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In the Name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Peace Be Upon You,
God’s Grace and His Benediction
The Palestinian people and their supporters amongst
Arabs and Muslims have suffered the longest and most atrocious war
in modern history, that of confronting the Zionist enemy. This
battle is unique of its kind, and the Zionist enemy’s objective is
not only to claim victory over the Palestinian population but also
to erase its very human, religious, cultural, geographic and
historical existence from the face of the earth, confiscating its
land, potentials and riches.
This fateful and unique battle is distinguished by
three principal factors that have remained constant throughout the
twentieth century and still persist to the present date.
First Factor:
The principles on which Zionism founded its state on
Palestine are illegal. The Balfour Declaration was a promise of
colonization granted from that who does not own to those who do not
deserve, pledged in the absence of the righteous owners. The
Partition Plan, on the other hand, was only a recommendation that
was to gain legitimacy upon its acceptance by both parties, i.e.
when the Palestinian people would agree to hand over half of their
land to the Zionists, a fact that did not materialize. Further, even
if the Partition Plan is to be implemented as per Resolution 181, it
would protect the political, religious, and cultural rights of the
Jews in Arab countries and vice versa. As such, Resolution 181 does
not permit the racial genocide practiced by Israel against the
Palestinians – a war crime by international law standards. It is a
well-known fact that the Partition Plan was adopted by the United
Nations with a very weak majority resulting from much pressure
exerted by the United States and the Zionists, and that its
legitimacy is doubtful even within the framework of the United
Nations. The motive behind this Partition Plan was to provide
Zionism with the legal cover for occupying Palestine based on its
military readiness, Arab impotence and Western connivance.
Second Factor:
Despite the fact that Western countries did cast their votes in the
second half of the 20th century on most international
resolutions, the most important of which was Resolution 194 which
stipulates for the return of Palestinian refugees, ironically, all
suggestions, projects and assistance plans presented by Western
countries during the time went to support Israel in its quest of
stealing Palestinian land and disposing of the refugee problem.
This holds true even for the Relief Agency, which
faces today a war without clemency. This agency was created only to
alleviate international pressure on Israel with respect to the
refugees and their right of return. The Johnston development plans
and the water distribution projects of 1954 aimed to nationalize
refugees in different countries, ejecting them as far as possible
from Palestine. The Rogers Plan of 1969 and those post-invasion
plans of 1967 that were adopted by some disoriented Palestinian
groups during the last decade of the last century were only
strategies for disposing of the righteous owners of the land,
playing to Israel’s favor.
Third Factor:
In spite of all of these massive pressures, and notwithstanding five
wars, hundreds of raids, occupation, displacement, and subjugation
suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis, the
stringent living, work and transportation conditions they faced in
some Arab countries, and the lack of recognition they suffer in the
Western world, the Palestinian people have not bowed to defeat or
raised the flag of surrender for over half a century. This legendary
truth persists as a fixed pillar of continuing resistance, despite
all the problems, disappointments, faults and languish by some.
These three factors or truths that still apply today
must represent a vertebral column for all of our future right
reclamation plans on behalf of the Palestinian people.
Let us first start by defining the Right of Return,
its owners, where they existed previously and do today, why they
have not returned and what obstacles stand in the way of their
return.
Palestinians have a high sense of national awareness
to the extent that they know the full legal truths about the Right
of Return, especially after the Oslo deception and the other
political deceits that followed it.
They realize that the Right of Return is inalienable,
one that no individual, group, government or head of state may
denounce. It is both an individual and a group right that financial
compensation may not substitute, as return is a right while
compensation is also a right, and neither one may substitute the
other. Return is not a substitute for the Palestinian state, and one
right cannot be exchanged for the other. Further, return is not a
right to be earned in installments, and is not an entitlement to one
group over another. It is a right for all. Its substitution for
nationalization in other countries would be a war crime, for
nationalization implies an eternal exile of a national from his
home, and a consecration of the racial genocide operation, which is
a crime that the International Court of War Crimes established in
1998 punishes for.
The Palestinians did not forget their nation, for
they know well their original homeland, cities and villages, a
memory that the grandfather, father, son and grandson all harbor.
Map 1: Palestinian Homelands
Table 2: Palestinian villages that fell under Israeli
occupation (774 out of 955)
Map 3: The Zionist enemy has evicted them by the
force of iron and fire to 1523 camps, villages and cities in the
neighboring Arab countries. Others found refuge in further Arab and
foreign countries (Map 4).
Nothing is more representative of this racial
genocide crime than this illustration (Figure 5), which reveals the
displacement and substitution operation of a people living on the
holy land for over 30 centuries and their replacement by Jewish
immigrants from over 100 countries.
Where do Palestinians live today? (Map 6)
Despite all the subrogation and wars, 88% of the
Palestinians remained in Palestine and its surrounding Arab
countries within a belt not exceeding 100 miles in width. Half of
the remaining (6%) settled in other Arab countries while the other
half established themselves in foreign nations.
It is clear that the largest population of
Palestinians outside of Palestine lives in Jordan where the number
of refugees registered with the United Nations represents about 40%
of the total population. On the other hand, the total number of
Palestinians is equivalent to more than half of the Jordanian
population. In Gaza we find the largest percentage of refugees,
numbering three-quarters of the population. While in Occupied
Palestine (as dominated in 1948), about 1 million people live, a
quarter of whom are either refugees or displaced populations,
meaning that they are forbidden from returning to their homeland
despite their status as original national citizens of this land.
Those who have remained on national soil presently
reside in 211 cities and villages. The residents of 87 villages had
remained therein since 1948, while those of 12 villages had been
evacuated and then returned to live in these villages, although the
majority of them were not originally from those villages. The total
inhabitants of these 99 villages and cities has increased seven-fold
since 1948 to generate 112 new villages, only half of which are
recognized by Israel with the other half considered inexistent and
not deserving of water utility infrastructures, roads, services,
health or educational services.
Although one cannot travel a distance of 5 kilometers
inside Israel without witnessing Arab presence, Israel has stood
against the creation of any Arab city within its borders. (Maps
7-8).
Why have the Palestinians not yet returned to their
homeland?
As per international law, refugees have returned to
Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Rwanda, Guatemala, Abkhazia, South
Africa, Kuwait and Iraq. They have not returned to Palestine despite
the fact that the Palestinian cause has earned the highest number of
international resolutions during half a century.
The reason is obvious: U.S. political, financial,
military, and media support for Israel has been without limitation
and boundary-less.
The Jewish problem was born in Europe, and from the
European womb Zionist settlement plans emerged. Since the Balfour
promise, the decision to solve the Jews’ problem at the expense of
the Palestinian people had been sealed. Today, politicians resort to
hypocrisy as their tongues speak of the importance of international
law and human rights while their deeds stand witness to strong
military support for Israel, as the case is with Germany, or for
research and development cooperation in the field of weapons of mass
destruction, as the case is with most European academies. As for
media support to Israel, Europe’s record is one of legal punishment
towards any media house that may criticize Israel’s politics of
racism, anti-Semitism accusations being the usual smear.
When asked about all of this, Europeans reply that
international law is to our side and that we should be realistic.
The return of the refugees means changing Israel’s Jewish character.
Our reply to that is: since when has the priority been awarded to
the slaughterer, bandit and aggressor? Were you concerned about
Germany’s loss of the Nazi character back when you had fought
Germany? Did you fear that by fighting South Africa’s apartheid, the
privileges awarded to European whites would be lost? This would be
illegal, immoral and impractical in the long run.
Further we ask, how could you work on maintaining
Israel’s racist character that was the object of condemnation by
United Nations committees and human rights groups, of which even the
American? How could you accept the racial discrimination that
creates a right for the Jews on ravished Palestinian land, even
where these Jews had not been nationals of this land, while denying
Palestinians, the righteous owners of this land, any right to it?
Such is manifest right. Such is glaring oppression.
What to do?
Preponderant thought has it that any action is
useless: we must accept the fait accompli and settle for the
pickings. But this train of thought overlooks another aspect of the
truth: the Palestinian people have steadfastly persevered and
resisted, as has the majority of Arab and Muslim populations.
Resistance in whatever form is a requirement.
Palestinians know the terrain on Palestinian soil. But outside
Palestine, much work needs to be done. Among the first forms of this
work is a conference of the sort we are attending, which is a
manifestation of continued interconnection with Parliamentarians
around the world in a quest for shedding light on the truth. I know
out of personal experience that many Parliamentarians are ready to
listen and to be convinced especially through sound argument and
legal and scientific evidence.
There are parallel parliaments that are no less
important than this forum, these being the civil and popular
organizations, of which the registered now count more than 6000.
These have worked and continue to have a great role in the
propagation of the cause of oppressed people. An unrivalled example
has been set in the Durban conference of 2001.
The importance of such organizations augmented with
the diffusion of the Internet as a means of communication, leading
to the recruitment of thousands of supporters from all corners of
the world in the span of hours. Satellite channels have also aided
in the swift dissemination of information and the exposure of crimes
committed by Israel.
In European and U.S. universities, groups calling to
the boycott of Israel, its goods and universities have emerged.
All of this, however, requires efforts by educated,
modern youth who understand modern methods of communication, master
foreign languages and comprehend Western modes of thought. Old
speeches are no longer effective, not because their content is no
longer valid, but because their encasement and packaging no longer
applies to the present era.
Further, such a quest requires financing, for
institutions and organizations need to be established, and
universities advocating legitimate rights must be funded. What is
spent on one Israeli university alone exceeds all that is being
spent on enlightenment, the media and research into this issue by
the Arab world combined.
There are, however, several examples of faithful Arab
efforts that have achieved much distinguished results using little
financial resources and much commitment and devotion.
The arenas of resistance are many. There is the
military field, the legal terrain, as well as the popular, economic
and media front lines. The domain is wide open in all of these
fields.
We are the proprietors of the claim, and we are
calling for a peace that is based on justice. If such peace is not
obtainable, we call for self-defense, this being both a right and a
duty.
We have not emigrated to Russia and Poland attempting
to evict their nationals and claim their lands. Zionists arrive to
our nation from these lands and attempted to do just that.
We have not conspired with colonialism to rob people
of their rights and land. Zionists have done.
We have not broken international covenants and
charters. Zionists have.
We have not laid the foundations for racist laws –
the only ones still applicable in our world of today – claiming that
we are a democratic nation. Zionists have.
We have not occupied the land of others in the
longest and most brutal occupation in modern history. Zionists have.
We have not developed weapons of mass destruction,
including chemical, nuclear and biological weapons. Zionists have.
For all of the above, we are legitimate owners of
what is our right and will not so much as prod away from defending
it. They are the propagators of an injustice that must be
eradicated.
A right is not lost when a proponent is behind it.
May peace be with you.
Map 1: Homelands of Palestinians evicted in 1948 -
675 cities and villages: The largest racial cleansing operation in
modern history.
Table 2: Palestinian cities and villages that fell
under Israeli occupation in 1948 – 774 cities and villages
categorized according to districts – against 181 Jewish settlement
on the Palestinian soil that later became Israel.
Map 3: Direction of Palestinian evacuation through
racial cleansing in 1948, and the number of villages the inhabitants
of which were forced to leave.
Map 4: Exile of Palestinians to neighboring Arab
countries: a total of 1523 points of exile (camp, village and city)
for refugees that are registered with the United Nations.
Figure 5: Illustration of the displacement and
subrogation operation practiced against Palestinian families in
favor of importing Jewish immigrants from various areas across the
globe. Note that one million Palestinians have remained on their
land today while 5 million live in exile.
Map 6: The existence of Palestinians in 1988 across
the globe, their distribution in the Diaspora and their
categorization as Palestinian nationals or refugees inside or
outside camps.
Map 7: Remaining Palestinian villages in the North,
categorized as either old (existing since 1948) or new, and
therefore not granted recognition.
Map 8: Remaining Palestinian villages in the South,
categorized as either old (existing since 1948) or new and
recognized, or yet new but not granted recognition.
All maps, tables and illustrations are courtesy of:
Atlas of Palestine, 1948. Palestine Land Society, London.
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