Stocktaking & Perspectives

Stocktaking & Perspectives of a BROAD, COMMUNITY-BASED CAMPAIGN for Palestinian Refugees' Right to Return & Restitution

 Ever since the launching of official political negotiations at the 1991 Madrid Conference, some five million Palestinian refugees in exile and in the homeland have been deeply concerned over a Middle East "Peace Process" defined almost solely in Israeli terms. They are stunned and frightened by international support for models of a "finalsettlement" of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict, which completely violate international standards for durable solutions to refugee flows. Viewed against the backdrop of extremely unfavorable social and political circumstances, refugee efforts to place their rights - foremost the right of return and restitution - on the agenda of public debate havenot remained fruitless:Refugee grass roo ts initiatives, supported by non-refugee Palestinians, a small number of international activists and NGOs, have succeeded to draw increasing public attention to the plight of Palestinian refugees. Protest and public awareness raising have led to the formation of new advocacy initiatives worldwide and created new interest in research urgently needed for more efficient advocacy work.

The clear message of Palestinian refugees - "The Right of Return is the Red Line" - has resulted in the unification of Palestinian public speech, and contributed to the fact that the Palestinian leadership and its negotiating team have (not yet) surrendered the refugees'
internationally recognized right of return and restitution.The crisis in the Israeli-Palestinian "final status" negotiations has confronted the international community with the core issues of the historical conflict and triggered new public interest in them. Israel's blatant refusal to accept UN Resolution 194 (right of return) as the guiding principle for negotiations over the solution of the Palestinian refugee question provides Palestinian refugees and their supporters with a new opportunity to pressure for a profound re-evaluation of the discriminatory principles and policies of Zionism in the Middle East.

There is a new opportunity to build international support for a durable and peaceful solution of the conflict based on international law including recognition and implementation of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.A broad and efficient Palestinian-international campaign for Palestinian refugee rights can be built on the foundationsof these achievements and circumstances, if a number of crucial issues are taken into consideration:

An international refugee rights campaign must be based in the refugee community: Palestinian refugees, especially camp refugees, represent a rather homogenous population organized in a large number of community organizations, associations, societies, and political parties. Palestinian refugee grass roots initiatives launched in Palestine between 1992 and 1995 are the pioneers of the current effort at mobilization. Palestinian refugees, the majority of whom lives in and around the refugee camps in the Middle East, are the primary stakeholders and their voice must be heard.

Principles, priorities, and basic strategic decisions underlyiginternational campaign efforts must be understood and supported by the refugee community. Only intensive efforts at maintaining and developing the dialogue with refugee grass roots organizations can guarantee that international advocacy efforts are built on a community-based consensus and mandate. An efficient international advocacy campaign for Palestinian refugee rights must be built on the active participation of the refugee communities in Palestine, Arab and western exile, in order to avoid a repetition of previousexperiences with ineffective international advocacy campaigns coordinated by an isolated NGO and human rights  community.

 An in ernational refugee rights campaign must be issue-based and non-sectarian: Commitment and dedication to Palestinian refugees' right of return and restitution must become the only criteria for activist recruitment and strategic planning, in order to guarantee issue-based focusand active involvement by all Palestinian and non-Palestinian social and political sectors.  An international refugee rights campaign must be coordinated informally and non-bureaucratically: Given the current weakness of the Palestinian and international solidarity network worldwide, the advocacy campaign must work through informal coordination (regional workshops, etc.), based on common principles and a division of tasks determined by capacity and specific needs in each geographic region