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Inexcusable response

Israel's refusal to come up with anything more than a lukewarm response to the latest overture from the Arab League is inexcusable. At their two-day summit in Riyadh, which ended on March 29, the leaders of the League's member-countries promised to normalise relations with the Zionist state if it met three conditions. As a quid pro quo for acceptance as an integral part of West Asia, Israel is asked to withdraw from territories it conquered in the 1967 war and continues to occupy; acquiesce in the formation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital; and, agree to a just resolution of the refugee problem. The proposal is not novel — the Saudi King Abdullah articulated it in 2002. It also accords with the principles underlying the numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions on the Arab-Israeli dispute. Significantly, the offer comes off the League's own bat; it is not the product of any external pressure or tutoring. Another major plus point is the flexibility built into the Arab stance. The League is not asking for all its demands to be conceded at once. It is willing to negotiate on other issues if Israel clearly indicates that it is ready to withdraw from the occupied territories. However, true to form, the regime in West Jerusalem appears to be waiting for more, even as it proclaims that it is considering the proposal.

Over the years, Israeli governments have treated the refugee issue as a non-negotiable subject. They have argued that their country would lose its character as a secure enclave for world Jewry if those displaced by the 1948 war and their dependants were to return to their original homes. This argument is full of holes. Almost two generations of refugees have grown up in the camps and might no longer have any attachment to their ancestral land. Many of them have built houses and set up businesses in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, and elsewhere in the world. They are not likely to entertain thoughts of a major disruption in their lives. Those who live in countries such as Syria, which deny them citizenship, would probably prefer to move into a Palestinian state rather than a Zionist one that treats them as second-class citizens. However, the refugees do have one demand they are unwilling to give up. They want Israel to own up to the original sin it committed when it drove their families from their homes. The stubborn denial of this responsibility underlies the Zionists' refusal to address the refugee issue. The Indian government should come out unambiguously in support of the Arab League's imaginative move for an enduring solution to the West Asian problem.

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