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On 11 December
1948, 55 years ago, the United Nations adopted Resolution 194, which reads:
"That the refugees
wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should
be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation
should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss or
damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity,
should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible".
Resolution 194 has been reaffirmed more than 25 times and confirmed more than
130 times. The number of refugees at the time numbered more than 750,000 or
about 60 per cent of the population of historic Palestine
Only 12 days
earlier, in Resolution 181, the United Nations adopted a definition of Israel's
borders in the form of a "Partition Resolution" that assigned approximately 53
per cent of the land mass of historic Palestine exclusively to the then 5.6 per
cent of the resident population adhering to the Jewish religion. At practically
the same moment, then, the world community was declaring that Israel could exist
and enjoy recognition under the condition that it comply with
international law. In Israel's case, there would be no legalizing "after the
fact" of acts of conquest or what the Zionists liked to call "recognition of new
facts on the ground".
Seven months after
adopting Resolution 181 and 194, on May 11, 1949, the General Assembly adopted
Resolution 273. This admitted Israel to a seat in the assembly on the
condition that it implement Resolution 194 and abide by the boundaries set out
in Resolution 181.
One has to realize
that these boundaries and the development of ‘land distribution’ of what was
Palestine under different “Peace Plans” since Resolution 181 until today goes as
follows:
- UN "Partition
Plan" to the Palestinians: 47% of the 100%,
- "Oslo Agreement"
to the Palestinians: 22% of the 100%,
- Barak's Offer to
the Palestinians: 80% of 22% of 100%,
- Sharon's "Peace Plan" to the Palestinians in 2000; as well as the “Road Map”
2002:
42% of 80% of 22%
of 100% of the land (which is 7.4% of the initial 100% of land!), under the
conditions that e.g.
- the Palestinians
stop resistance to the occupation, and
- the refugees give up their Right of Return to their ancestral homes, and
- the Palestinians agree to only elect officials acceptable to Bush and Sharon,
and
- they do not
object to the 'wall' that Sharon is building, and
- they agree not to
claim Jerusalem as their capital.
According to
statistics accumulated by the Palestinian National Information Center (PNIC) of
the State Information Service (SIS), the lands annexed and forcibly seized by
the Israeli occupying forces since May 29, 2002, amounts to 165,951 dunums
(165,951,000 square meters) of Palestinian lands, mostly arable and very
fertile, for the sake of constructing the Apartheid wall. In addition, 61,857
dunums were bulldozed and 971,346 trees were uprooted in the Gaza Strip and West
Bank. From the above data alone can be seen that the struggle for Palestine is
not least a struggle for land.
Today, the so-called ‘Geneva Accord’ seems to be an effort by certain parties to
support the unacceptable conditions and demands of the stillborn ‘Road Map’ by
reiterating – among other things – the relinquishing of the Right of Return. The
‘Accord’ represents yet one more attempt to finish off the Palestinian struggle
for self-determination once and for all. Article 17 of the draft Geneva Accord
includes a final clause providing for a "UN Security Council-UN General Assembly
Resolution endorsing the agreement and superceding previous UN Resolutions".
This means that Israel would no longer be under the obligation of fulfilling the
terms of Resolutions 181, 194 or 273. With this, the sinister character of the
real aim of this "Accord" is revealed, which is to whitewash Israel's long list
of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a brutal occupier in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, as well as excuse and reduce an equally long and sordid record
of the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, and others involved in instigating and
supporting these activities.
December 11th,
the 55th anniversary of the UN adoption of Resolution 194, is a day
on which all right-thinking people shall declare that another world is possible:
Palestine is possible, and the Palestinians can prevail by upholding the Right
of Return as both a collective and individual right. For the Palestinian people,
this remains today part and parcel of exercising their right of
self-determination. It is something that cannot be hijacked by any other agenda,
and it is not for sale. |
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