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How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace
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By Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf
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The authors are both liberal Israelis supportive of a two-state solution as inter alia foreseen by the Oslo Accords in the early 90’s. Twenty-five years after these accords were signed they wonder why there still is no peace between Israel and the Palestinians and why the two states are not there.
To find an answer to this question they go back to 1948, when seven hundred thousand Palestinians were forced out of their homes by the first Arab-Israeli War. More than seventy years later millions of their descendants are still registered as refugees, with many living in refugee camps. This group has “officially” remained unsettled, demanding to settle in the State of Israel. They believe in a personal ‘right of return’ to their homes in the State of Israel.
Once started, you can’t stop reading as it becomes clear that the Palestinian demand for the implementation of their claimed right to return to their homes in the State of Israel – not to Gaza or the West Bank, the territory of the would-be state of Palestine according to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which the Arabs including the Palestinians rejected – must herald the end of the Jewish state of Israel, initiated by the massive influx of several millions of (Muslim) Palestinian Arabs. For the Palestinians there can only be peace based on unconditional acceptance of their ‘right of return’ – which eventually will lead to a 1-state solution, i.e. an Arabic/Muslim state of Palestine (with at best a Jewish minority) “from the River to the Sea”. Exit Israel.
In clear and simple language the authors reveal the origins of the idea of a ‘right of return’, and explain how UNRWA – the very agency charged with finding a solution for the refugees – gave in to Palestinian, Arab and international political pressure to create a permanent refugee problem.
The authors argue that the Palestinian demand for a ‘right of return’ has no legal or moral basis and is one of the largest obstacles to successful diplomacy and lasting peace in the region. They make a passionate plea to the US, the UN, and the EU to recognize this fact, for the good of Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Highly recommended.
The War of Return – How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace
Authors: Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf
Publisher: All Points Books – St. Martin’s Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781250252760
304 Pages
