The Israeli Position
Multilateral Working Group on Refugees Opening Remarks for
Israel
by Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami
Ottawa, November 11, 1992
The Multilateral Conference on Refugees in the Middle East is a
historic endeavor. It is the vindication of an old aspiration
expressed by successive Israeli governments. Indeed, a central
chapter in the Israeli peace initiative of May 1989 has explicitly
called for such an international effort to solve the refugee
problem. Based on a deep moral conviction that a nation of refugees
like ours must be actively involved in the search for humane
solu¬tions to the plight of refugees and on the persuasion
that the peace we are now negotiating in the bilateral track needs
to be accompanied and sustained by an international effort of human
improvement and social rehabilitation, we have come to this
conference with many illusions, much good will and, we believe,
creative ideas. Hence, our peace policy today is inspired by a
dream that there must be a way to reconcile peace with justice and
security.
Arab and Jewish Refugees
The wave of refugees in the Middle East, which started towards the
end of 1947, was the direct result of the Arab effort to prevent by
force the imple¬mentation of the United Nations resolution of
November 29, 1947, to parti¬tion Palestine into a Jewish and
an Arab state. Following upon the decla¬ration of Israel's
independence on May 14, 1948, Arab armies launched an all-out war
against reborn Israel with the purpose of establishing exclusive
Arab control in the whole of Palestine. The war, as is tragically
the case in most wars in recorded history, swept in its wake large
segments of the civilian population. The Arab exodus was initiated
by the wealthy and the powerful Arab families who left the masses
insecure and leaderless. The mass escape that ensued was inflamed
by the horrors of war and by the hope of a speedy return to an Arab
Palestine once the victorious Arab armies had completed their task.
The escape affected not only those Palestinians who lived in the
land for generations but also tens of thou¬sands of very
recent legal and illegal Arab immigrants to Palestine from
neighboring countries. A land of contention, Palestine had
attracted both Jewish and Arab immigrants. The latter flocked into
the country especially during periods of prosperity. Indeed, in
recognition of the very recent ori¬gin of many of the refugees
- inaccurately represented as part of a "mil¬lenarian"
Palestinian population - the United Nations was later moved to
describe as eligible for refugees status any Arab who had lived in
Palestine for a minimum of two years.
It is a travesty of historical truth to present the Palestinian
refugee prob¬lem as the result of mass expulsion. There is no
denying, however, that once the Jews, who for thousands of years
waited with humility for their redemption, made their reencounter
with history as a sovereign nation, they had to assume the inherent
immorality of war. The suffering of the civilian population will
always be a burden on the conscience of any nation at war. The
Arab-Israeli conflict has no monopoly on this maxim. Clearly, the
Palestinians were a major victim of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The
Palestinian refugee problem was born as the land was bisected by
the sword, not by design, Jewish or Arab. It was largely the
inevitable by¬product of Arab and Jewish fears and the
protracted bitter fighting.
On the other hand, the Middle East witnessed a virtual exchange of
pop¬ulation as hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees were
forced to evacu¬ate their places of residence and find a haven
in Israel. The 1948 War of Independence climaxed centuries of
discrimination against, and even repression of, the defenseless
Jewish minorities in some Arab countries. The war bequeathed a
refugee problem to both parties as the Jewish com¬munities of
the Arab world were virtually liquidated during the period
1948-1952 and their property was all but lost. Indeed, when we
reach a stage where peace may require the termination of Jewish and
Arab claims, Israel will present the case for due compensation for
all the havoc, destruc¬tion, the loss of life and properties
of the Jews in the Arab lands. Ideally, one would expect that a
system be devised of mutual compensation with the full
participation of the international community.
While Jewish refugees were warmly integrated into Israel, Arab
refugees were subjected to an abuse of their plight. Since World
War II, over 100 million people have become refugees, virtually all
of whom have been integrated into the host societies. In the case
of the Palestinian refugees, pawn politics and indifference were
the two foci of a problem of tragic and human dimensions. Their
fate was to be denied resettlement and be consigned to camps in
dismal conditions of hopelessness and destitu¬tion. The notion
that nothing should be done to rehabilitate the refugees as long as
a political settlement has not been achieved is morally
wrong.
The Government of Israel views an agreed-upon solution of the
refugee problem as an essential component of the historical
reconciliation between the Palestinian people and Israel.
A New Approach - Rehabilitation
The philosophy of welfare and relief, important as it certainly is,
must give way to one of rehabilitation. More than once in the past
the need was voiced for large-scale productive investments in the
host Arab countries in order to create sources of employment for
the refugees and facilitate their rehabilitation. But the Arab
countries nipped in the bud this approach and continued to insist
on the most unrealistic solution possible: repatriation.
It is our endeavor, together with others, to join efforts in order
to resolve the refugee and displaced persons problems. It is also
our posi¬tion that this noble enterprise should avoid
references to cumulative one-¬sided U.N. resolutions adopted
hitherto, for we would then run the risk of converting this working
group into a replica of the U.N. General Assembly. I trust that
this was not exactly the intention of the initiators of this
conference.
Israel has always maintained that a multinational effort to dignify
living conditions in the refugee camps does not have to await a
political solution or indeed to substitute for it. The treatment of
the humanitarian problem is not aimed at prejudging the bilateral
discussions and the future political settlement. It is doubtful
whether the existence of refugees makes the case for Palestinian
political rights any stronger. Palestinian refugees can live in
better conditions while the search for peace continues. The rewards
of peace can be shared by all while we build its political
foundations.
Israel is fully aware not only of the necessity to redeem the
plight of the refugees of 1948 but also of those who were displaced
by the 1967 war. As early as 1949, Israel initiated a Family
Reunification Scheme, which made possible the return to Israel by
1967 of about 50,000 and to the territories by 1991 of an
additional 93,000. The Family Reunification Scheme is an ongoing
system inspired by humanitarian considerations; it is not an
instrument for radical demographic move¬ments. It is our
contention that this working group was not convened to decide about
the movement of people; it is rather a historic attempt to bring
about a movement of resources and ideas in order to improve the
living conditions of people.
An Agreed Database
The need for an agreed database on refugees in the Middle East is
clear. It is obviously not only a question of figures - some of the
statistics and def¬initions may be in discrepancy with
socioeconomic realities - but also, or perhaps mainly, of living
conditions. An agreed and reliable database is an essential
instrument of socioeconomic policy. Israel would be willing to join
any group of experts that might be formed to prepare by consensus a
reliable system of categorizing and cataloguing the data and of
finding methods to increase data accessibility.
Projects for the Refugees
Israel is ready to participate in the implementation of projects
ranging from global designs of total reintegration in the host
countries and in the admin¬istered territories, leading
eventually to the dismantlement of all the refugee camps throughout
the region, down to more specific and modest enterprises of
improving health services, child welfare, development of human
resources, vocational training and job creation and the
develop¬ment of a social and economic infrastructure. A
comprehensive plan that would demonstrate that the fruits of peace
exceed the spoils of war should ideally replace funds which have
prolonged the refugee status of the Arab refugees by aid in
conjunction with development, in a way that would ensure
self-support and respect. The program should be offered without
prejudice to the political negotiations. If the idea of a
Reintegration Fund sounds revolutionary to some of us, I should
recall that precisely such an approach was endorsed in the early
1950s by UNRWA (the Blandford Plan) only to be later undermined by
the Arab countries. Forty-five years of mass deprivation and
fatalistic frustration of two entire generations of refugees on the
one hand, and the promising prospects of an Arab-Israeli peace on
the other, should hopefully lead us to inaugurate a new phase in
refugee rehabilitation.
Israel is willing to participate in, and to facilitate, any partial
solution that would lead to an alleviation of the plight of the
refugees and improve the quality of life in the camps. We are ready
to work with each Arab country on a bilateral basis and with other
concerned parties on a multilateral basis.
Israel is ready to propose a program of housing, infrastructure and
basic services for the refugee camps in the territories and in the
refugee camps in Arab countries as well. Based on the experience
and conclusions drawn from the ongoing rehabilitation program
implemented in the Gaza District that has already housed 12,000
families of refugees comprised of about 100,000 persons, all of
whom were given an opportunity to acquire land and build their
houses as they wished, in the camps or adjacent to them, our
proposal is designed for a time span of five to eight years, and
will affect 45,000 families.
If such a comprehensive program sounds too ambitious, we are ready
to submit detailed project proposals for the improvement of living
conditions in each and every refugee camp throughout the
territories with the under¬standing that similar projects
would be applied to refugee camps in Arab countries as well. Israel
would collaborate in carrying out the program whether it is
endorsed in its totality or only on one of several of its
com¬ponents, however modest they may be.
Simultaneously, or alternatively, we would consider submitting a
pilot project for the rehabilitation of one particular refugee camp
in the territo¬ries and one in an Arab country. Sharing
problems and experience that could turn such a project into an
instrument of regional cooperation.
A Regional Research Center
All the nations of the Middle East share common problems of
refugees and mass dislocation. To better understand and share our
respective experience in this field and in order to work out better
solutions to the problems, we pro¬pose that a Regional
Research Center be established to conduct applied
inves¬tigation into the human and material problems of
refugees. Such an institute could act as a regional think tank that
would serve the peace process in the field of refugee
rehabilitation. It may even be instrumental in facilitating a
policy consensus on a regional basis. The Center should employ
experts from Israel, Arab countries, Palestinians and experts from
outside the region.
Israel is ready to join an initiative of developing human resources
through vocational training, and submit its own proposals. The
experience in this field - about 85,000 young men and women have so
far acquired new professions in the territories - should be
expanded; the lessons of its achievements and shortcomings can be
shared in the context of regional cooperation. A program in this
particular field should start, we believe, with the survey of the
pressing needs in terms of skills, vocation and the needs of the
different economies of the region. The project could be
elabo¬rated and led by a steering committee of experts that
would also coordinate its implementation with the countries hosting
the refugee camps, monitor its developments and evaluate its
results.
A Time for Peace
Israel is not a homogeneous society; it is one of the richest
ethnic mosaics possible, adding to that the fact that 20 percent of
our population consists of an Arab minority enjoying full
citizenship. These are the same Palestinian Arabs who remained on
their land during the exodus of 1948 that condemned their brethren
to a hopeless life of destitution and despair in refugee camps
throughout the region. Our society is fully aware of the vital
necessity to reach a historic compromise with the Palestinian
people while recognizing its legitimate rights for a life of
freedom and dignity. The tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict stems from discrepant historical rhythms. The history of
our modem national movement has been charac¬terized by
realistic responses to objective historical circumstances; the
Palestinians have consistently fought for the solutions of
yesterday, those they had rejected a generation or two earlier.
This persistent attempt to turn back the clock of history lies at
the root of many of the misfortunes that have befallen the peoples
of the region. Now it is time for all of us to overcome dire
memories and look forward. Neither the physical nor the rhetorical
war of images will bring us any closer to peace and
reconcilia¬tion. No one has a monopoly on the mythology of
suffering and atrocities. In this tragic dispute, we have all
committed acts of violence that we ought not to be proud of. To the
Palestinians we say: we are excited to be sitting with you for the
first time in the troubled history of our relations in order to
shape our dreams of peace. Let us then join hands in asking the
world which has been watching, perplexed at, and sometimes even
fueling our wars to mobilize its resources for the benefit of our
peoples.
We are all entangled in a seemingly insoluble conundrum. We know
that unless your and our wounds are healed, peace - not only the
politi¬cal peace but also that of the mind and the conscience
- would not be com¬plete. Yet, at the same time we realize
that the total satisfaction of our respective dreams or presumed
rights will lead us to perdition. Hence, it is incumbent upon us to
devise realistic ways that would heal without open¬ing new
wounds, that would dignify our existence as free peoples without
putting into jeopardy the collective existence of each other. I
believe that at the end of the road we shall find such an ideal
compromise, while banish¬ing the sword from this Land of God.