What We Talk About When We Talk About the Right of Return
Fatima was born in a village called Isdud, close to what is now the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. She was about 5 years old when the Israeli military closed in on the village in October 1948. My mother-in-law fled with her parents and thousands of neighbors to Gaza. Shortly after occupying Isdud, the Israeli military expelled its remaining residents and demolished the village.
After the war, my future mother-in-law became one of more than 700,000 Palestinian refugees prevented from returning home as part of the nascent state's goal to maintain a Jewish majority in as much of historic Palestine as possible.
The Israeli government is now advancing plans to forcibly displace more Palestinians, mostly in Gaza but also in the West Bank. In early July, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he ordered the military to prepare a 'humanitarian city' on the ruins of Gaza's southern city of Rafah, which the Israeli military has almost entirely destroyed.
Everyone in Gaza would eventually be concentrated there, he explained. They would not be allowed to return to their homes in other parts of the strip.
Mr. Katz said international humanitarian organizations — as yet unnamed — would be charged with managing the area. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also said he's working with the United States to find third countries to resettle displaced Gaza residents.
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Fox News
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'Pod Save America' Obama bros want to see Democrats totally cut off aid to Israel
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Washington Post
an hour ago
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Associated Press
an hour ago
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What Starmer's plan for the UK to recognize a Palestinian state means
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What Starmer said Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that Britain will recognize a Palestinian state in September, 'unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.' He said that included 'allowing the U.N. to restart the supply of aid, and making clear there will be no annexations in the West Bank.″ Starmer also said Hamas must release all the hostages it holds, agree to a ceasefire, disarm and 'accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza' — though he did not make that a condition for recognition. Britain says that's because Hamas has no role in a two-state solution. Britain felt it was now or never Britain has for decades supported an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but insisted recognition must come as part of a peace plan to achieve a two-state solution. 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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds, said Starmer's announcement 'rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.' The families of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were also critical. 'Recognizing a Palestinian state while 50 hostages remain trapped in Hamas tunnels amounts to rewarding terrorism,' said the Hostages Family Forum, which represents many hostages' relatives. Emily Damari, a British-Israeli national who was held captive for more than a year, called Starmer's stance 'a moral failure.' The British statement was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, which Britain views as a legitimate representative of Palestinians. It has limited autonomy in pockets of the occupied West Bank. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Authority's envoy in London, said Britain's statement 'is a corrective to over a century of dispossession, during which the Palestinian people have been deprived of our land, liberty and lives.' Limited influence, historical weight In practice, Britain's influence on Israel is limited. The U.K. government has suspended free trade talks and halted some arms shipments to Israel over its conduct of the war, but is not a major economic or military partner. History has, however, given Britain a particular interest and role in the Middle East. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Britain bears a 'special burden of responsibility' as the former governing power of what was then Palestine and author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which backed the establishment of a Jewish homeland, but also pledged to protect the rights of the Palestinian population. 'This has not been upheld, and it is a historical injustice which continues to unfold,' Lammy said at the U.N. on Tuesday. Most of Britain's main political parties support a two-state solution. But the right-of-center opposition Conservatives said Starmer's announcement was premature. 'Recognition of a Palestinian state is only meaningful if it is part of a formal peace process and cannot happen while hostages are still being held in terrorist captivity and while Hamas' reign of terror continues,' said Priti Patel, the party's foreign affairs spokeswoman. Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, welcomed Starmer's statement as a step forward but said the prime minister should not use Palestinian statehood as 'a bargaining chip.' The move may spark diplomatic momentum Britain and France hope other countries will follow their move. On Tuesday, European Union member Malta said it, too, would recognize a Palestinian state in September. Germany, a major European power and strong ally of Israel, remains a holdout. Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated his country's position that recognition of a Palestinian state 'can be one of the last steps on the road to realizing a two-state solution,' but that Berlin has no plans for recognition 'in the short term.' Real clout rests with the U.S., and Starmer's cautious approach may be designed to persuade President Donald Trump to take a tougher line with his ally Netanyahu. The prospects are uncertain, to say the least. Asked about Britain's stance on Tuesday, Trump said: 'We have no view on that.' Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at international affairs think tank Chatham House, said there is 'no doubt' that a global majority supports Palestinian statehood, but that's not enough to make it a reality. 'British recognition or French recognition doesn't make it internationally recognized,' he said. 'You need the (U.N.) Security Council — and that is not going to happen because of a certain person in the White House.' ___ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.
