Sunday, April 30, 2006
Where the Dialogue Ends...
Below is a dialogue that won't occur when the occupier sets the parameters for discourse, which usually precludes any mention of Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.
Why can this person from Britain, and this person from Hungary,
and this person from Brazil,and this Southern Girl,and this man from Los Angeles,this woman from New Jersey,this person from Detroit, this woman from New Jersey,this man from the Netherlands, this young woman from Montreal, "live the dream," as Nefesh B'Nefesh puts it. Nefesh B' Nefesh is an organization which cooperates with the Jewish Agency and whose aim is "to educate and inspire the Jews of the Diaspora as to the centrality of the Jewish State to the Jewish people and its desirability as a Jewish home," in order to to "strengthen the State of Israel and thereby increase the likelihood of an ever expanding North American Aliyah reality."
But why after fifty-eight years hasn't UN Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 13 "which reaffirms the right of every individual to leave and return to his country," been implemented for this artist, born in Jerusalem, with family originally from Jaffa, or this artist from Lydda, or this man from Abu Fakhrie, or this priest from Lydda, or this professor from Ein Karem, or this woman from Jerusalem, or this woman from Sidna Alli, or these refugees in Jenin, originally from Haifa, or the people of Dheisheh Refugee Camp, who originally came from 45 villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron,or this man,from Beersheba , or this famous writer from Acre, or George Bisharat from Talbiyyah Quarter, Jerusalem.
Or 5.5 million others.
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta presciently notes that Israelis assume "that Palestinians do not belong to the land of Palestine, hence they have no 'right of return' to it.
"So the message to the five million refugees who were expelled from 530 localities and whose land constitutes 92 per cent of the present state of Israel is, 'sorry for everything that happened in 1948 -- that's all.' The weight of human rights, UN resolutions and, above all, the dogged determination of the Palestinians, squeezes out nothing more than a hollow half-hearted apology."
Dr. Abu Sitta suggests that Israelis "should look outside their own cloistered world and recognise -- indeed address -- the injustice they inflicted upon the Palestinians."
Why can this person from Britain, and this person from Hungary,
and this person from Brazil,and this Southern Girl,and this man from Los Angeles,this woman from New Jersey,this person from Detroit, this woman from New Jersey,this man from the Netherlands, this young woman from Montreal, "live the dream," as Nefesh B'Nefesh puts it. Nefesh B' Nefesh is an organization which cooperates with the Jewish Agency and whose aim is "to educate and inspire the Jews of the Diaspora as to the centrality of the Jewish State to the Jewish people and its desirability as a Jewish home," in order to to "strengthen the State of Israel and thereby increase the likelihood of an ever expanding North American Aliyah reality."
But why after fifty-eight years hasn't UN Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 13 "which reaffirms the right of every individual to leave and return to his country," been implemented for this artist, born in Jerusalem, with family originally from Jaffa, or this artist from Lydda, or this man from Abu Fakhrie, or this priest from Lydda, or this professor from Ein Karem, or this woman from Jerusalem, or this woman from Sidna Alli, or these refugees in Jenin, originally from Haifa, or the people of Dheisheh Refugee Camp, who originally came from 45 villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron,or this man,from Beersheba , or this famous writer from Acre, or George Bisharat from Talbiyyah Quarter, Jerusalem.
Or 5.5 million others.
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta presciently notes that Israelis assume "that Palestinians do not belong to the land of Palestine, hence they have no 'right of return' to it.
"So the message to the five million refugees who were expelled from 530 localities and whose land constitutes 92 per cent of the present state of Israel is, 'sorry for everything that happened in 1948 -- that's all.' The weight of human rights, UN resolutions and, above all, the dogged determination of the Palestinians, squeezes out nothing more than a hollow half-hearted apology."
Dr. Abu Sitta suggests that Israelis "should look outside their own cloistered world and recognise -- indeed address -- the injustice they inflicted upon the Palestinians."
