I affirm that every Palestinian has a legitimate, individual right to return to his or her original home and to absolute restitution of his or her property.
More than fifty years after the holocaust, Jews around the world continue
to fight for and receive restitution for material and non-material losses
inflicted by the Nazi regime throughout Europe. More than fifty years
after the Palestinian people were displaced and dispossessed by an
exclusive Jewish state established in Palestine in the aftermath of Nazi
atrocities in Europe, Palestinians are still being dispossessed,
dispersed, and denied any kind of restitution. Restitution is a universal
human right. Persons now fighting for restitution are therefore to be
supported.
We, the undersigned, believe that Palestinians, of whom two-thirds are
refugees, also have the right of restitution, including the return of the
rightful owners to their property as well as restitution for other
material and non-material losses. Resolution 194, which recognizes the
right of refugees to restitution, has been reaffirmed one hundred and ten
times by the United Nations. Further, as recently as November 1998, the
UN General Assembly reaffirmed in Resolution 52/644 the principle, based
on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law, that
Palestinian refugees are entitled to all revenues from their property.
We appeal to all fair-minded people, governments, parliamentarians, human
rights groups and particularly Jewish organizations, to recognize,
support and call for restitution of Palestinians through the restoration
of homes and properties to their rightful owners as well as restitution
for other material and non-material losses. While restitution can never
fully make amends for all losses, suffering, and crimes against humanity,
restitution establishes a precedent which should prevent the repetition
of such catastrophes in the future.
To: Affirmation of the Right of Return of the Palestinian Arab People to
their Homeland.
We the Palestinian, Arab, and International signatories to this
Declaration, Cognizant of the facts that AS A RESULT OF THE ZIONIST
OCCUPATION, Our people have been expelled from their homes in 531 towns
and villages in Palestine in 1948 by Zionist military forces, and their
lands, comprising 92% of "Israel", have been confiscated, Our people have
endured 51 years of foreign occupation, exile, ravages of war,
oppression, denial of national identity and racism and have been the
victim of the largest ethnic cleansing operation, unprecedented in modern
history designed to replace them with Jewish immigrants from all over the
world.
Two thirds of our people, over five million refugees and uprooted,
represent the largest and oldest group of refugees in the world, In spite
of overwhelming international consensus supported by hundreds of UN
resolutions, our people are still unable to fulfill their natural right
to return home.
Therefore we affirm the following,
The right of the Palestinian refugees and the uprooted to return to their
homes is a fundamental right under the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, the European, the American and the African Conventions on
Human Rights,
The right of the Palestinian refugees and the uprooted to return to their
homes is an inalienable right and has been affirmed by the UN resolution
No 194 over 110 times since 1948,
The Right of Return is derived first and foremost from THE HISTORICAL
ARAB RIGHT TO THE LAND OF PALESTINE, then from the sanctity of private
ownership which cannot be extinguished by new sovereignty or occupation
and does not have a statute of limitation;
The Right of Return is essentially a collective national as well as an
individual right which cannot be delegated, diminished, reduced or
forfeited by any representation on behalf of the Palestinians in any
agreement or treaty.
Accordingly, we hereby declare that,
We absolutely do not accept or recognize any outcome of negotiations
which may lead to an agreement that forfeits any part of the right of
return of the refugees and the uprooted to their homes from where they
were expelled in 1948, or their due compensation, and we do not accept
compensation as a substitute for return,
We demand due reparations for the psychological suffering, the material
losses and damages and War Crimes which the refugees endured for 51 years
in accordance with international law and legal precedents,
As we sign here, members of the Palestinian people from all walks of
life, including the refugees in the Palestinian territory occupied in
1967 where 29% live, and the rest scattered in the rest of the world, in
addition to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evictees who are
residing currently within the so-called Green Line as the Zionists refuse
to allow them back to their villages occupied in 1948,
Appeal to fair-minded people, human rights advocates, the international
community, the United Nations, and the world governments, particularly
those who were involved in the Palestinian tragedy, to recognize and
support by all available means the right of the Palestinians to return
home.
Finally we emphasize that there is no real peace without the LIBERATION
OF OCCUPIED LAND AND THE RETURN THEREBY OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE TO
THEIR HOMELAND, and that restitution and the settlement of refugees
outside Palestine, are unacceptable alternatives to Palestine.
The editors of the Free Arab Voice, as well as hundreds of signatures
This petition is currently being signed by thousands across the camps of
Jordan and elsewhere. Add yours too at the addresses above! For more
info. visit the Free Arab Voice at www.fav.net
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
