If only those who were actual refugees at the time of the UN Resolution returned, it would be a handful. And if it includes anyone else, it is a manipulative political charade. Imagine if all the refugees from the Ottoman Empire, by the PA’s standard here, suddenly converged upon Occupied Constantinople. (I will get my ticket now if you will!) The place would be swarming with Christians and Jews. Would the world wring its hands about the injustice done to those refugees? What do you think?
“PA urges Palestinians to ‘return,'” by Khaled Abu Toameh for the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Sr. Soph):
The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air.
The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees.
Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
The initiative is the first of its kind and is clearly aimed at embarrassing Israel during the anniversary celebrations by highlighting the issue of the “right of return” for the refugees.
Entitled “The Initiative of Return and Coexistence,” the plan suggests that the PA has abandoned a two-state solution in favor of one state where all Arabs and Jews would live together.
“The Palestinians, backed by all those who believe in peace, coexistence, human rights and the UN resolutions, shall recruit all their energies and efforts to return to their homeland and live with the Jews in peace and security,” the plan says.
This would, of course, ultimately mean the subjugation of the Jews as dhimmis within an Islamic state.