Documents
Appeal from Palestinian & Arab Non-Governmental Organizations to the Arab Summit
The Haifa Initiative: Final Statement of the Organizers,
‘Right of Return and Just Peace’
1. Appeal from Palestinian & Arab Non-Governmental Organizations to
the Arab Summit
The Arab Summit in Tunis is being held in an unclear and complex
environment at international, regional and Arab levels. The Middle
East is still suffering from the effects of the war on Iraq and its
repercussions for the entire Arab world. In the course of the war
itself, the American administration introduced its concept of a
“Greater Middle East” aimed at exporting its ‘democracy’ to the
Arab countries in the region. Ironically, the United States
considers waging war and occupying Iraq as a basic first step on
the road to this promised democracy.
Confronting attempts to redraw the geopolitical map and the US
Administration’s demands imposed on the people of the region in the
guise of ‘reform and democracy,’ we call on the Arab League and
states represented in this summit, to adopt a genuine reform
program guided by the actual needs of the Arab nation and able to
address the unique Arab dilemma. Any true and effective Arab reform
program must build on the energy of civil society, remove
constraints on its independence and efficiency, and facilitate its
efforts for real democratic development. This will enable Arab
societies to meet the challenges resulting from external political
and economic domination. It will also help the Arab nations to meet
standards of internal development demands based on popular
participation, respect for human rights, political freedoms, good
governance and the equality of men and women.
An indigenous Arab reform program must be able to stand up to the
Israeli occupation and not be at the expense of key issues in the
region, foremost the Palestinian issue, the core of the
Arab-Israeli conflict. Here we specifically refer to the initiative
of Amr Mousa, Secretary General of the Arab League after 11
September, which refers to the importance of Arab civil society
participation, including Arab intellectuals, in forming a strategy
for Arab dialogue with the West. Such dialogue must be based on
respect for the rule of law in international relations.
Majesties, Excellencies, and Presidents of Arab
states,
We, the undersigned representatives of Arab and Palestinian civil
society organizations, wish to draw your attention especially to
the plight of the Palestinian refugees and to the intrigues and
so-called initiatives regularly proposed. These ‘initiatives’ have
the aim of eliminating the refugee issue and disregarding their
right to return, a legal right and part of the basic national
rights of the Palestinian people.
Based on the above, we affirm the following:
- We reject all types of initiatives and models promoted for
solutions that by-pass implementation of the right of return as
enshrined in international law, human rights conventions, and UN
resolutions, in particular UN Resolution 194. This resolution
provides for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes of
origin they were forced to leave in 1948, housing and property
restitution and compensation. In addition, UNGA resolution 3236 of
1974 directly ties the right of return to the right to
self-determination and the right to national sovereignty and
independence.
- International law also requires provision of temporary daily
protection for Palestinian refugees wherever they live, until they
return to their homeland. Arab states, especially host countries,
are therefore obliged to adhere to their commitments enshrined in
the relevant resolutions of the League of Arab States, especially
the Casablanca Protocol of 1965. At this juncture, we emphasize
that provision of Palestinian refugees with adequate and humane
treatment and social, economic and cultural rights does not
contradict in any way efforts at fighting refugee re-settlement,
preserving Palestinian national identity, and preventing refugees
from absorption into their host societies in exile. On the
contrary, minimizing the suffering of refugees will further enhance
their steadfastness, revitalize them and give them the strength to
confront re-settlement plans and work with determination for the
right to return to Palestine.
- To provide temporary protection for Palestinians in the 1967
occupied Palestinian territories, we must intensify our efforts,
and pressure the international community to implement the Geneva
Conventions, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding the
protection of civilians in armed conflicts. While the State of
Israel escalates its oppression of the Palestinians and its
military institutions ignore international law and conventions, we
must strive to put in place an international mechanism that will
guarantee protection to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
Finally, enhancement of legislative and constitutional reform in
Arab states, and closing the gap between national legislation and
international standards and human rights laws in general and
refugee rights in particular, will result in a more dignified life
for Palestinian refugees under Arab patronage until they return to
their lands.
Signature:
In Palestine
Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), Palestine;
Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally
Displaced in Israel/1948 Palestine;
Association of Residents of Occupied and Destroyed Palestinian
Towns and Villages-Ramallah;
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee
Rights;
Committee for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights-Nablus;
Coordinating Committee, Committees for the Rehabilitation of the
Disabled-West Bank;
The General Union of Public Service Workers in Palestine, Gaza;
Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-based Associations in Israel/1948
Palestine;
Jerusalem Center for Human Rights;
Jaffa Cultural Center-Nablus;
PNGO-Palestinian NGO Network, 1967 occupied Palestine;
Popular Committees-Gaza Refugee Camps;
Popular Committees-West Bank Refugee Camps;
The East Jerusalem YMCA;
Union of Women’s Activity Centers-West Bank Refugee Camps;
Union of Youth Activity Centers-West Bank and Gaza Refugee
Camps;
From Jordan
High Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return-Jordan;
Jordanian Women’s Union;
From Lebanon
Aidun-Group
Consortium of Voluntary Organizations in Lebanon;
Forum of NGOs in Palestinian Communities in Lebanon;
National Society for Vocational Rehabilitation and Social
Services;
Network of Arab Development NGOs;
Organization for Solidarity and Development;
From Syria
Aidun-Group
From Algeria
African Youth Network for Sustainable Development-Algeria;
From Iraq
Iraqi Hope Society
From Europe
Right-of-Return Coalition-Europe (London, Copenhagen, Sweden,
Norway, France, Poland, Netherlands, Germany);
From North America
Al-Awda Canada;
Al-Awda Palestine Right-to-Return Coalition;
March 2004
2. The Haifa Initiative: Final Statement of the Organizers, ‘Right
of Return and Just Peace’
(Presented to the Conference on 27 March 2004)
On the weekend of 26-28 March 2004 the first Right of Return
Conference in Israel attracted more than 300 people for two days of
extensive discussion, lively debate and a series of recommendations
for future activities. The participants learned about the history
of the Nakba, the moral and legal basis, in international law, of
the right of return and of possible ways of implementing it.
Throughout the day letters of support and solidarity were read as
they were received from various Palestinian refugee communities in
the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories, the Arab world and the
exile.
The conference was attended by representatives of Palestinian
communities in the country and abroad, while some of the invited
guests from the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories were denied
entry by the Israeli authorities. They were joined by Jews and
Palestinians from Israel, who came either as individuals or
representatives of NGOs.
The initiating NGOs vow to continue the struggle for protecting the
memory of the Nakba against its denial in Israel and abroad, for
placing the right of return at the center of peace making in Israel
and Palestine, and for finding the appropriate political structure
to make possible the future return of the refugees ethnically
cleansed from Palestine in the past. The initiators and the
supporting NGOs are convinced that the return is the key for a
better future, not only for Palestinians and Israelis, but for the
region as a whole. The rectification of the evils inflicted by the
1948 ethnic cleansing, and ever since, would for the first time
allow citizens and returnees, to enjoy normal and peaceful lives on
a democratic and civic basis.
For this purpose, the conference suggests to launch various
projects, such as educational workshops on the Nakba, a Nakba
Museum and the institutionalization of the Nakba day in Israel. It
also calls for better coordination with right-of-return initiatives
worldwide, the advancement of practical programs for the
facilitation of return, and urgent research of detailed and
concrete models of joint political structures which include the
right of return. These and other proposals form what can be called
‘The Haifa Initiative.’
Preparations have begun for the convention of the second Right of
Return Conference in March 2005.
This was by all accounts a historical moment whose significance
will be understood and recognized with time. Already now, however,
this conference has refuted the claim that unconditional support
for Palestinian refugees’ right of return is a taboo in Israel and
a non-starter for peace efforts among the two people. The hundreds
of people attending the conference showed that a growing number of
Jews and Palestinians in Israel regard the implementation of the
Palestinian right of return as the only road to lasting peace and
reconciliation in the torn land of Palestine.
Ilan Pappe
Chair, Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies
Initiating NGOs: Ittijah, Zochrot, Emil Touma Institute and the
Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally
Displaced in Israel