Palestinian refugees will determine the future of the Middle East

The US Secretary of State plans to disregard the Palestinian refugees’ right of return and resettle them in Jordan, Gulf countries, Australia and Canada. John Kerry is aware that proposals put forward by Arab, international and Palestinian parties in the past had the same goal, but did not succeed. Obviously, he must believe that the conditions today are more suitable for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, especially the right of return.

The common denominator between Kerry’s plan and previous proposals is that they did not take into account the refugees themselves. Nowadays, they are living under extremely difficult conditions and crises are created everywhere they live in order to distract them and push them to accept any solution, no matter how unattractive. Are such plans succeeding?

The existence of the State of Israel in the region is the Middle East’s problem. It was established on the land and ruin of the Palestinian people, most of whom became refugees in their own country and the surrounding Arab states. The refugees have continued to insist on their legitimate right to return and on many occasions took up arms to restore their rights, liberate their land and achieve their return; the slogan “liberation is the way back” emerged. The refugees rejected many resettlement proposals, especially the plan to move refugees from the Gaza Strip to north-west Sinai, proposed in 1953. This project involved the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Egyptian government, but it was rejected by the refugees. As such, this particular Middle East problem will not be solved until Palestine is liberated and the refugees return to their homeland.

The world community and international law have stressed the right of the refugees to go back to their land, a fact which has contributed to the refugees’ determination and belief that they can do so. The countries of the region that welcomed and hosted refugees supported the UN resolutions affirming the right of return and confirmed their commitment to them. Moreover, they supported the refugees in their efforts to achieve this right, even through armed struggle from the late sixties until the early eighties, when they believed that the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s dispersal from Lebanon in 1982 would somehow open the door to resolve the issue. The Fez Summit was proposed in the same year and the project developed into the so-called Arab Initiative during meetings in Beirut in 2002 and Riyadh in 2007. This coincided with the projects led by the Palestinians, such as the Oslo Accords, the Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement in 1995, and the Geneva Initiative in 2003, which is the source of Kerry’s plan.

None of those proposing to liquidate the right of return appear to have asked themselves why none of the settlement projects or previous such attempts have succeeded over the past 65 years. They should.

For a start, the continued physical presence of refugees inside Palestine and its surroundings keeps the collective memory alive; generations past and present remain determined to achieve their right of return. No Arab or Palestinian leader has openly expressed defiance of the millions of refugees scattered around the world.

The refugees rejected all previous resettlement projects and are ready, able and willing to do the same to any new plans to slam the door of return in their faces. They will not allow their legitimate rights to be undermined and destroyed.

After the surrender of the PLO and its acceptance of such liquidation projects, new factions emerged in the Palestinian community which revived the reinforcement of national principles and promoted armed resistance. Host countries fear that refugees will arm themselves if their rights are taken away, especially the right of return.

Israel, along with the rest of the world, realises that the refugees must agree to the proposed plans or they will not succeed, because no one has the right to strip them of their rights; they are individual rights, not collective, and cannot be negotiated away with any degree of legality. Thus, the refugees’ approval is needed if Israel is ever to be really secure and stable.

With more than eight million Palestinian refugees in the world, who would dare to take their rights away? Their fate will determine the future of the Middle East.

The author is a former minister of Palestinian refugee affairs. This is a translation of the Arabic text published by Felesteen newspaper on 21 January, 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.