|
R
Refugees,
Jewish Refugees
JEWISH REFUGEES NEVER SAW JUSTICE says US POLITICIAN:
An American congressman is calling for Congressional hearings on the
issue of Jewish refugees, urging colleagues to recall that many Jews fled
Arab nations when Israel was established.
"It is critical that future peace negotiations and discussions,
specifically on the rights of refugees, address both sides of the issue,
Arab and Jewish," Rep. Frank Pallone said on Wednesday, noting that
Congress and the general public are much better versed in the Palestinian
refugee problem.
Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said that approximately 1 million Jews
fled Arab lands following Israel's establishment and have never seen
justice.
"The fact that Israel chose to absorb and assimilate the refugees from
Arab nations does not lessen the fact that they were all expelled or
otherwise compelled to leave their homelands," he said.
 Back
|
|
Professor Amnon RUBINSTEIN, the
famous and widely respected legal authority, popular parliamentary leader
of the liberal left for past decades answers the doubts about the right of
return.
There is no 'right' of return
AMNON RUBINSTEIN
THE JERUSALEM POST
Mar. 15, 2005
The Supreme Court, Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry, National Security
Council and the Knesset are all considering a difficult question: Is the
State of Israel allowed to act to maintain its Jewish majority and, if so,
what measures can it legitimately employ for that purpose?
The question is not relevant to the Greater Land of Israel; there it is
clear that within a short time there will be no Jewish majority. But even
in little Israel, the big discrepancy between Jewish and Arab birthrates
and the drastic drop in Jewish immigration raise the demographic question.
The very discussion offends Israel's Arabs, because after all, every
person is entitled to be treated as a full citizen, and it is surely
offensive to be viewed as part of a "demographic threat." But
responsibility for putting the subject on the table rests primarily with
the Palestinian leadership, which brought up the right of the descendants
of refugees to return to Israel as a main item on the agenda.
It is clear that their intention is to flood Israel so that its character
(and name) disappear with the creation of an Arab majority in the country.
Declarations by Palestinians that the "Palestinian womb" should be used
for political purposes fan the flames; those are blatantly fascist
statements and the Israeli Left ought to be protesting against them
vehemently.
Worse yet, once such demands have been raised it is clear that the Zionist
Left's traditional demand of "two states for two peoples" is threatened by
the Palestinian side. Drowning the Jewish state in an Arab majority means
there would be two states for one people, thereby denying the Jewish
people its right to self-determination.
That Palestinian demand is racist, and there is no doubt the Jewish
people, inside and outside Israel, would totally resent it. Certainly it
is not easy to be a member of the Arab minority in a Jewish state, but it
is better to be such a minority in a state governed by the rule of law
than a majority in a murderous dictatorship such as Syria, which is
actually under a regime of occupation – an Arab occupation, but an
occupation all the same.
The Supreme Court justices have already expressed their view about the
Jewish majority and stated explicitly that the meaning of a "Jewish state"
includes the existence of a Jewish majority.
The definition of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" was initially
submitted by Peace Now. The idea is simple: The Greater Land of Israel
cannot be both democratic and Jewish, because it will not have a Jewish
majority, and then one of the two attributes will have to be given up:
either the state's Jewish character or its democracy.
This idea became part of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, and
from there became subject to the interpretation of the Supreme Court. In a
nation state, the national majority has the right to safeguard its
existence and the identity of its state. Because of that natural right,
special rights are granted to minorities who cannot become majorities and
who have the right to defend their culture so they are not assimilated
into the majority culture.
A nation's right of self-definition must include its right to maintain a
democratic majority in its country – and if that is true for all peoples,
it is all the truer for the Jews: The national majorities of North Ireland
and Cyprus have other states (Britain, Greece) where they can realize
their cultural identity and speak their language. The Jews have no other
such state except for Israel.
Because of that right, international law allows states to discriminate
between nationalities when it comes to immigration and acquiring
citizenship. That is why the various laws of return of the European
countries have not been attacked in the European Court of Human Rights.
Israel, therefore, is entitled to object to the "right of return," as
opposed to family unification on a humanitarian basis. Accordingly, the
compromise by the authors of the Geneva Accord, which does not
categorically reject the principle of a "right" of Palestinians to move to
Israel, is very damaging and hurtful.
And what about cases in which Israeli Arab citizens want to marry Arab men
or women from the territories, or from Arab countries? That is a
borderline case. On the one hand, they are citizens who want to establish
families lawfully. On the other hand, they are suspected of using that
right for nationalist purposes as a substitute for the "right of return."
This special case requires a separate discussion, but does not detract
from the underlying legal principle. The law does not permit
discrimination between one citizen and another because of religion or
nationality, and therefore discrimination in child allowances or land
allocation is forbidden in Israel.
The Supreme Court offered a fine analogy: The key for entering the Israeli
home is held by the Jews, but inside the home there has to be full
equality between Jews and Arabs.
The writer, founder of the Shinui movement and a former education
minister, is dean of the Radzyner School of Law at the Interdisciplinary
Center Herzliya. |
