This is an interesting interview with the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal. Christiane Amanpour, however, is flat wrong when she emphatic claims that “international agreements” have settled the question of the right of return. Just like the status of Jerusalem, this is an unresolved issue. No Palestinian has signed any agreement renouncing the right of return.
AMANPOUR: Under the international agreements every Palestinian who’s living in the diaspora is not going to be able to come back to Israel.
MESHAAL (through translator): Who said that? Who said that?
AMANPOUR: That’s what are the parameters.
Amanpour was struggling to keep Israel as the victim and lost. Just been handed a lesson on the reality of Palestine!
Double standards of the international community concerning the right of return. Where are the double standards in allowing Jews to return to Israel and Palestinians to Palestine? Did he really not understand what she was asking in this matter, or was he trying to get out of it without actually saying that his demand is for the right of return of Palestinians to ISRAEL as well?
Dan, Haifa
Dan in Haifa: the double standard is transparent to everyone. Why should a Jew born anywhere in the world have the right to “return” to a city like Haifa (a place to which they have no more direct connection than does the average American have a connection to England), whereas a Palestinian who was actually born in Haifa has no such right to literally return?
Paul Woodward. That’s not double standards, if you feel that Jewish people don’t have a right to be here, say it don’t call it double standards, there is absolutely no standard here (in the 2 state solution) applied to Jews which is not applied to Palestinians.
I believe strongly that the Palestinians have a right to return to where they came from: Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia…
Paul
Jews, people of Israel – we are connected to the land of Israel, without being born here people know, feel, their connecting to this land, we, as a people mannaged to stay a nation, a people for 2000 years of exhile, craving to come back to our land. 2000 years later and a miracle happens – and the people of Israel, B’nei Israel – come back to their land, god willing, were not going to give it up. As for people that were born in Israel and removed themselves in the 1948 war, responding to arab nations leaders – requesting them to move from their homes – to make the killing of the jews easier – well, you can do the math, they should be in their 70+-, everyone younger than that were born in arab states, and intentionally staying in a ‘refugee’ state, in order to keep the ‘millions of refugees’ lie alive.
Here’s an interesting information for those of you who want’s to understand why do we have a problem with the Palestinians demands for the “right of return”:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YXt1QMxVyjbE_biHw9IAAi_SigLWLneI3QEJvQKsBQw/edit?hl=en&pli=1
@Paul Woodward,
the palestinians in 1948 escaped due to the war the ARABS STARTED.
you dont see german refugees that lived in poland before ww2 return to poland because of the same reason.
900,000 jews were expelled from the arab countries at the same time and israel absorbed them. they can not return to those arab countries, the arabs will not allow it.
israel absorbed the jewish refugees but the arab countries did not absorb the palestinian refugees, they perpetuated their refugee state so they can use it as a tool against israel.
they are the only refugees in the world that are refugees for generations.
the only reason they want to return is to make the jews in israel a minority, and ultimately to turn israel from a jewish state to a muslim state.
they can not return for those reasons.
Paul:first, the direct connection between a jew and the land of Israel is eternal. we have been in exile for 2000 years and have never gave up the connection to our land and its (eternal and unifed) capital Jerusalem. we have prayed for our return every day (actually more then 10 times every day) for the last 2000 years (!). we named our children after it. we have mourned and fasted every year in the memory of its destruction. adding ” ” to the word return, and suggesting that its like the connection of an american to england is just false, and expose you as bias that exepts only the arab narrative of this conflict.
second, the right of return is denied from both sides, arabs and jews, and therefore simetric and justifed. my parents were born in yemen and suffered daily from the well known “special treat” of muslims towards non-muslims. when the state of israel was re-established in 1948 they were forced to leave their homes, lands, money, animals, everything! they were refugees. though they were very happy to return to the land of israel, it was not voluntarily but pure ethnic cleansing. the same occured in all muslim countries: Morroco 265,000, Algiers 140,000, Tunisia 105,000, Libya 38,000, Egypt 100,000, Iraq 135,000 (and the farhood massacre, check it out… i know you will not…) Syria 30,000, Lebanon 55,000… you get the idea.
without adressing the question of the reasons to the flee of some of the arabs from Israel in 1948, just for you to know, we look at it as a simetric and justified exchange of populations.
and since we listen to what this terrorist (mashal) is saying about throwing jews to the sea, we will NEVER allow a single arab to return to our land.
AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.
(p.s. the israeli court allows “family unification” between israeli-arabs (1948) that married “palestinian” arabs (1967) by giving them israeli citizenship.
Guess what one of them did last week…?
no, he didnt open a restaurant… he blew up a bus full of people in tel aviv.
so maybe you think we are the bad side or evil or whatever, but you can be sure that we are NOT SUICIDAL!!!)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36703781/Ilan-Pappe-The-Ethnic-Cleansing-of-Palestine-full-copy
Amanpour is an ass. A real ass. Have you ever heard her ask an Israeli leader how they feel about how many Palestinian civilians they have slaughtered? Have you ever heard her ask this? No. Her questions don’t help at all. Nothing about illegal settlements. Just an ass
He said he accepts a two state solution this hooey about Israel having “the right to exist” is like trying to force native americans to say that Europeans had a right to commit genocide. He said he accepts the two state solution. Israel has never had the right to exist, either does the US and most other nations,
Christiane never responds about the occupation. How Israel should get out of the West Bank and E Jerusalem “by that side” She can’t even call the others Israel