Indeed, despite the rise of Fayaadism, the Palestinian national movement will be careful not to betray its real sources of legitimacy: the ethos of dispossession and the refugee. The decisions taken at the last Fatah Convention were explicit in calling for the refugees to “return to their homes and cities.”
The Palestinians are attempting to hold the stick at both ends, claiming before the world their endorsement of the two-state solution while calling for the right of return at the same time. Any sober Palestinian leadership must know by now that the rhetorical promise of a return to an abandoned house and to the olive tree is an irresponsible mirage that fundamentally contradicts the rationale for a separate Palestinian state.
Peace is frequently not about justice but about stability. The Palestinians must align their national conversation with what is realizable, while Israel must resolve its own contradictions and address the refugee problem in a way that secures the legitimacy and durability of a future peace agreement with the Palestinians. Because Israel will have to implement practical measures of resettlement and compensation that will not be based on an automatic right of physical return, a symbol of genuine moral compensation is also called for.
Instead of suppressing the memory of the refugees, Israel needs to recognize that in 1948 the land was bisected by the sword, and that the Jewish state came into being partly because of the uprooting and dispossession of Palestinian communities. Israel should develop enough self-confidence in its solidity as a nation to integrate into its schools’ curriculum the tragedy of the Palestinian Naqbah. The resolution of conflicts of this nature requires the recovery of historical memory and a proper hearing of the two parties’ historical narratives, perhaps through the creation of Truth and Reconciliation Committees.
Israel’s consolation would be that the Palestinians, too, will have to come to terms with their share of responsibility for the calamities that have befallen them. Only an acceptable deal on the refugees can finally close the 1948 file — and only then can the conflict in Palestine end.
Shlomo Ben-Ami is a former Israeli foreign minister and now vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace.
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