Why world allowed Nakba to happen

Former UN rapporteure in Palestinian human rights, Richard Falk says the US and EU seek to prompt the Palestinians to pick the idea that it is useless to expect a return of refugees to Palestine.

The former diplomat made the remarks in an interview with the Qods News Agency (Qodsna).

The text of the interview follows.

Qodsna: What is your opinion about the Catastrophe Day and also displacement of Palestinian people in 1948?

This is an important day for Palestinians and non-Palestinians marking the catastrophic dispossession and injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people.

The Nakba does symbolize the catastrophe that befell the Palestinians in their own homeland, and is also a turning point in their struggle for survival and dignity, with so many of those dispossessed living under occupation or in refugee camps and exile communities.

It is important that the Nakba is a process that continues into the present as well as an event that took place 67 years ago.

It deserve a long moment of solemn silence to think about how the world has allowed this to happen.

Qodsna: What is the present status of Right of Return of Palestinian from international law field and from your point of view?

In GA Resolution 194 the Palestinian right of return was confirmed as existing under international law.

This has been repeated many times, and represents the view of most international law experts who regard those dispossessed from their homeland as having a right of repatriation or return without any conditions attached.

I share this outlook, and believe it is consistent with relevant morality and humanitarian diplomacy.

At the same time, Israel and the Zionist position has successfully convinced many people around the world that granting such a right of return to Palestinian refugees and their descendants would shift the demographic balance in Israel and destroy the project of establishing a Jewish homeland.

Qodsna: How do you see role of America/ EU in undermining the right of return of Palestinian?

This role of the US/Europe is mainly one of supporting Israel, and seeking to make even Palestinian believe that it is unrealistic and unreasonable to expect Israel to implement the Palestinian right of return.

More liberal sentiments seek to persuade Palestinian leadership to think of the conflict with Israel as involving territory, and to concentrate on ending the occupation and inducing Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.

To insist on the right of return would destroy the last shred of hope that a two-state solution is attainable.

I don’t believe Israel has any interest in allowing a Palestinian state to be established, as Netanyahu made clear during his recent election campaign, and so this pressure on Palestinians to renounce their right of return should be resisted.

Qodsna: How human rights activists can revive the right of return issue?

By placing on the agenda of their program for a solution to the conflict and the realization of the Palestinian right of return, but it must also receive renewed support from the Palestinian political leadership, as well.

Qodsna: What is the role of the diaspora in preserving their national identity?

In my view, the real energy of the Palestinian national movement has shifted from the Palestinian Authority to the Palestinian diaspora as expressed via civil society activism, and is especially evident in the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) Campaign.

Inter-governmental diplomacy in the form of direct negotiations has been tried without positive results for the past twenty years.

In this period Israel has annexed much valuable land in the West Bank, expanded its unlawful settlement, ethnically cleansed Jerusalem, and generally undermined any credible hope for a negotiated solution for the conflict.

Only civil society activism can mobilize the kind of pressure that might alter the political climate in Israel and the United States in ways that could allow a sustainable and just peace to be established.