Jihadi Du Jour: Dershowitz on “The Right of Return”

Alan Dershowitz asked regarding the right of return; “What if the shoe were on the other foot?“

Recently, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that, as a matter of deep principle, he would never accept a right of return by Palestinian refugees and their descendants. His argument was simple: the Palestinians, aided by the surrounding Arab countries, started a war against the new state of Israel in an effort to destroy it; had they instead accepted the partition—the two-state solution—Israel would have accepted the presence of significant numbers of Palestinians in the new Jewish state. But once the Palestinians started a genocidal war, the inevitable consequence was the creation of refugees. Even if some were in fact forced to leave by Israeli military commanders, such actions were in response to the attack by the Palestinians. Olmert is absolutely right as a matter of principle. The best proof of the correctness of his view is to imagine what would be happening today if the shoe were on the other foot. Imagine if the Palestinians had won and many Israelis had been forced to leave, while others left of their own volition or as the result of fear. Now imagine those Israelis seeking a right of return, either in the immediate aftermath of the war or sixty years later. It is inconceivable that a Palestinian state would grant Jewish refugees a right of return. Certainly that would be true if the number of Israeli refugees and their descendants threatened to outnumber the Palestinian population. How can a right of return go only one way? Has Yemen offered its Jewish refugee population any right of return or compensation? Has Egypt? Has Iran? Has Iraq? Has Syria? Of course not. Having concluded that Olmert was absolutely right as a matter of principle, he may have been wrong as a matter of tactics. The Palestinian narrative, whether factually correct or incorrect, is a reality in the minds of most Palestinians. Earlier Israeli Prime Ministers recognized that, and were prepared to compromise principle for a pragmatic peace. They indicated a willingness to accept some symbolic right of return coupled with compensation.

There is a comparable issue of principle on the West Bank. Clearly, Jews have a principled claim to continuing to live in Hebron, the birthplace of biblical Judaism, but even Prime Minister Olmert is prepared to compromise that principle in the interest of a pragmatic peace. I hope he will also be open to a pragmatic compromise with regard to the right of return, if such a compromise were necessary to bring about a real peace. This issue is of great importance in light of the Saudi Peace Plan, which is ambiguous on the issue of refugees, demanding a just resolution, but not specifying the details of such a resolution. (emphasis mine)

I do not agree with Dershowitz - there will be no right of return because there will never be peace. The Palestinians, were they serious about peace would have agreed to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offer in 2000 - offering 97% of Israeli land to the Palestinians under direction from the United States. The Palestinians, namely Yasser Arafat refused. How can anyone believe that there can be a right of return to what does not belong to any Arab - Palestinian or not?

For peace one expects Israel to sell her soul to the devil, while many Americans sleep with the enemy. As much as this subject has been spouted around like a soccer ball - the end result is that this has little to do with the peace for Israel, or the Palestinians. It is about American money and our governments need to control even the uncontrollable.

Would Dershowitz be so generous to the Mexicans if they demanded Texas? Would our government allow foreign entities to tell us how to run our country? Would we tolerate piece mealing the land of Texas between Americans and Mexicans? It is amazing though how this is what the U.S. has been doing regarding Israel with the so-called “road map to peace.”

Perhaps I would believe America’s sincerity when it comes to aiding Israel were it not for one simple fact - America is still bowing down in the Saud Thrown Rooms of Oil.

Crossposted from The HILL Chronicles and Dhimmitude News Network

Labels: Israeli Struggle