It is by far the most controversial and difficult to solve issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian refugees issue has been discussed and negotiated hundreds of times and nevertheless, an agreement between the parts seems as improbable as always.
The positions may seem impossible to reconcile, but there just might be another solution.
Read about it under the fold.
For those of you who are not familiar with the narratives of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, allow me to summarize.
In 1948, Israel declared its independence and was subsequently attacked by most of the neighboring Arab countries. As a result of this confrontation, called War of Independence by Israelis and Al Nakba or "The Catastrophe" by Palestinians, thousands of Arab Palestinians abandoned their homes and left to neighboring Arab countries, most of them becoming until now, refugees.
Now, the different narratives blame different players for this tragedy.
Israeli Narrative: Israel simply defended itself against annihilation. The Arab regimes asked the Palestinian people to leave their homes temporarily so that they could invade Israel freely and promised to let them return once Israel was destroyed. Palestinians left their homes voluntarily. Israel won the war. The Palestinians never got to go back and the Arab regimes refused to take responsibility for the mess they had created. Israel has no obligation to accept the refugees back.
Palestinian Narrative: Israel unilaterally declared its independence and then engaged in territorial expansionism, ousting a great population of Palestinians from their homes. The Palestinians were forced to leave by the Israelis or fled in fear of being massacred. Consequently, Israel is the main responsible for the refugees problem and has the obligation to allow them to return to their homes and compensate them for the terrible crime committed against them.
Of course this is a simplification of the narratives, but you get the picture.
The issue is that Palestinians are not willing to sign a peace agreement unless Israel allows ALL refugees to return to their homes and lands.
Israelis are not willing to accept the immigration of millions of Palestinians since Israel would rapidly lose its Jewish majority, which of course is unacceptable for a country created as a safe haven for the Jewish people.
Negotiations over the years have achieved certain compromises. Thus, according to the Clinton Parameters, the refugees would have 4 different destinations: 1) Some would be able to apply for citizenship in Israel. 2) The new Palestinian state 3) Neighboring Arab countries. 4) Other countries willing to cooperate. Israel and the international community would also be responsible of granting the refugees an adequate economic compensation.
This approach has failed in the past and I believe it will fail again in the future. Most people believe there is no possible solution to this deadlock. But there there is one aspect negotiations have always failed to address appropriately. The Israeli Mea Culpa.
I think Palestinians may be willing to accept that the refugees are not going back home, but only if Israel as a nation, publicly and collectively, assumes its direct historical and moral responsibility for the refugees tragedy. The Palestinians so far have heard from the Israeli collective something like "Hey, it was not our fault, go ask your arab brothers for asylum, this is not our mess to fix, you lost...too bad".
Maybe, if instead they heard something like "Hey, we messed up, we're Sorry. Yes, we're sorry. We are largely responsible for your tragedy. Our people have suffered much through History, and in our despair to obtain security and protection we ended up committing horrible things to your people. We hope you can forgive us and that we can build a common future, side by side, in peace. Although the just thing would be for us to allow the refugees to come back, you must understand our identity as a Jewish and democratic state does not allow us to do so. "
The Palestinians are a traumatized people, just like we Jews are a traumatized people. Peace will never be possible unless Palestinians can deal with this trauma and to do that they need a strong symbolic therapy. They need to hear a mea culpa, a recognition of their suffering, an honest apology. Just like we Jews exorcize our traumas when the UN creates a Holocaust day and when Germany builds Holocaust memorials, Palestinians need a UN Al-Nakba day; they need an Al-Nakba monument in Jerusalem and in Tel-Aviv. They need an Al-Nakba Museum that is visited by people from all over the world.
I truly believe that unless Israelis are able to make a public and collective acknowledgement of their responsibility in the Al-Nakba tragedy, no Palestinian leadership will be able to seal the deal. It doesn't matter if they are offered 95% or 99% of the west bank. Maybe it won't work, but I strongly believe it is worth the try. Israelis and the Jewish people as a whole cannot continue to deny the mistakes we have committed. As painful as it might be, it is the price we must pay for peace.
Palestinians can accept a Jewish state as their neighbor; refugees can accept moving to Palestine instead of Israel. But they want to hear it loud and clear:WE ARE SORRY. And we should be.
Salam
Shalom