Writing on the 25^th anniversary of the Oslo accords this time last year, Jan Egeland, the Norwegian diplomat, former politician and current head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who helped organize back-channel talks that led to the framework agreement between Israel and the PLO two-and-a-half decades ago, observed that “[d]espite the grim trends, there is still a way out of the vicious cycle of conflict. […] It can only be a matter of time”, writes Egeland, “before Israeli leadership realizes its long-term security is dependent on equal rights and dignity for millions of disillusioned Palestinian youth”.

Referring to the situation in the Gaza Strip, Egeland’s comment raised a broader issue—equality between Jewish Israelis, Palestinians and others as the foundation for a solution to the protracted conflict—that few world leaders, whether mediators, donors or interested bystanders, appear willing to talk about publicly. This seemed starkly evident two years ago when UN Secretary-General António Guterres ordered the removal of a report on Israeli Practices Towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid from the international organization’s website. Whatever the reasons for the decision (the Secretary-General’s spokesperson said the UN report was issued without prior consultation), Guterres missed an important opportunity to address an issue that is arguably central to the conflict and its resolution.

Continue reading “25 + 1 Since Oslo – Equality is Still the “Elephant in the Room”” →

For 40 continuous hours between sunset on Thursday 16 September and midday on Saturday 18 September 1982, the massacre of Sabra and Shatila took place, one of the most barbaric of the twentieth century.

So begins Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout’s account of the massacre of Palestinian refugees nearly four decades ago during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon based on the testimonies of eye-witnesses and survivors.

Continue reading “Sabra and Shatila – Atrocities of Partition?” →

On 11 December 1948, seven decades ago this year, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 194, the United Nation’s second “peace plan” for Palestine. The resolution effectively superseded the Assembly’s first plan, namely, Resolution 181, otherwise known as the partition plan, adopted just over a year earlier. It was the recommendation to divide Palestine into politically distinct but economically linked Arab and Jewish states against the express will of the country’s indigenous majority that sparked hostilities leading to the first Arab-Israeli war.

The UN’s new peace plan, approved months before the state of Israel and neighbouring Arab states signed armistice agreements marking the official end of hostilities, not only had to address issues which had nearly led to the failure of the Assembly’s first plan even before its adoption, it also had to contend with an entirely new situation which had arisen during and as a result of the war, namely, the forcible displacement of around half of Palestine’s Arab population. In those areas held by Israeli military forces only 15 percent of the pre-war Arab population remained by the time hostilities came to an end.

While much of the substantive content of Resolution 194 seems to have been forgotten, the Assembly’s resolve that

the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours 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

continues to be a lightening rod of sorts for debate, not only in relation to a solution to what has become the world’s most protracted refugee situation, but also with regard to a solution to broader struggle over self-determination in Palestine/Israel.

Continue reading “UNGA Resolution 194 – Looking Back 70 Years Later” →