"Our interconnected world requires an interconnected response."
Dear Anne,
In this interconnected world, the problems we face in our own communities are intimately linked with the fate of other communities and nations. What happens in the U.S. matters around the world, and what happens around the world matters here.
In this interconnected world, the problems we face in our own communities are intimately linked with the fate of other communities and nations. What happens in the U.S. matters around the world, and what happens around the world matters here.
This is particularly visible in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians—a conflict defined by enduring injustices, unconscionable economic inequalities, and a discriminatory legal system designed to privilege one group of people over another. Despite considering Israeli settlements to be illegal, the U.S. continues to send military aid to Israel, perpetuating the injustice.
These settlements are at the core of the conflict. They are built on stolen land and used to justify the building of the Wall and the restriction of movement within the West Bank. They contribute to forced displacement, severely limit Palestinian access to basic resources including land and water, and perpetuate a system of segregation and structural inequality between Palestinians and Israelis.
In the U.S., in Israel, and in the occupied Palestinian territory, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a continuing witness for change, supporting a courageous nonviolent movement that seeks to end this infamous occupation. Our Israeli and Palestinian partners in the Middle East as well as our partners in the U.S. believe as we do that a lasting peace must begin with a commitment to shared security for all.
In just the past few months, AFSC's Middle East staff has witnessed hopeful movements in this struggle for lasting peace and justice:
- Last fall, the Israeli organization Zochrot hosted a conference in Tel Aviv on the practicalities of Palestinian refugee return.
- In December, an 18-year-old Druze man refused draft orders to serve in the Israeli army, joining a small group of conscientious objectors in Israel taking a stand against the militarization of Israeli society.
- When Scarlett Johansson, actress and Global Ambassador for Oxfam, took a lucrative contract to advertise for SodaStream—a company that operates a factory in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank—there was a public outcry prompting her resignation from her Oxfam role.
- In February, an article in The Economist observed that the BDS movement, "once derided as the scheming of crackpots" is “turning mainstream,” citing increased attention from some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
- Now, throughout the U.S., people are learning more about the Palestinian call for BDS and the history of boycotts thanks to a new exhibition, “Boycott! The Art of Economic Activism,” put together by AFSC and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. Using powerful posters to demonstrate the effectiveness of boycotts as a nonviolent tactic to end injustice and oppression, “Boycott!” will tour the U.S. throughout the next two years.
In Peace,
Shan Cretin
General Secretary
American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
AFSC.org
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| Quakers distribute blankets to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, 1948. Photo: AFSC |
Published: October 21, 2013
In the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, hundreds of Palestinian villages
were depopulated and razed off the map by the Israeli forces, creating
one of the worst refugee crises of the century.
Today, many of the sites no longer exist, but traces of the past can be seen at times across a deserted landscape—namely a cactus tree here, or ruins of a church or a mosque there.
Zochrot, an Israeli nonprofit organization that educates the Jewish-Israeli public about the Palestinian Nakba, recently organized a conference that tried to imagine a future where the return of refugees would be a reality.
The conference was held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, built on the lands of the Palestinian village of Al-Shaykh Muwannis that was destroyed in 1948.
Around the theme “From truth to redress,” 35 presenters—academics and activists from Palestine/Israel, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Serbia, and Poland—tackled the various concepts and ideas for realizing the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and its spatial implications. With hundreds of participants, they addressed the Israeli conscience on the injustice that occurred.
Third and fourth generation Palestinian refugees talked about how they dreamed, planned, and are studying the reconstruction of their villages of origin.
Academics also tackled the problems of education for a culture of return. Other presenters talked about the approaches and strategies needed to achieve justice and return.
As a co-sponsor of the event, AFSC feels it is important to share a statement made by a member of the audience, Sinai Peter, a director and drama teacher from Israel:
For more on the Israel-Palestine Program, please contact: Ilona Kassissieh at IKassissieh@afsc.org
Today, many of the sites no longer exist, but traces of the past can be seen at times across a deserted landscape—namely a cactus tree here, or ruins of a church or a mosque there.
Zochrot, an Israeli nonprofit organization that educates the Jewish-Israeli public about the Palestinian Nakba, recently organized a conference that tried to imagine a future where the return of refugees would be a reality.
The conference was held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, built on the lands of the Palestinian village of Al-Shaykh Muwannis that was destroyed in 1948.
Around the theme “From truth to redress,” 35 presenters—academics and activists from Palestine/Israel, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Serbia, and Poland—tackled the various concepts and ideas for realizing the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and its spatial implications. With hundreds of participants, they addressed the Israeli conscience on the injustice that occurred.
Third and fourth generation Palestinian refugees talked about how they dreamed, planned, and are studying the reconstruction of their villages of origin.
Academics also tackled the problems of education for a culture of return. Other presenters talked about the approaches and strategies needed to achieve justice and return.
As a co-sponsor of the event, AFSC feels it is important to share a statement made by a member of the audience, Sinai Peter, a director and drama teacher from Israel:
"I was present in one of the two days of the conference. I was a curious, challenged and engaged observer. I was impressed by the fact that such a conference took place, if you will—against all attempts to bring to a cancellation of it. In the heart of "Eretz Israel Museum", founded by Rehavam Ze'evi, it took place very quietly and orderly, in three languages with simultaneous translation. The average age of the speakers (women and men, Jews and Arabs—almost equally) was around 30. It's been a long time since I heard a discourse like in that day at the conference—intelligent, refreshing, with quite a lot of optimism and constrictive spirit. Jurists, architects, activists, artists—all took part in planning the layout and characteristics of the villages that (might) come back to life. An actual mirror reflection of the "exemplary society" that was planned by the Zionist elite in east Europe in the end of the 19th century.
"Strange thing—imagining the return of the refugees. Far from the political, concrete situation. Speaking, planning, walking seriously towards making the dream come true. But who will lead this move into the truly-frightened consciousness of the Jewish majority? And how can the return be possible before pacification of the conflict? I was left with questions. But then again, when was the last time that we came out of a conference so challenged and full of questions?"Zochrot will continue to promote awareness on the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and given AFSC’s principles for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including the right of return of Palestinian refugees and the right of self-determination to both people, AFSC will continue to work hand in hand with this strategic partner.
For more on the Israel-Palestine Program, please contact: Ilona Kassissieh at IKassissieh@afsc.org
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Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the homes from which they were displaced is well established in International law. The first source of support for Palestinian refugees’ claims to a right of return is UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) Of December 1948, paragraph 11, in which the UN General Assembly,
“Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible;Since 1949, this resolution together with UNSC Res. 242 and 338 have been regularly reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly.
Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation…”
The rights outlined in this resolution are firmly grounded in international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Executive Conclusion No. 40, “…the basic rights of persons to return voluntarily to their country of origin is reaffirmed and it is urged that international cooperation be aimed at achieving this solution.”[xi] UNHCR’s support for the right of return is based on the idea that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of International law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.[xii]
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