Commentary;
Here is an article which summarizes 2 articles written by a Saudi columnist which say right out that ‘right of return’ is an impossible concept which “cannot be implemented.” These are points which we hld as axiomatic and self-evident, but this is the first recollection of a Saudi Arab writing them.
The columnist does speak about the impact of ‘return’ upon Israel, but contrasts the Arab governments and Arab legue treatment of the refugees they themselves created with Israel’s absorption “of the thousands of Jewish refugees who had lost their property, homes and businesses in the Arab countries.” One “talk-back” to the JPost artcle summed it up best; “I pray the writer lives to write more on the subject, and his articles are reprinted in Arab media.”
This Jerusalem Post summation is a Must Read. MB
‘Right of Return Would Lead to Anarchy’ (Jerusalem Post Staff)
For related report and context, click here.
“Returning them to Israel, to the West Bank, and to Gaza is a utopian ideal and [a recipe for] anarchy. More than that – it is an idea that cannot be implemented, … have [far-reaching] political, economic and social ramifications in such a small and constrained geographical area, but [mainly] because the return [of the refugees] stands in blatant contradiction to Israel’s right as a sovereign [state], while the Palestinian Authority lacks the infrastructure to absorb such a large number of immigrants…”
Excerpts;
In two recent articles in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, Saudi columnist Yousef Nasser Al-Sweidan argues that the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return” cannot be implemented, and that the only solution is for them to be naturalized in the countries where they currently reside, according to MEMRI – the Middle East Media Research Project.
In the first article, published on March 5 and titled “On the impossible [idea] of the right of return,” Sweidan wrote: “The slogan ‘right of return’… which is brandished by Palestinian organizations, is perceived as one of the greatest difficulties and as the main obstacle to renewing and advancing the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians based on the road map and a two-state solution.
“It is patently obvious that uprooting the descendants of the refugees from their current homes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and other countries, and returning them to Israel, to the West Bank, and to Gaza is a utopian ideal and [a recipe for] anarchy. More than that – it is an idea that cannot be implemented, not only because it would upset the demographic [balance] in a dangerous and destructive manner and have [far-reaching] political, economic and social ramifications in such a small and constrained geographical area, but [mainly] because the return [of the refugees] stands in blatant contradiction to Israel’s right as a sovereign [state], while the Palestinian Authority lacks the infrastructure to absorb such a large number of immigrants as long as the peace process… is not at its peak.”
“Clearly, the refugee problem is mainly the result of cumulative mistakes made by the countries where [the refugees] live… such as Syria and Lebanon, which have isolated the refugees in poor and shabby camps lacking the most basic conditions for a dignified human existence.
“Instead of helping them to become fully integrated in their new society, they let them become victims of isolation and suffering… Later, the worst of all happened when Arab intelligence agencies used the Palestinian organizations as a tool for settling scores in internal Arab conflicts that probably have nothing to do with the Palestinians…
“The Israelis, on the other hand, were civilized and humane in their treatment of the thousands of Jewish refugees who had lost their property, homes and businesses in the Arab countries, and who were forced to emigrate to Israel after the 1948 war. The Israeli government received them, helped them, and provided them with all the conditions [they needed] to become integrated in their new society…
“The lies of the Syrian Ba’th regime, and its trading in slogans like ‘right of return,’ ‘steadfastness,’ ‘resistance,’ ‘national struggle’ and all the other ridiculous [slogans], are evident from the fact that, to this day, dozens of Palestinian families [remain] stranded in the desert on the Syrian-Iraqi border, because the Syrian regime refuses to let them enter its horrifying Ba’th republic and return to the Yarmouk [refugee] camp.
“The Arab countries where the Palestinians live in refugee camps must pass the laws necessary to integrate the inhabitants of these camps into society.
“[In addition, they must] provide them with education and health services, and allow them freedom of occupation and movement and the right to own real estate, instead of [continuing] their policy of excluding [the refugees] and leaving the responsibility [of caring for them] to others, while marketing the impossible illusion of return [to Palestine],” Sweidan wrote, according to MEMRI.
In the second article, published on March 16 and titled “Naturalization is the solution,” Sweidan wrote: “There is no doubt that the Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon – who have for many long years been fed by their Arab hosts on impossible dreams and on shiny promises that were soon broken – do not need another 60 years of misery, wretchedness and suffering… to figure out for the thousandth time that all the talk about the ‘bridge of return’ is nonsense and deceit – a fairy tale that exists only in the old, worn-out demagogy of the Arab propaganda…
“In reality, there is no ‘bridge [of return]’… except for the bridge that we now must pass… called the peace process and normalization of relations between the Arabs and Israel.
“As the Middle East peace process gains momentum, … there is a growing necessity for a realistic, unavoidable and bold decision that will provide a just solution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees by naturalizing them in the host countries, such as Syria, Lebanon and other countries.
“Even though this is a humanitarian [project], it requires intensive efforts on the legislative, economic, logistic and administrative levels, to integrate the Palestinians organically into the social, economic and political fabric of the Arab societies…
“By every conceivable and accepted criterion, naturalizing the refugees [in the Arab countries] is the inevitable solution to [this] chronic humanitarian problem. The fact that [this solution] constitutes an important part of the overall peace process and of the historic reconciliation between the Arabs and the Israelis will help to reinforce [the naturalization process] and to perpetuate it,” Sweidan wrote.