PA Ministry of Information: “The right of return is sacred and cannot be bargained over”
Headline: “The [PA] Ministry of Information: The right of return is sacred and cannot be bargained over”
“The [PA] Ministry of Information emphasized that the issue of the refugees and the right of return are at the top of the national fundamental principles, and are not subject of negotiations, blackmail, or the personal wishes of the ruler of the White House [US President Donald Trump]. This is because they are anchored in international law and [UN] Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions 181 and 194.
The ministry said that the blind American bias and crazy attack against the right of return, and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s delusions about merging UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) with the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) that preceded it, will not change the legal status of a political and national issue that was created by the occupation and its crimes 70 years ago.”
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states 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." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
UN Resolution 181 (the UN partition plan for Palestine) was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1947. It called for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as a separate entity under the rule of a special international body. The Arab state was meant to be comprised of the western Galilee, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and the remaining territory of the Mandate west of the Jordan River would be the state of Israel - Jordan (known at the time as Transjordan) had already been established in what had been the part of the Mandate that was east of the Jordan River. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, but Arab leaders and governments rejected it.
“The [PA] Ministry of Information emphasized that the issue of the refugees and the right of return are at the top of the national fundamental principles, and are not subject of negotiations, blackmail, or the personal wishes of the ruler of the White House [US President Donald Trump]. This is because they are anchored in international law and [UN] Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions 181 and 194.
The ministry said that the blind American bias and crazy attack against the right of return, and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s delusions about merging UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) with the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) that preceded it, will not change the legal status of a political and national issue that was created by the occupation and its crimes 70 years ago.”
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states 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." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
UN Resolution 181 (the UN partition plan for Palestine) was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1947. It called for the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as a separate entity under the rule of a special international body. The Arab state was meant to be comprised of the western Galilee, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and the remaining territory of the Mandate west of the Jordan River would be the state of Israel - Jordan (known at the time as Transjordan) had already been established in what had been the part of the Mandate that was east of the Jordan River. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, but Arab leaders and governments rejected it.