The "unsolvable" dispute

[Daniel Morris]

Palestinian researchers drop a bit of a bombshell -- a bombshell, that is, if you're one of the many who cling to the myth of "intractable hurdles" in the Arab-Israeli dispute:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3065299.stm



Dr Shikaki's research centre polled 4,500 refugee families in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan.

He said 95% of respondents insisted that Israel recognise the right of return as a moral principle.

But many were surprisingly flexible on practical arrangements, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Jerusalem.

Only 10% demanded permanent residence in Israel and more than half said they would accept instead compensation and homes in the West Bank and Gaza.


Palestinians, it turns out -- even displaced refugees -- are surprisingly reasonable when it comes down to it. The extremists, unsurprisingly, wasted no time in trying to stone the messenger.

[JeffL]

Actually, listening to some shortwave broadcasts of the results of this survey from several national news organizations, it seems that not only was it only 10% who demanded a return, but it sounded (haven't researched it more so I could have mis-heard it) most in the survey preferred NOT to move into Israel.

And yeah, the office where they printed this info was torn up and the folks inside beaten. Guess that wasn't the desired result.

[Jason McCullough]

Shortwave?

[Toddy]

This isn't exactly a surprise. There's never been a big movement for the Palestinians to move home, en masse. They just want some sort of new homeland and acknowledgement of what they lost by the Israeli government. And a hell of a lot of cash in compensation from Israel and the good old American taxpayer.

[Daniel Morris]

Actually, it's a tremendous surprise -- the conventional wisdom is that the "right of return" is an intractable poison pill that dooms both sides to eternal war to the death.

If you recall the various QT3 threads on the Arab-Israeli dispute, you'll remember around five dozen instances of the "right of return" being lamented as the inevitable death knell for any peace process. Far more disturbing is the fact that almost every essay on this topic in any foreign affairs journal contains the same lament...be it written by a Palestinian elite, Israeli diplomat, or Western wonk.

[Anders Hallin]

I agree with Brett on this, I don't see how anyone can be surprised. Non-extremists are reasonable? SHOCKING ;)