By Munir K. Nasser
Washington, DC
A major campaign to defend the right of return for Palestinian refugees gained momentum Saturday in the United States and different cities in the Middle East through demonstrations and mass rallies.
In Washington, thousands of demonstrators chanted the slogan “No Return, No Peace” that echoed in the corridors of the White House and Congress, while holding banners warning the United States and the world that the right of return of the Palestinian refugees must not be ignored.
The rally, which was coordinated with similar marches in Bethlehem, Haifa, and refugee camps in Lebanon, is part of an international campaign organized by the “Palestine Right to Return Coalition,” known by the Arabic name “Al-Awda.” It is a broad-based grassroots coalition sponsored and endorsed by over sixty Arab, Muslim and American solidarity organizations as well as thousands of individuals.
The organizers of the rally estimated that three thousand Americans and Arab American supporters participated in the Washington march from all parts of the United States. The rally, which was held at a park across the street from the White House, heard addresses by national and international speakers and featured Palestinian traditional songs and dances and personal accounts of refugee suffering.
All speakers, including Faisal Hussein, Palestinian Minister without portfolio in charge of the Jerusalem file, and Abdel Jawad Saleh, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and others, emphasized the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
In his remarks to the rally, Faisal Husseini said that the Palestinian leadership is not “searching for a solution which will leave behind a time bomb.” He urged the Israelis to accept the right of return for the Palestinian people “because they want to end this problem and to close this file.”
Husseini declared that the Palestinians are insisting in these negotiations that there is no solution without the right of return for the Palestinian refugees. “I believe that we are on our way to implementing this right. There were a lot of taboos, may be from the Palestinian side, and also from the Israeli side; now these taboos are down. The subjects of Jerusalem and the refugees are now open and no one can close them,” he said.
“We are telling the world that if the United States really would like to implement peace in this area, there will be no peace without solving the Palestinian refugee problem,” Hussein stressed. He expressed his hope that this campaign will be the start of a wider campaign towards the rights of return for the Palestinian people, not only in Washington, but everywhere, including Jerusalem.
In his address to the rally, Abdul Jawad Saleh reminded the world leaders “who are trying to dictate to a weak Palestinian leadership, in return for a humiliating functional role, that surrendering the right of return was the main catalyst behind the 1965 revolution,” he declared. “I want to tell them that conceding the right of return will make any future peace agreement a conditional truce. It is a matter of life and death, not only to refugees, but to all the Palestinian people that the right of return is enshrined with the fulfillment of the collective and national right for self determination.”
Following the rally, Dr. Clovis Maksoud, former head of the Arab League Mission in Washington, told Albawaba.com that the question of the right of return is a crucial priority and it must be exercised. “It is an investment in conducting a preemptive strike against perpetual apartheid in Palestine. And therefore the right of refugees is not only an individual and collective right for the Palestinian refugees, it also an investment in the future of a secular and a democratic and Arab state in the entirety of Palestine,” he stressed.
Maksoud said the Palestinian negotiators should be aware of the fact that they cannot separate the issue of the Haram from east Jerusalem as an occupied territory from the right of return, which is the most important Palestinian right for self determination. “Therefore, if they don’t take it seriously, not symbolically, then I think the Palestinian people would realize that the negotiations of the Oslo agreement were a total betrayal of the national and alienable rights of the Palestinian people.” He said.
Faisal Husseini told Albawaba.com that the controversy between the Palestinians and the Israelis over the location of the Jewish temple under the Haram would increase religious tensions in Jerusalem. He said that each side has its point of view about religion in the Holy City. “Everyone has his own beliefs. They can’t force their beliefs on me, and I can’t force my beliefs on others. So if the Israelis believe that their temple is there, it is up to them; I believe it is not there,” he emphasized.
Husseini said he believes “that Moses is a prophet, they don’t believe that Mohammad is a prophet. I am not going to fight them about their beliefs.” The main issue, according to Husseini, “is that if you would like to reach agreement and have real peace, we must keep the status quo at the Haram as it is, and Israel cannot come and change it now.” He urged the Israelis to leave the talk about religious issues and “who was there first and who was there after. That would not bring any good for us or for them.”
Husseini said the message of Washington rally is not directed only to the Palestinian leadership, but to world leadership that the Palestinians want to go back. “It is not only a position of Yasser Arafat, but also the position of the whole Palestinian society,” he noted – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
