demand the implementation of UN Resolution 194, which was adopted 59 years ago and which promised the refugees a return to their homes as peaceful citizens.
Few noticed that the right of return has served successive Israeli governments as a pretext to reject all peace initiatives. The return of 5 million refugees would mean the end of Israel as a state with a solid Jewish majority and turn it into a bi-national state-something that arouses the adamant opposition of at least 99.99 percent of the IsraeliJewish public.
This has to be realized if one is to understand the way Israelis view peace. Ordinary Israelis, even decent people who sincerely desire peace, tell themselves: the Arabs will never give up the right of return, therefore there is no chance for peace, and it isn't worthwhile even to start doing anything about it.
Thus, paradoxically, the refugee problem has turned into an instrument for those Israelis who oppose any peace based on compromise. They rely on the fact that almost no Arab leader would dare to give up the right of return openly. In private conversations, many Arab leaders recognize that the return is impossible, but they dare not say so openly. To do so would mean political suicide-just as announcing a readiness to take back refugees would be suicidal for an Israeli politician.
In spite of this, a subterranean shift has taken place in recent years on the Arab side. There have been hints that Israel's demographic problem cannot be ignored. Here and there, creative solutions have been proposed. (Once, in a public meeting of Gush Shalom, a Palestinian representative said: "Today, the Arab minority constitutes 20 percent of Israel's citizens. So let us agree that for every 80 new Jewish immigrants coming to the country, 20 Palestinian refugees will be allowed to return. In such a way, the present proportion would be maintained." The public reacted enthusiastically.)
Now, a revolutionary development has taken place. The Arab
League has offered Israel a peace plan: all 22 Arab states would recognize Israel and establish diplomatic and economic relations with it, in return for Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The offer did not ignore the refugee problem. It mentioned UN Resolution 194, but added a qualification of fundamental importance: that the solution would be reached "by agreement" between the two parties. In other words, Israel would have the right of veto over refugees returning to Israeli territory.
This put the Israeli government in a difficult position. If the Israeli public understood that the entire Arab world was offering a