The Arab League endorsed the 2002 peace proposal once again at a Riyadh meeting that ended Thursday. The initiative calls for “achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194” passed in 1948.
The resolution, in its key paragraph, “resolves 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 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.”
Israel has always argued that the United Nations resolution gives no specific right of return to Palestinians.
There will be no peace in the region until Olmert is replaced. That much is obvious.
TEL AVIV, March 30 — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published Friday that Israel would not allow a single Palestinian refugee to return to what is now Israel, and that the country bore no responsibility for the refugees because their plight resulted from an attack by Arab nations on Israel when it was a fledgling state.
When other countries continually violate UN resolutions, they are quickly called to account (See: Iraq and Iran). This issue has been going on for almost 60 years and has still not been resolved.
Related:
Resolution 194
Electronic Intifada. Daily news and opinions from a Palestinian perspective.
Olmert channels MLK:
"I have a dream. That within five years there will be a global peace accord in the Middle East," Olmert told Maariv.
What Olmert doesn't seem to understand is that if you want peace, you actually have to make it happen and, on that front, he has failed and will no doubt continue to do so.
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