The myth of "The Right of Return"
"Another consequence of our unwillingness to accept as real what we do not like is when reality catches up with us, it is always too late. At every debacle we regret we did not accept a situation which no longer exists. In 1948 we regretted that we had not accepted the 1947 UN plan for partition. In May 1967 we were trying to get back to pre-Suez. Today we would be happy, and are actually demanding at the UN, to go back to things as they were before 5 June. From every defeat we reap a new regret and a new nostalgia, but never seem to learn a new lesson" Tunisian writer Cecil Hourani, after the Yom Kippur war in 1973, in Am Nahar, a Lebanese newspaper.
Every dialogue about the Palestinians includes references to "the right of return." This basically means that even though the Palestinians and the Arabs have waged war, declared and otherwise against the State of Israel since its inception, the Palestinians in-exile have a right to return to their villages and homes in Israel today. This is a myth but with the Arabs myths have more power than reality in most cases. And as the quote above shows if they don't like something they just refuse to accept it as fact.
Not coming back to Israel, not now, not ever
Unfortunately for them Israel today is fact. The Palestinians left their portion of Israel because they were sure the Arabs would destroy the Jews and they would be able to move into the Jewish areas of Palestine within weeks. Instead Israel destroyed the armies of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria and took over the Palestinian lands. After that debacle the Palestinians wanted to go back to the UN partition plan. And so the story goes, the Arabs always want to go back to what existed previously rather than accept their new reality, yet they never seem to learn a lesson from their defeats.
I sit and I listen to the howls of outrage across Europe and the Middle East about Bush's recognition of reality when he states that Palestinians today will not be allowed to return to the land and villages they left more than 50 years ago in Israel. The Europeans, who 60 years ago watched as the Holocaust devoured their Jewish populations and didn't do anything to stop it, today cry alligator tears over the plight of the poor Palestinians. The Arabs, who expelled their Jewish populations and stole their land and assets, moan even louder yet does nothing to help the Palestinians by forcing them to accept reality. Yet these same people, the ones who tortured and exiled the Jews in their midst, show such a willingness to criticize Bush and Sharon over this simple statement of fact: Israel will not be forced to accept as citizens the Palestinians who left their UN-mandated portion of Israel in 1948.
It's not rocket science. This issue is not open for discussion. There is no "right of return" and those who insist that one exists are anti-semites who's real goal is nothing short of the total destruction of the state of Israel. They can mask their language any way they want but listen closely to their words, with coded talk like "anti-zionism" and "Israeli apartheid", and you hear the rhetoric of Hitler, Speers and all the rest of the Nazis and anti-semites.
Israel will not be forced to accept as citizens those who seek its total destruction. The best thing the world could do for the Palestinians is to destroy their fetid, rank refugee camps which have become breeding grounds for Islamic Fascism, and re-settle them in The West Bank and Gaza. Those who wish to settle in their host countries, like Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, should be allowed to do so. By encouraging their dreams and fantasies the world is only playing mind games with the Palestinians. Bush and Sharon were right in their statements and I for one am glad the US has stopped playing this game with the non-existent "right of return."
10:57:07 AM 
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