An intransigent partner

RHONDA SPIVAK

Although many Palestinians in the West Bank say they are interested in peace, the vast majority of those encountered on a recent visit to the area insisted that Palestinian refugees and their descendants have a right to return to homes and villages they vacated during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.

Osama Alhrithi, a fourth-year law student at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem said he believes that even if Israel went back to the 1967 Green Line and Jewish settlements over the Green Line were dismantled, "any Palestinian refugee who wants to return to his home that he left in 1948 should be able to come back.... There are a lot of Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon and if they want to come back, that is their holy right."

Rami Sleimyyeh, a Muslim who works as a liason officer for the Palestinian Authority in Hebron, nodded in agreement with Alhrithi.

Alhrithi's view that Israel ought to be obliged to take in waves of Palestinian refugees, rather than those refugees returning to a future Palestinian state only, was typical – even among those who said they supported Fatah, not Hamas. It was the view even among those encountered at a conference devoted to promoting dialogue and peace put on by the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information this past August in Beit Jalla.

As Ra'id Abdalla Otair, director of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health, said, "All refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere should be asked to come back to their land in Israel – in Haifa, Jaffa and Akko."

Otair dismissed the possibility of refugees receiving compensation and being able to return only to a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. "People in Tulkarem like [to have] all Palestine," he said.

Badia Dweik, who works for the Palestinian Authority in Hebron and attended the conference, said he became disenchanted with Fatah after Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords, partly because it didn't deal with the refugee issue.

"The two-state solution is a big lie.... Most of my friends are pushing for a one-state solution. When there is 'one state,' the Palestinian refugees can live wherever they want. Maybe the refugee can come back to the same house he left if it is still there. Maybe a refugee from Lebanon can come back to Haifa and, even if his house has been demolished, he can still live in that area."

Sumayah Soboh, a Muslim sociologist from Bethlehem, who advocates a one-state solution, said "Any Palestinian refugees who want can return to their land.... Maybe the one state could be called 'Jew Palestina.'... I am angry with Fatah for saying there could be two states – there shouldn't be a Jewish state, but just one state, one leader, one God, one people."

Mari Sadi, a Christian Palestinian artist from Bethlehem, said, "We hope that all of the refugees will be able to come back.... I have many relatives in Jordan and the U.S. and a lot of different lands. They are from Nazareth and Haifa and Jaffa and they should be able to come back. They will want to come back."

Lorette Zoughbi, who runs a patisserie in Bethlehem, said she accepts the two-state solution. "If we ask for everything, all we'll get is nothing." But she added, "My grandfather had a house in Katamon and in Jaffa. I still have the keys. We'll never give up our land."

A small minority of Palestinians encountered appeared genuinely willing to make concessions regarding the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Fatima Faroun, a Muslim Palestinian woman from Bethany, said she believed there should be "Palestine and Israel" and added, "We must finish this conflict. To end it, refugees should return only to the Palestinian state."

When contacted to discuss these findings, Guy Lupo, the chairperson of the Be'ersheva chapter of the organization One Voice, said that polls done by their organization have shown that "most Palestinians want recognition of their right of return, but most will not actually use the right of return."

He added, "The maximum figure for the number of refugees and their descendants spread out everywhere in the world is 11 million. If one percent returned, then we would be talking about 100,000 people. Israelis fear that it would be 10 percent, which would be one million people returning. This issue is not something that can be resolved tomorrow, but we think there is a way to market this issue to the Palestinian people in the context of an overall peace agreement. Some Palestinians will be willing to give up recognition of the right of return, others will be satisfied with recognition only, others will agree to compensation in lieu of returning and about 100,000 could be allowed to return on the basis of the principle of family reunification."

Peace activist and former Labor Party MK Yael Dayan said in response that polls done by Peace Now and others have shown that most Palestinians would not use their right of return. "Also, many Palestinians, when interviewed by journalists in the presence of other Palestinians, are less likely to express moderate views, but they will in private."

Rhonda Spivak is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

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