Yossi Schwartz ISL the section of the RCIT in Israel /Occupied Palestine, 19.11.2023
Israel and the Western imperialists that support the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza rely on article 51 of UN Charter that reads: “nothing in the charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations.” However, many experts for example Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in an address to the Australian Press Club say that this article applies only when one state is attacking another state and it does not apply to attacking occupied lands by Israel and Gaza under Israeli siege is occupied land.
As Marxists we do not rely on the international law that is protecting the imperialists and their exploitation and oppression of the semi colonies, but on the interest of the oppressed to free themselves. Israel is a settler colonialist society based on the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1947-8 and in 1967. The entire country was stolen by the Zionists that oppress the Palestinians and in the case of Gaza for the last 16 years the Palestinians in Gaza live in a Ghetto, or open sky prison. They have the right to free themselves and to return to the country. Israel does not respect the UN and its resolutions.
June 20 was World Refugee Day. On that day UN Experts said:
“As we observe World Refugee Day and honor the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this year, it is imperative to recognize the enduring challenges that continue to impact the treatment of forcibly displaced persons. Within this context, it is particularly important to address the role of countries in the Global North, as the shade of racism, supremacism, patriarchy and the historical legacy of colonial endeavors still heavily influence the approach toward situations of forcibly displaced persons. This reality is all too familiar for the Palestinian people, 75 years since the Nakba – the event that shattered Palestinian lives and severed their ancestral connection to their land during the establishment of the State of Israel. Since then, they have endured forced displacement, dispossession, and disenfranchisement, with their rights to self-determination, restitution, and compensation repeatedly denied. For 75 years, their cry for justice, embodied in the demand for the right to return, has resounded with unwavering determination.”
For Palestinians, forced displacement has become part of their life for generations, tracing back to 1947-1949 when over 750,000 Palestinians were forced to flee massacres and mass expulsions and forcible transfers during the birth of the State of Israel. The majority, along with their descendants, are still in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, while 40 percent of them remain under occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967. Progressively, Palestinian exile has scattered them across various nations globally.
Since 1948, both the General Assembly and the Security Council have consistently called upon Israel to facilitate the return of Palestinian refugees and provide reparations. Despite these repeated appeals, Palestinian refugees have been systematically denied their right to return and forced to live in exile under precarious and vulnerable conditions outside the borders of Palestine. The right of return constitutes a fundamental pillar of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The fragmentation of the Palestinian people, both geographically and politically, through administrative methods of control based on residency and race, tantamount to apartheid, has obstructed the realization of the right to return and self-determination. These practices serve the settler-colonial project pursued by Israel. [1]
However, Israel backed by Western imperialism and in 1948 backed by Stalinist Russia and its parties ignored resolution 194 (III) calling for the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and any attempt to return is met with Zionist bullets. The resolution is by the General Assembly that says: “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible” [2]
These refugees including the new one from Gaza that Israel is removing will return with the Arab revolution that will put an end to the Zionist apartheid from the river to the sea.
For Palestine red and free from the river to the sea!
Endnotes:
[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/06/right-return-palestinian-refugees-must-be-prioritised-over-political
[2] https://www.unrwa.org/content/resolution-194