Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return (Pluto Middle Eastern Studies,) (Paperback)

by Naseer Aruri (Author) "Since, as Joseph Conrad's Marlow notes, 'the conquest of the earth is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much', colonizers invariably..." (more)
Key Phrases: United Nations, West Bank, General Assembly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"[This] collection...blames Zionists for creating the refugees, the outside world for ignoring them and the PLO for betraying them..." -- The Economist

Product Description
With renewed conflict in the Middle East, the prospect of a peaceful resolution looks more unlikely than ever. The Palestinian right of return to their homes has been upheld in international law and through United Nations' resolutions for fifty years. Equally the right of return has been denied by Israel and deferred to a "final status" issue in the Oslo Accords. It is on this right of return that the Palestinians are united. And it is this issue which is so frequently ignored by the international media.

With major contributions from a range of international experts, including Edward W. Said, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe and Alain Grosh, this volume examines the Palestinians' right of return. Chapters cover the historical roots of the Palestinian refugee question; the rights of the refugees under international law; the special case of Lebanon; Israeli perceptions of the refugee question; the practical feasibility of the return; the role of the United States and the European Community and the Refugee Question; the value of the refugee property; the principles of compensation; and a program for an Independent Rights Campaign.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745317766
• ISBN-13: 978-0745317762
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,429,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, fair and balanced approach to Palestinian plight, August 18, 2004

By	High Expectations (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

Many will unfairly denounce this book simply for virtue that it does not show Israel in a purely positive light. However, this book is well-timed as it contains much revisionist history about the Arab-israeli conflict. For example, the Israeli government in 2002 finally declassified documents that showed that the Mossad funded and helped create Hamas to destabalize the PLO and fragment the Palestinians with a "homegrown, religious alternative." Shimon Peres has come forward and testified to this and it is undisputed fact.

This book in no way favors the Palestinians. It gives equal time to discussing the sycophantic leaders who have allowed Arafat to stay in power and disrupt the peace process at nearly every turn. The main purpose of this book, though, is to provide a clear argument for the sake of evaluating the possibility of the refugees returning to their lands in Israel. It discusses very eloquently through several articles how such a return would actually work to the advantage of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. This book is a major-policy read, so you won't find much propaganda. This book is not for the lightly attentive. There are many details and a lot of governmental and diplomatic language involved. Not for the light reader.

This book also contains one of the last articles that renowned academic and Nobel Peace Prize winner Edward Said wrote before he lost his battle to lukemia this past year. Edward Said was most noted as the man who propounded the theories of Orientalism and Occidentalism.

If you wish to gain a better understanding for what viable options there are to solve the current Arab-Israeli conflict, read this book.

48 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Just and Compelling Argument, November 9, 2001

By	"yosseflevinstein" (Nazareth, Israel) - See all my reviews

This work clearly demonstrates the legality of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, as well as the moral and ethical case for such a return. It outlines clearly how the problem of the Palestinian refugees was created - by forced eviction at the gunpoints of Zionist terrorist units, the leaders of which later became many of Israel's prime ministers - and explains, through detailed examination of the historical record and of international law, the sense of justice that a right of return would create in the international community.

This crucial issue, which has always been at the soul of the current conflict over Israel/Palestine, is usually overlooked in American news analyses. This book brings the issue to the fore with compelling intellectual force. No person concerned with justice, be he Jew (as I am) or Arab or of other origin, can afford to ignore it.

Yossef Levinstein
Israel

16 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pro palestinian, October 21, 2001

By	Nina Odatalla (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

I have read many topics on the issue of the Arab and Israeli Conflict and only few of them have been written as well as this book with all the facts. Personally, I enjoyed the book only because I have read numerous books with the pro-Israeli views and this is the first I have read that was pro-Palestinian. It was very interesting to see how both sides contradict each other and debate without even speaking. I also did not know much of what was happening to Palestinians thanks to American media and the lack of their portrayal of such topics, however this book was excellent in explaining such things.