Reuters on Jewish Refugees -- For Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Palestinians Must Get Realistic About their Demand For "Right of Return" To Israel

The bottom line, as featured in the Reuters article below: By the UN's own count, more Jews were evicted or coerced into leaving Arab countries than Palestinians left Israel in connection with Israel's independence (and if you believe the figures given by many others and in the article below, over 50% more Jews left Arab countries than Palestinians left Israel). In addition, there is no doubt, based upon the relative wealth of the two communities, that the Jewish community lost much, much more materially than did the Palestinians.

The Palestinian demand for the "right of return" to their alleged homes in Israel may be the greatest sticking point in any negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, so it is important to view this argument alongside the destruction of the massive Jewish communities that had lived Arab lands, in some cases for over 2500 years, and could trace their communities back that far through communal records, unlike the Palestinians, who have shown little ability to demonstrate any long term connection to "Palestine" (read "From Time Immemorial", by Joan Peters, among other documentations of this).

During the 20th century there were inumerable population transfers and exchanges effected among warring peoples that have been accepted by the international community, as varied as the Greek-Turkish population swap following WWI, mass expulsion of Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia following WWII (to the victor go the spoils?), to the rationalization of the states that used to comprise the former Yugoslavia. It isn't pretty, some may call it "ethnic cleansing", but it works at reducing violence and civil war, allowing people to get beyond the preoccupations of the past, and to move on to the future in a relatively peaceful manner. One can easily envision the positive aspect of a massive population exchange in Iraq, if we could figure out how to equitably treat the distribution of oil revenues among the three peoples who control that embattled land.

Since WWII the international community, while accepting the result of population transfers for practicality's sake, has become unsettled with such actions if performed without the consent of the parties involved, which may be deemed a violation of international law. See Population Transfers Article in Wikedia. While one may expect a population exchange (which is reciprocal, after all) to be treated more favorably by international jurists than a population transfer (which involves a one-sided exile), in fact the most relevant article that I could find on the issue on short notice ("Population Exchanges: International Law and State Practice—Part 2" by Christa Meindersma of the UN, in The International Journal of Refugee Law)
states that,

"Population exchanges cannot be considered separately from population transfers, for such policies and practices, even more than spontaneous flight and relocation, contribute to solidifying permanent alterations in the demographic map. The compatibility of population transfers with humanitarian and human rights law in a given situation is thus relevant in determining whether a consolidation of the demographic fait accompli could serve as a basis for a lasting solution to conflict."

I couldn't figure out how to pay the $23 to Oxford Press to read this article beyond the abstract and see the legal and, presumably moral justification for this approach, but anyone in his right mind would see that if the choice is continued conflict and death and global disorder, or a population exchange, most people would opt for the population exchange (as the British Labor Party did for the transfer of Arabs from Israel, soon after Israel's independence). Indeed, to use the author of that article's words, a population exchange between Jews nad Palestinians could be expected to "serve as a lasting solution to conflict" -- and therefore perhaps be legal -- but only if the Palestinians act as if they want peace and half a loaf is better (and fairer) than none (in other words, the legal argument may be circular, and hostage to unreasonableness of the parties... but then again I may be taking these words out of context over twenty three bucks..)

If one accepts an Arab-Jewish population exchange as a worthy way to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course, then there are a number of Arab countries, from which Jewish populations departed during the past sixty years, who now must absorb these Palestinian refugees, instead of housing them in rancid refugee camps to perpetuate their victimhood and political utility. In addition, to further increase the chances of resolving this conflict (as long as I am thinking Utopian, I might as well go all the way), one may also wish to consider the party platform of Israel's soon-to-be (maybe) vice premier, Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, a Soviet refugee (and hence one not to think in terms of theortical legal niceties). Mr. Lieberman common sensably (in my opinion) advocates, as part of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, a swap of both Jewish residents and their territory on the West Bank to Israel, in exchange for "giving the Palestinians the Israeli Arabs and their Israeli territory that is contiguous to the West Bank. In other words, swap the land that the people are attached to, don't just swap the people.

This is all more food for thought, if one has a partner on the other side who is willing to really sacrifice for peace in a spirit of fair exchange, rather than maximalist demands...

Reuters AlertNet - FEATURE-Mideast Jewish refugees campaign for recognition