Attainable Justice
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Author | Rashid Khalidi |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300204 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
RASHID
KHALIDI
Attainable
justice
Elements
ofa
solution
to
the
Palestinian
refugee issue
M
ANY
DIFFICULT AND
COMPLEX
ISSUES
MUST
BE
RESOLVED
before
there
can
be
a
just,
comprehensive,
and
final
settlement
of
the question
of
Palestine
and
of
the
Arab-Israeli
conflict.
The
most
basic
among
them
is
undoubtedly
the problem
of
more
than
700,000
Palestinians
who
became
refugees
during
the fighting
in
1947-9
-
more
than
half
of
the
Arab
population
of
Palestine
at
that
time.
It
will
probably
also
be
the
most
intractable
issue
to
resolve,
more
so
even
than
the
formidably
difficult question
of
Jerusalem.
The
massive
demographic
transformation
which
followed
the
flight
of
the
refugees was
a
crucial
turning point
in
the
struggle
between
the
Zionist
movement
and
the Palestinian people
over
Palestine.
Before
1948,
Jews
owned
seven
per
cent
of
the
land
of
Palestine
and
formed
35
per
cent
of
its
population;
afterwards,
Israel
controlled
76
per
cent
of
the
land,
within
which
Arabs
were
a
small
minority.
Since
its
incep-
tion just
over
a
hundred
years
ago,
this
conflict
has
focussed
primarily
on
matters
of
population
and
land.
The
flight
of
more
than
half
of
the
Palestinian
people
in
1948,
hailed
as
'miraculous'
by
Chaim
Weiz-
mann,
the
first
president
of
Israel,'
thus had
profound
historical,
social,
and
moral consequences
which
continue
to
resonate
today.
2
RashidKhalidi
is
Professor
ofMiddle
Eastern
History
and
Director
of
the
Center
frr
Interna-
tional
Studies
at
the
University
of
Chicago.
He
is
author,
most
recently
ofPalestinian
Identity-.
The
Construction of
Modern
National
Consciousness
(1997).
i
Cited
in Rony
Gabbay,
A
Political
Study
of
the
Arab-Jewish
Conflict:
The
Arab
Refugee Problem
(Geneva:
Droz 1959),
1o0.
2
This
was
evident
in
the reaction
to
a
22-part
series
entitled
'Tekuma'
[Rebirth],
broadcast
by
the
Israel
Broadcasting
Authority
on
the
occasion
of
the
50th anniver-
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
1998
Rashid
KhaLidi
The
Palestinian
refugee issue
is
central
to
the
conflict
between
Arabs
and
Israelis.
For
some,
including
many
Palestinians,
it
is
the
basic
issue
of
the
conflict,
from which
all
else
has
flowed over
the
past
half-centu-
ry.
For
Palestinians,
their
dispossession by
Israel
in 1948
was
the
defin-
ing
element
not
only
in
the
modern
history
of
their
people,
but
also
in
the
entire conflict
between
Israel
and
the
Arab
countries.
Nevertheless,
the
Arab-Israeli
negotiations
thus
far
reflect
unremitting
Israeli pres-
sure
for
fifty
years
to
ignore,
diminish, and
ideally to
bury
the
whole
question
of
the
Palestinians
who
were
made
refugees
in 1948.'
Notwithstanding
this
constant
pressure,
the
refugee
issue
must
be
forthrightly
addressed
if
there
is
to
be
a
just
and
lasting
peace
for
two
eminently
practical
reasons.
First,
for
over
three
million
Palestinians,
most
of
whom
are refugees
and
descendants
of
refugees,
who
live
out-
side
Palestine
and constitute
more
than
half
of
the
Palestinian
people,
it
is
a
crucial
issue
which
will
largely
determine their
attitude
towards
a
comprehensive
peace
and,
therefore,
whether
such
a
peace
will
be
last-
ing.
4
Secondly,
its
satisfactory
resolution
is
vital
to
a
number
of
host
countries,
notably
Lebanon
and
Jordan,
but
also
several
states
in
the
Gulf
region.
5
Many
proposals
have
been made
over
the
past
fifty
years
for solving
the
problem
of
Palestinian
refugees.
Some
involved
full
or
partial
return
of
the
refugees
to
their
homes
and
compensation
for
their
loss-
es;
others
were
based
on
resettlement
of
the
refugees
in
other
Arab
countries;
still
others
involved
combinations of
these
and
other
pro-
sary
of
the
establishment
of
Israel,
which
tried
to
present
a
range
of
views
on
a
vari-
ety
of
historical
issues.
Among
the
most
contentious
questions
which
the
series
raised
was
that
of how
the
Palestinians
became
refugees.
3
For
example,
a
passing
reference
to
the
refugee
issue
in
Israeli
Prime
Minister
Itzhak
Shamir's
speech
to
the
Madrid
Peace Conference
on
31
October
1991
described
the
problem
as
the result
of
'Arab
hostility to
Israel.'
He
claimed
that
the
Arabs
were
'encouraged
by
their
own
leaders
to
flee
from
their
homes,'
that
'their
suffering
is
a
blot
on
humanity,'
and
that
Israel
had
tried
to
rehabilitate
and
house
them.
He
made
no
mention of
any
Israeli
responsibility.
Text
in
Journal
of
Palestine
Studies
21(winter
1992),
130.
4
The
best
studies
of
Palestinian
refugee
populations
are
those
of
Julie
Peteet
(The
Palestinians:
From
Peasants
to
Revolutionaries
[NewYork:
Columbia
University
Press
1991D
and
Rosemary
Sayigh (Too
Many
Enemies:
the
Palestinian
Experience
in
Lebanon
[London:
Zed
1994D.
Both
show
the
persistence
of
strong
feelings about
issues
of
return
to
their
homeland
and
restitution
for
their
losses.
5
The
Palestinian
refugee
question
has
been
an
explosive
one
for
both
Lebanon
and
Jordan
since
1948.
It
contributes
to
instability
in
both
countries
and
continues
to be
a
major
political
question
in
the
politics
of
both.
234
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
1998
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