Israeli Arabs seek right to return to villages abandoned in 1948

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"According to a position paper written by Mossawa - the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel and presented in a conference in Nazareth on Friday, Israeli Arabs want the right to return to villages abandoned in 1948, educational autonomy and changes to the Israeli flag and national anthem."

<snip>

"Our goal is to achieve a historic compromise with the Jewish community in Israel," Mossawa Center director Jafar Farah told the conference. "The move by refugees of 1948 to their villages will not change the demographic balance or endanger the Jews. Unlike the refugees in Arab states, we are (already) here," Farah said. "The internal refugees (residents forced to leave their villages in 1948 who moved to other Arab communities within Israel) represent about one-fourth of the Arab population in Israel today."

Farah said the paper was spurred by a sense among many Israeli Arabs that they must have their say at a time when many Israeli organizations are working to frame a national constitution.

"We found ourselves in an absurd situation, in which Jews are deciding what is good for the Arabs because the Arab elites are not involved in the discussions. Now the decision makers will have to take our opinion into account," Farah said.

The 10-point position paper emphasizes the need to grant communal rights to the Arab public, including the increased use of the Arabic language; equality and fairness in immigration policy; the correct allotment of national resources; and fair representation. With regard to national symbols, the paper says: "The state's symbols, its flag and its national anthem are emotionally charged, public resources ... the state must give appropriate expression to the presence of Arab citizens in Israel and its historical relationship to the place."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/795419.html

[mike_c]

1. it should be remembered that the right of refugee return to their homes...

...is codified into international law. Israel has been in violation of U.N. resolutions on this matter for many decades. Preventing arabs from returning to their lands is the cornerstone of Israeli apartheid.

on edit-- I'm pointing this out for general consumption, not to the OP.

[liberalhistorian]

2. You're absolutely right, Mike, but

brace yourself for the usual onslaught of the Israel-can-do-no-wrong-and-all-Palestinians-are-terrorists crowd. But I'm sure you already knew that!

[Behind the Aegis]

6. As opposed to the...

..."Palestinians-can-do-no-wrong-and-all-Israelis-are-terrorists crowd"?

[liberalhistorian]

10. I agree that those exist as well and that that is just

as wrong, there must be balance and fairness.

[cali]

9. Heh. for someone who decries

black and why thinking, you sure did just paint yourself into the same corner. You're comment was simply a close minded snark. But it was funny.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Does that include Jewish refugees?

Do they have a right to return to their homes? y'know, the 100's of thousands expelled from Arab and Muslim lands? Then again, since you are a proponent of the "one-state" solution, it doesn't surprise me that you see this as a "cornerstone of Israeli apartheid."

[mike_c]

8. if they were expelled from Arab lands then they aren't refugees...

...who need to return to their land, are they? But in general, yes, if they were expelled from the own land then they should have every right to return under the U.N. Charter. I suspect you already know this.

[Igel]

3. It loses me with the word 'communal'.

It's the foul legacy of the Ottoman Empire, the source of much poison in Islamic jurisprudence. It's left its foul stench from the Maghrib to Indonesia, and the mess in Iraq and the possible disaster in the wings in Lebanon are a direct consequences of communal thinking .

Communalism by any other name is tribalism or confessionalism. It's a scourge the world would best be free of.

(And if you ask nicely, I may tell you what I *really* think about it.)

[papau]

4. I like your rant - communal property/the Mesha system was a self inflicted wound that is still

drawing blood.

For those not up to speed on this problem a bit of FYI:

In villages where the Mesha system prevails, the farms, the whole of the village property is held in common. Each shareholder owns a fractional share in the village, but has no separate parcel of land allotted to him in proprietary right. The village as a whole belongs to the body of the proprietors as a whole. The individual's share is usually expressed in terms of various measures; a sharer may own a fedan (an area so large that a pair of cattle can plough it in one day), or a karat, that is l/24th of the whole, or a fraction of the whole, called a sehem. But none of these represent defined plots or parcels of the village; they represent an undivided share of the total.

In the Mesha'a villages there may be tribal divisions and within these large areas individual shares are as a rule divided every two years, with the result that no development is at all possible. No cultivator will proceed to manure or improve his holding, which he knows will pass to some other cultivator in the course of the next two years.(wording above taken in part from the internet)

Besides, I wonder what the Ottoman's would say about a "right of return". Indeed I don't recall that right ever being the basis of population movements - even as the EU/UN counties passed resolutions, the actual countries continued to expel populations around the world. Who can forget the Germans with 400 years family history in Poland and indeed in all the non-German countries, being told to walk back to Germany in 45 to 48.

If the Palestinians are able to shake a few billion out of the West as compensation for giving up the right of return, more power to them and nice going.

On the other hand Israeli has no right to prevent its own citizens from up and moving any where.

This demand implies that there is some obstacle - which is I suspect ownership under the Ottoman property title law under the form called a "Miri" title where "Miri" is property over which the right of occupation or of tenure can be enjoyed by a private person, provided that such right has been granted by the State with absolute ownership remaining vested in the Government.

I suspect the Arab Israeli group wants clear title to land that they occupied in the past, but did not own.

[Lurking Dem]

7. The entire nation of Poland

was picked up and moved to the left after WWII. Are they screaming for right of return to Belarus? Is anyone here demanding that the eastern side of a now united Germany get back the land that is now eastern Poland?

[newyorican]

11. Unintentionally made the opposite point...

There is no large scale demand by people in Poland or Germany for any "right of return".

In the case of Israel/Palestine there is.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. Another thing, this was about existing citizens of Israel...

This was about internal displacement within Israel itself, and as such arguments about right of return for Jews to Arab states and bringing up post-WWII Europe are missing the point that in this case it's people who are citizens of Israel and who won't upset any demographic balance who are the refugees being discussed, not Palestinians outside of Israel...

[Lurking Dem]

14. That actually WAS my point.

[newyorican]

15. The point...

...that the situations bear no resemblance to each other?

[Violet_Crumble]

13. Link to the Mossawa Centre...

The report's not up there yet, but there's some other interesting reports and stuff on their site...

http://www.mossawacenter.org