Right of Return

[Max B. Sawicky]

Well, I think the American liberal antiwar constituancy is _well_ aware of
the
Palestinian issue and its connection to this war, and therefore is is a
quite legitimate
part of an antiwar platform that wants to stop war by addressing the roots
of war in the
Middle East.  And, since American liberal opinion _in practice_ implicitly
recognizes an
unlimited Jewish right of return (by never discussing it, of course), it is
racist to
explicitly exclude mention of the Palestinian right of return. . . .

It would be racist to deny the claim underlying a Palestinian
right of return.  But an end to a Jewish right or a beginning of
a Palestinian right of return are
equivalent to destroying the Jewish state.  Even without a
Palestinian right of return, the Jews would eventually be
outnumbered in Israel proper, forget about the West Bank.
So as compromise it asks for the Jews to give up quite a
bit.  The argument that they are not entitled in the first
place has foundation but zero political relevance.  Real
compromises begin from the facts on the ground.  That the
initial position is unfair does not negate the practical
outlines of a realistic compromise that aggrieves both parties
the least.

mbs