There is no 'Palestinian' right of return
I would love to see the supporting documentation for this, but according to Ruth Gavison, an Israel Prize winner, a law professor and president of the Metzilah Center, Yaffa Zilbershats an authority on international and constitutional law and deputy president of Bar-Ilan University, and Nimra Goren-Amitai is a research scholar at Bar- ilan University, the bottom line is that there is no 'Palestinian' right of return and Israel would be foolish and insane to recognize one. International law does not obligate/recognize the legal right of Palestinian refugees to settle in Israeli territory. Such large-scale return was not standard at the time the problem emerged, and it is not used effectively today. While the issue of the refugees needs to be dealt with seriously, Israel should be careful not to recognize a right of return for refugees under international law, since this may be the basis for new legal obligations.Read the whole thing.
Arrangements and declarations must not include the recognition of a right of return, which may be later invoked as a right of individual refugees and their descendants, which may not be waived by their leaders.
While there should be an end to the suffering of the Palestinian refugees, large-scale return to Israel of a population so different from the Jewish population culturally and socially, and harboring memories of the “disaster” and claims that justice requires a full return, is not the right solution. It might not be best for the refugees, and it certainly is not the way to achieve regional stability.
Discussing this question within the human-rights discourse may well limit the ability to reach a viable agreement. Close examination of sources of international law supports the conclusion that it does not confer upon them a right to return to Israel, and that Israel is under no obligation to let them return.
Labels: Palestinian refugees, right of return
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:52 AM
1 Comments:
Carl - if you look at the supporting documents - I'm sure you have them in your own library or can look them up online - what they all say is individuals have a right to return to their country but even then its not absolute and its conditioned by state sovereignty, considerations for health, security, law and order and contributive capacity. Every country has such requirements.
There is NO collective right of return in international law. No one may use refugee status as a cover to subvert an existing nation-state. That is all clear and to the point and you won't find Palestinian propagandists acknowledging it. It should be pointed out for the record that limited right of individual return sanctioned by international law only allows a return by that person to the country of which he is a citizen.
This is not applicable to the Palestinian Arabs, since they are not citizens of Israel, do not recognize it as their homeland and owe it no loyalty. Therefore Israel is not obligated to commit national suicide to resolve their status. Prime Minister Netanyahu has affirmed that in any final settlement with the Palestinians, the refugee problem must be solved outside of Israel.
There is no "right of return," period.
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