[lbo-talk] new blog post: A Coda on Solidarity: Iran, the Left and Noble Savages | The Activist

Joseph Catron jncatron at gmail.com
Tue Jun 15 12:39:57 PDT 2010


On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 1:52 PM, SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> wrote:

You really seem to cling to this point. I don't know if you do this for
> morale-boosting purposes or if you're in earnest

I defend the right to return at every opportunity because it is the central demand of the Palestinian refugees I support in New York. There's a reason the main left organization of Palestinians and their allies in the United States is called Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. As long as my comrades and neighbors are fighting for their rights under international law, I won't suggest that they should give them up instead, nor will I exhibit a great deal of patience when others do.


> First of all, the position of the PLO under Arafat (and since) has been
> that while the "principle" of the right of return is non-negotiable, how and
> under what conditions it is to be "implemented" must be negotiated with
> Israel.

As a basic matter of language, the necessity to negotiate the implementation of a demand does not mean that the demand itself is negotiable. That much should be apparent to anyone who has ever negotiated anything: a union contract, the purchase of a car, etc.


> Second, as far as I'm concerned Hamas is currently the legitimate
> Palestinian government

It's the legitimate government of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in which refugees are a slight minority, albeit a highly politicized one, comprising roughly 43% of the population. Globally, however, refugees are a significant majority of the overall Palestinian population; in 2008, there were 4.26 million refugees, compared with 1.68 million non-refugees in the Occupied Territories. Given that any just or lasting resolution would, of necessity, be an international one incorporating the refugees and their concerns, I trust that it will be obvious why the rhetoric and positions of any body accountable to Palestinians as a whole would differ markedly from those of the current occupational administration.

So there are many Palestinians who don't share your view that peace and
> development should have to wait until you obtain the "non-negotiable"
> satisfaction of seeing the demise of the usurper entity.
>

I imagine that Mustafa's understanding of "our national institutions and a popular referendum" may differ significantly from yours, but you are welcome to justify your willingness to traffic in the rights of others however you like; it's still shameful.

-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."



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