' psyches. "It will take a public relations miracle," Said noted, "to convince the vast majority of Palestinians that the Oslo Accords were not an abrogation of the refugees' right of return."

Dr. Said was unsparing in his harsh criticism of the PNA and the current Palestinian leadership, which he accused of "selfishly placing its own greed before the common Palestinian good…It is a scandal that there are still Palestinian refugee camps in areas controlled and administered by the PNA! Sewers are still open, insufficient housing continues to expand, while just up the road, PNA officials are happily building themselves and their families lavish villas." Referring to the upcoming final status talks, Said indicated that Arafat's chief role now is that of a signer of documents: "He is useful and needed by the US, Israel and the European Union as the man who signs, who delivers his people" under the skewed and unfair terms of the Oslo Accords.

Said also attributed Arafat's political survival to his role as "a master of corruption and coercion. He has managed to buy off even the best people. At least one million people's livelihoods hinge, directly or indirectly, on the PNA's largesse, which of course makes most people hesitant to do anything to remove this corrupt regime of stupid and selfish leaders. People in Palestine are trapped…. A new leadership must appear, therefore, from the Diaspora, and from within the Palestinian community inside Israel, particularly the 'internally displaced refugees.' It is these two groups that have the most to gain from demanding and guaranteeing the implementation of the right of return, after all, so it is time for them to mobilize." The theme of mobilizing a new, democratic leadership capable of countering the PNA's autocratic methods, corrupt practices and failure to achieve even the smallest gains for the Palestinians was a common thread that reappeared in several interventions.

One of the more sobering presentations of the conference was delivered by an Israeli professor, Ilan Pappe, who explained how Israel has conducted a successful campaign to exclude and deny refugee and repatriation rights. "In the Oslo Accords, the refugee issue is in a sub-clause; it is nearly invisible, which is just the way Israel wants it. The final stage of the Oslo process is now at hand, and the parameters of discussion have all been dictated solely by Israel, and Israel absolutely rejects the Palestinian right of return. Only a handful of 1967 refugees will have a nominal chance of repatriation into the area under the control of the Palestinian National Authority, and then only if Israel approves of them." Pappe predicted that another, more violent, uprising will surely follow if Israel persists in defining all terms of the final negotiations and refusing to deal justly with pressing issues such as refugees' rights. "The 'peace process' will only produce more bloodshed unless restorative justice is attempted. If restorative justice was possible in South Africa following the dismantling of the racist apartheid regime, why should it not be possible in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations?"

One answer to Pappe's question was supplied, indirectly, by a quote from the martyred South African nationalist, Steven Biko, which Ali Abunimah cited in his intervention on activism: "The most powerful tool in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Simply put, Israel has managed to convince the PNA, many ordinary Palestinians, US opinion shapers and decision makers, and indeed the entire international community that implementing the right of return is nothing but an impractical dream, a pie-in-the-sky wish on behalf of people who have completely lost touch with hard and fast political realities. And it seems most people, even some Palestinian academics and policy makers, have accepted Israel's definitions of reality without question or protest.