Ideology or human rights? The right of return

Ideology or human rights? The right of return

by Leslie Bravery | Palestine Human Rights Campaign
www.palestine.org.nz
20 December 2014

Human rights being absolute and indisputable, the only possible just solution to decades of discrimination is the establishment of a single state in Palestine/Israel, with equal and full citizenship rights for all.

Israel's Law of Return asserts that all Jews have a 'right' of immigration and settlement that has primacy over the rights of the indigenous Palestinian people. This leads increasing numbers of Jews to protest “not in my name”. As Israel expands ever deeper into Palestinian territory, beyond Israel's internationally-recognised borders, this 'right' to colonise is accompanied by military occupation and oppression of the native people. Israel has declared no limit to its territorial ambitions and the transfer of parts of its population into newly acquired territory continues in defiance of international law.

In contrast, the Palestinian refugees' Right of Return is guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, following their expulsion in 1948, the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention were specifically applied to them in UN Resolution 194, which recognises that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes" should be permitted to do so. The conditions under which Palestinians are forced to live are directly attributable to the failure of the world community to require Israel to respect the law. So while Jews enjoy special privileges and rights over the occupied Palestinian people, not even possession of the title deeds to their property will move the Zionist state to compassion towards those who have been driven out and exiled. Israel is obdurately refusing to allow Palestinians their right to return, solely on the grounds that they are not Jewish.

In 1960 the Israeli Knesset passed the 'Basic Law on Israel Lands'. At the time, the then Justice Minister Zerah Warhaftig justified the law thus:

“We want it to be clear that the lands of Israel belong to the Jewish people. The Jewish people is a broader concept than the people living in Zion, because the Jewish people are found all over the world.”

On 23 November 2014 the Israeli cabinet approved the "Jewish nation-state" law that is to be brought before the Knesset that confirms with greater certainty the discriminatory nature of Israeli 'democracy'. The legislation is aimed at turning a large Arab/Israeli minority into second-class citizens and the removal of Arabic as an official language. There is no Israeli Constitution and no Bill of Rights. In their stead, the Knesset has created a set of “Basic Laws” while allowing the Supreme Court no powers of judicial review over its law-making activities. Palestinians born in Jerusalem have only residency permits, even if the family has been there for generations – and Israel reserves the right to take away these permits at any time, for a variety of reasons. For example, if non-Jews live outside of Jerusalem for a period of seven years or more, they lose the right to return there. If a non-Jew marries a person from the Occupied West Bank or Gaza, their partner is not allowed to live in Jerusalem with them. Since 1967, 14,000 Palestinians have lost their Jerusalem residency permits.

Reflecting the lessons learned in World War Two, the Fourth Geneva Convention also contains provision to safeguard the subjugated victims of war from being coerced, while under the terror of belligerent occupation, into signing away their rights. The demand by Israel and its allies that the Palestinians should negotiate with Israel, even while it continues to occupy and divide their land, is a direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions, Article 8 of which forbids any renunciation, in whole or in part, of any of the rights it guarantees.

So long as the international community fails to condemn and outlaw this basic Israeli injustice towards the native Palestinian people, nothing will change and the repeatedly proclaimed 'two-state' solution would merely entrench Palestinian helplessness and make it easier for the world community to shrug off its responsibilities. Palestinians would continue to be denied equal rights within Israel and any Palestinian 'state' that Israel might allow to be established would forever be subject to Zionist pressure. On 18 December 2014, Israeli minister Yuval Steinitz reacted belligerently on Israel Radio to the Palestinian Authority's (PA) submission to the Security Council of a draft Palestinian statehood resolution, calling it an “act of war”. He said, “We need to consider every move including cutting off economic ties with the PA and stopping the transfer of taxes collected on its behalf”. Israel's self-presumed right to maintain its control over the Palestinian people was made absolutely clear as he added, threateningly, that if the Palestinians persisted in this, Israel should “consider, dismantling the [Palestinian] Authority”. The Israeli Prime Minister has already warned that Israel would never permit a Palestinian state to have sovereignty over its own air space, nor any defence capability. That sounds more like blockade than statehood. The two-state 'solution' is nothing less than an illusion that would inevitably become a trap for the captive people of Palestine.

Of all the twentieth century's state-sponsored ideologies, there is only one that has yet to be condemned as unacceptable. Contempt for Palestinian human rights is embedded in the political Zionism that characterises the Israeli state. Zionism has turned the Palestinian people into refugees and denied them their history and their humanity. Human rights being absolute and indisputable, the only possible just solution to decades of discrimination is the establishment of a single state in Palestine/Israel, with equal and full citizenship rights for all. Precious water and other natural resources might then, at last, be managed and enjoyed for the benefit of everyone, without discrimination. Justice and respect bring harmony, goodwill and peace. The achievement of that in the Holy Land could be a beacon for the rest of mankind to follow – it's up to all of us.

ENDS

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