When President Barack Obama delivered his much awaited speech on the “Arab Spring” last Thursday, outlining his administration’s policy on the Arab revolts and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he proposed a negotiations process that would delay discussions on Palestinian refugees.
“These principles provide a foundation for negotiations. Palestinians should know the territorial outlines of their state; Israelis should know that their basic security concerns will be met,” he said at the State Department. “I’m aware that these steps alone will not resolve the conflict, because two wrenching and emotional issues will remain: the future of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees. But moving forward now on the basis of territory and security provides a foundation to resolve those two issues in a way that is just and fair.”
Obama didn’t even mention refugees once during his May 22 speech to the annual conference of the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.
But Palestinian refugees themselves are not having any of that, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow that Palestinians’ insistence on returning is “not going to happen,” as he told President Obama at the White House May 20. As the Nakba day protests that erupted on May 15 show, the fate of Palestinian refugees, and their demands to return to their homeland in what is now Israel, remain a core issue in the conflict.
Obama is “now attempting to parse away the negotiations by turning it into a very piecemeal negotiation, where first you focus on borders and security, and then leave all of the other issues to a later date,” Diana Buttu, a former spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Support Unit, told the Institute for Palestine Studies. “This is the policy the Israelis have been pushing for a very long period of time.”
But Palestinian refugees are not waiting on a U.S. president to show them the way forward. Through the kinds of unarmed, popular resistance that have overthrown the regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali–and that Palestinian themselves first used during their intifadas–they are reinserting themselves into the discourse on Israel/Palestine.
The next big event for refugees and their supporters will be June 5, a date that marks the start of the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel captured and occupied the Golan Heights in Syria, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt–all of which remain in Israel’s hands, save for the Sinai.
The Ma’an News Agency reported May 21 that “masses of Palestinian refugees will march to Israel’s borders and ceasefire lines again on June 5, organizers of the May 15 ‘return rally’ said…The committee organizing the ‘return rallies’ said Saturday that the May 15 protests were ‘just the beginning.’ In a statement, the group called on all Palestinian refugees living in exile to march peacefully to the borders of historic Palestine on June 5.”
The “right to return” rallies represent the clearest sign yet that Palestinian refugees are done waiting for a peace process that has done nothing for their rights. The rallies could be looked at as a wholesale rejection of a negotiations process that has systematically shut refugees and the whole Palestinian diaspora out. And it represents a rejection of the Obama/Netanyahu line on refugees.
Alex Kane, a freelance journalist based in New York City, blogs on Israel/Palestine and Islamophobia at alexbkane.wordpress.com, where this post originally appeared. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
I hope they do, but this time, perhaps they could release thousands and thousands of helium balloons with maps of Palestine on them to float into Israel. To represent people returning.
Great idea. But how about a picture of a key instead of a map?
when will palestine be free?
how about today?
startup?
a role call
all those in favor of justice for palestine?
at sundown tonight & for just a half an hour
(wherever one happens to be)
outside , please
so as to be seen via satellite imaging
a worlwide just stand up and be counted poll
live
guess what the numbers will show
That’s a brilliant idea Bumblebye! It would be an amazing sight.
It happened on May 15th at Maroun al-Ras. About 5ooo helium balloons in the colours of the Palestinian flag and one big cluster carrying an unfurled flag of Palestine were released and all of them drifted into Israel. It was an amazing sight that must have broken many hearts in Israel. The happy event was spoiled about 15 minutes later when Israelis started shooting. I think the combination of the 50,000 people at the border all waving flags, the flags being planted on the fence, the stone throwing, the balloons, the super huge Palestinian flag that was raised atop Maroun al-Ras that could be seen in Israel and the loudspeakers blaring Palestinian national songs across the border,must have overwhelmed the Israeli soldiers used to bullying unarmed women and children.
Yesterday, there was still a Palestinian flag hanging on the fence from May 15th. A tall stele in the shape of the map of Palestine with photos and names of the Palestinians that fell on May 15th was erected at the fence where the killings happened.
Alex, there hasn’t been any real Arab spring since all the revolts are starting to fizz out one after the other as none was driven by a common political ideal or had a serious leadership. They were about driving away despots or about being manufactured by the West. In Egypt, the honeymoon is just about over between the Tahrir activists and the military that has ruled since 1952 and evidently not about to ride into the sunset. The military played the activists like a fiddle to get Mubarak dumped and the Supreme Military Council has been making arbitrary decisions on which the population should have been consulted since its authority is only transitory. This coming Friday you should see the start of the head bashing in Tahrir Square because the activists are begining to see how they have been used. In a nutshel, the military has started giving the activists the finger.
In Tunisia, everyone is going around in circles and demonstrations never stopped and bogus revolutions are ongoing in Libya and Syria and these have been ordered up using Islamic fundies, financed and managed by the western powers, so no real spring there either athough the people in these countries had valid claims against their leaders.
The only place you almost had something closely looking like a spring revolt was in Bahrain and Yemen and Bahrain’s failed because there was no leadership among the rebels and it didn’t take much for the regime to snuff it out. Algeria, Morocco, Oman and this morning Mauritania all had false starts.
When the Palestinians decide to kick-off their 3rd and peaceful intifada, it would be the first real Arab spring.
At the risk of pissing off a few people here that still think of Tahrir as some kind of liberating folkloric event and enjoy calling it the Arab Spring, here’s part of a Jazeera article from yesterday more or less saying the same thing and how this coming Friday, things could turn ugly for the Tahrir activists because of the military’s intolerance:
“Egyptian bloggers rally against military
Hundreds risk potential prosecution to voice criticisms of post-revolution military rule and slow pace of reforms.
Evan Hill
23 May 2011 19:34
Hundreds of Egyptians have staged an unprecedented show of online defiance against their country’s military leadership, taking to their blogs to write at times scathing critiques of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that assumed power after longtime president Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February.
The show of anger on Monday came ahead of a “million-man” protest that activists have called for Friday, one they hope will be the largest since the revolution and will demonstrate widespread public support for their call to put former government officials on trial and restrain the power of the armed forces.
Criticising the military in any form is a dangerous act in Egypt and is sometimes considered a crime. Maikel Nabil, a pacifist who blogged against the army, was tried and sentenced to three years in prison by a military court in April. It was the first trial of a blogger since the revolution…”
Full article:
link to english.aljazeera.net
That’s depressing.
There is no way Obama could have mentioned the refugees in his speeches. The PA, Arafat, the US and Israel agreed early in the Oslo process that the refugees now residing outside of historic Palestine will never return. Arafat signed that right away when entered the “Peace Process”.
What Israel still seems oblivious to is that ROR has now been reintroduced. If they want an agreement with the Palestinians it must be on the table. To think that just 3 years back Israel could have had an agreement that would have excluded them. But no, they felt so powerful, they just kept on demanding more and more from the PA. And those pathetic leaders like Abbas just kept on conceding more and more. The more Abbas gave the more the Israelis demanded. Today everything has changed. Arab spring is the new reality.
When I see what Israel has been doing over the past 20 years I keep thinking about Leo Tolstoy’s story “How much land does a man need”
link to en.wikipedia.org
Israeli greed for more and more land will lead to their defeat.
ot – aljazeera has an article up that reads as follows… it is a wonderful propaganda piece which makes me continue to wonder on the ownership of aljazeera… i guess this is a big part of what the aipac meeting is about – giving out a bunch of propaganda and hoping some will consider it news…
“Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has ruled out accepting a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the 1967 borders.
Addressing a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committtee (AIPAC) in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel cannot return to the “indefensible” 1967 borders – something that the US president Barack Obama had suggested a few days earlier.
He said “this conflict has raged for nearly a century because the Palestinians refuse to end it. They refuse to accept the Jewish state. This is what this conflict has always been about.”
“Peace with Palestinians must leave Israel with security, therefore Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines,” he said.
In an address disrupted several times by protesters, the Israeli prime minister condemned the Palestinian group Hamas.
“Imagine keeping a young soldier locked in a dark dungeon for five years without a single visit of the Red Cross,” Netanyahu said referring to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas.
“I think the entire civilised community should join Israel, America and all of us in a simple demand: release Gilad Shalit,” he said, describing the soldier’s capture as an “outrageous crime”. “
The collusion between Israel and the US is great and will work in favor of Palestinians. We would have gotten shafted in any negotiations that the US “brokered.” We are probably at most years away from Palestinians telling the US that it is no longer welcome to negotiate anything on their behalf. That will be the first major step towards liberation. For whatever reason, no matter how many nobels Israelis like to point out that they have they were too stupid to realize that a 2-state solution would have screwed Palestinians yet benefited Israel greatly, their stupidity worked in our favor too.
What is the status of the latest aid ship to Gaza?
I like this….I would love to see Turkey get it on with Israel.
Obama and congress would be running around with their hair on fire.
Turkey warns Israel over new Gaza flotilla
(AFP) – 2 days ago
ANKARA — Turkey on Saturday warned Israel against another act of bloodshed in international waters after activists announced plans to send a new aid flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
“It should be known that Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on NTV television.
“Those who believe Turkey should take certain steps to stop (the new flotilla) must first warn Israel not to repeat the human tragedy it caused last year,” he said.
On May 31 last year, Israeli marines swarmed aboard the Turkish flagship of an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza, killing nine Turks in international waters and plunging ties with Ankara into deep crisis.
The Istanbul-based Islamist charity which had spearheaded the mission said Friday that a new convoy of ships would sail to Gaza in the last week of June.
Around 1,500 activists from more than 100 countries will take part in the convoy, organised by 22 civic groups, it said.
Asked whether Ankara had made any attempt to dissuade the group from the campaign, Davutoglu said: “We have never encouraged any convoy. We have shared our views about the safety of our citizens with all related parties. That was the case last year and it is not any different this time.”
The minister insisted however that his Islamist-rooted government “cannot give instructions to civil society” and that Israel’s “unlawful” blockade of Gaza lay at the core of the tensions.
He urged the United States and the international community to back a recent reconciliation deal between the radical Palestinian group Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the secular Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
“If the division of the Palestinian authorities is healed, the conditions that serve as Israel’s justification for the blockade will be eradicated… and there will be no need for an aid convoy,” he told NTV
“What is the status of the latest aid ship to Gaza?”
Spot of engine trouble, sadly: link to news.yahoo.com
Also from two days ago the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, (President trumps Foreign Minister) gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal which reported:
“Gul said President Obama “has a point” when he said in his speech that Israel could not be expected to negotiate with a body that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Asked if he was willing to press Hamas on that issue, Gul said, “I already advised them.”
In a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Ankara in 2006, Gul said he told Meshaal, “you have to be rational” about recognizing Israel’s right to exist.”
link to reuters.com
“Spot of engine trouble, sadly…”
Sadly? I can just imagine your great sadness, Guilty, because of how you much you love the Palestinians. But cheer up, 15 other ships will be making their way to Gaza by the end of June. There was another interview with Gul last week; he said if Israel does anything to the next Turkish ship heading for Gaza, Turkey would not let it pass without reacting. That should have been a clear enough signal to the Israeli assassins. From Maan News, Haaretz, Yahoo:
“Turkey warns Israel over new Gaza flotilla
Published Saturday 21/05/2011 (updated) 22/05/2011 21:04
Israeli soldiers get ready to raid a Gaza-bound aid ship in May 2010. Turkey has
warned Israel against another act of bloodshed in international waters after
activists announced plans to send a new aid flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
[AFP/Uriel Sinai, File]ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey on Saturday warned Israel against another act of bloodshed in international waters after activists announced plans to send a new aid flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
“It should be known that Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on NTV television.
“Those who believe Turkey should take certain steps to stop [the new flotilla] must first warn Israel not to repeat the human tragedy it caused last year,” he said.
link to maannews.net
Sorry I duplicated American’s post about the Turkish warning to Israel.
“because of how you much you love the Palestinians.”
What have I ever written that suggests to you I have anything other than love for the Palestinian people?
I am no fan of Hamas, but I have repeatedly stated that I think my government’s siege and collective punishment of the people of Gaza is wrong. I love all people, Palestinians and Israelis, except for those that would wish my children harm.
link to theatlantic.com
Photo 34 has al Awda
George Carlin used to say that when you are born you get a ticket to the freak show. Americans get a front row seat.
And there is nothing more insane than denying Palestinians their rights.
hey, hey, hey
when will there be justice for palestine?
a palestine, just & free
hey, hey, hey
what say, today?