Israel's offer of Palestinian “Family unification” constitutes a step towards realizing the Palestinian “right of return,” says PA daily

“A positive atmosphere prevailed among the Palestinian people in the Interior (i.e., in Israel and the PA areas) and abroad simply from [PA] Minister of Civil Affairs and Fatah Movement Central Committee member Hussein Al-Sheikh’s announcement that the issue of ‘family unification’ is nearing completion (refers to Israeli proposal to legalize thousands of undocumented foreign spouses of Palestinians living in PA areas -Ed.)…

Every Palestinian dreams of returning to Palestine – Palestine that is still the dream, the hope, the aspiration, and the yearning. This strong desire to return has not included just a specific group, a certain sector, or residents of one state, but rather all the sectors from all the states and from all the layers and levels. This is one of the permanent [pieces of] evidence of the Palestinians’ adherence to their homeland, and Palestine is still a dream and realizing the dreams is still possible.

Some will say that this is an emotional article that has no connection to reality, and some will speak negatively about the reality in Palestine, but despite all this the Palestinians are still dreaming of return, and this is a sacred right for them. I understand that some of the rights are dreams, but they are national dreams that are connected to faith, to the possibility of realizing these dreams, and to the absolute willingness to sacrifice for the sake of realizing these dreams and rights. For the Palestinians, return is a right and a dream that can be realized, and this itself is being partially realized through family unification.”