Regardless of issues of justice, the right of return is one of the central narrative around which the national Palestinian movement has formed, if not the key one. The conflict did not suddenly start in 1967, but is the results of the 1948 events. A long-term solution, a solution of reconciliation, requires us to get to the root of the conflict, and the root of this conflict is the refugee problem.
On the matter of refugees, the left and people such as Arafat and Abbas lied to the public, or at least did not tell the whole truth. They told people that the “right of return” is just lip service, and that Palestinians would waive it in exchange for an independent country in the 1967 borders.
Like our Palestinians partners say, you can maybe force Palestinians to sign an agreement without the right of return, but such an agreement would be short-lived, and would serve as merely a hudna or truce between two wars, until the balance of powers changes. The non-realization of the right of return will serve as a perpetual weapon at the hands of the enemies of reconciliation – Hamas and others. Only a just and serious solution with the right of return would bring about a stable solution. Ignoring is not an option. However, one of our basis principles is that two wrongs don’t make a right. Jews will not be driven out of their homes so that their original Palestinians owners may be housed in them.
The wrong will be corrected in two ways. The first: Refugees will receive appropriate monetary compensation. If possible, efforts will be made to rebuild towns or villages in areas that are at present unpopulated. The second: Palestinian refugees, after becoming Palestinian citizens, will have freedom of movement throughout the homeland they have been exiled from. They will be allowed to make long-term visits and work there. A certain percentage of them will receive residential rights even in the first phase, and our vision is that in the future they will all enjoy this right. But the next stages will be implemented gradually and in agreement.
We must understand that for Palestinians, this is not a full return or a full realization of their right of return – but we cannot satisfy one hundred percent of everyone’s desires. Freedom of movement and residence will be universal and will apply to all refugees, without any quotas or favors, so that they can restore their relations with their homeland and relatives who stayed here. This is much more than what solutions such as the Oslo Accords or Geneva Initiative offer at present.