Report: Kerry Demands Israel Accept 80,000 Palestinian
'Refugees'
by Joel B. Pollak 8 Jan 2014, 6:00
AM PDT
The Chinese Xinhua news agency
reports that U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry proposed to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that Israel
accept 80,000 "refugees" from the 1948 war as part of a final peace
settlement. Kerry recently completed his tenth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories
as part of a revamped effort by the Obama
administration to secure a peace deal that had eluded both of his immediate
predecessors.
The issue of refugees has long
been one of the most difficult to resolve in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the 1948 war--launched by the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states to
prevent the Jewish state of Israel
from taking root--there were roughly 700,000 Palestinian Arabs who fled their
homes in present-day Israel.
Many left voluntarily, after being encouraged to do so by Arab leaders, while others were forced out by Israeli troops.
A roughly equivalent number of
Jews were expelled from Arab countries or fled persecution there, and were
settled into Israel.
Most Arab states, however, refused to admit the Palestinian refugees as
permanent residents or citizens, hoping to use the plight of the refugees as
political leverage against Israel.
Today, generations later, the number of "refugees" is now in the
several millions, though few of them were born in today's Israel.
In addition, the official
definition of a Palestinian "refugee" is far more lenient than the
definition used in other conflicts, allowing many itinerant residents of the
region to claim refugee status. Palestinian refugees also enjoy the services of
a special UN agency, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), dedicated solely to their welfare while they
languish in refugee camps throughout the region.
In previous rounds of negotiation,
the Israeli government has insisted that any return of refugees must be to the
future Palestinian state, not to Israel proper. There has been some
suggestion that a token number of refugees might be allowed to return, and that
some form of compensation might be offered to the rest. The Kerry offer goes
far beyond anything previously contemplated, and it is not clear if the idea
was presented to Israel
first.
Palestine
Palestine,
Jordan, and Saudi Arabia,
are members of the League of Arab States.
Note: League of
Arab States is a member of the United Arab Emirates.
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the United
Arab Emirates.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior
counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s
great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Haim
Saban is a benefactor at the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and
a friend of Shimon Peres.
Shimon
Peres is a friend of Haim Saban,
and the president of Israel.
Martin S. Indyk
was the U.S. ambassador for Israel,
the VP & director of the Foreign Policy Program for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and is a founding director for
the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
Kenneth M.
Pollack is a senior fellow at the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, and was a senior fellow, Middle
East policy for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and married to John F. Kerry.
John
F. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz
Kerry, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of State for the Barack
Obama administration.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the International Rescue Committee.
George Soros
is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Queen
Noor is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the queen
dowager for Jordan.
Princess Firyal
is the Jordan princess, and an overseer
at the International Rescue Committee.
Jordan,
Palestine,
and Saudi Arabia, are members of
the League of Arab States.
League of
Arab States is a member of the United Arab Emirates.
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the United
Arab Emirates.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior
counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s
great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
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