Following Abdul-Rahim’s statement, a demonstration set out from Late President Yasser Arafat’s Mausoleum toward Ramallah’s Central Al-Manara Square.
Demonstrators carried slogans saying: “We shall return,” and the “Right of return is inalienable.” They called to implement the UN Resolutions related to solving the Refugees issue, namely Resolution 194.
UN Resolution 194, passed on December 11, 1948 states, in Article 11 that “the 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 in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
The Palestinian Right of Return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return to the property which they were forced to leave as part of the 1948 Palestinian Nakbe, a result of the 1948 Israeli War and due to the 1967 Six-Day war.
Proponents of the right of return hold that it is an inalienable and basic human right, whose applicability both generally and specifically to the Palestinians is protected under international law.
The government of Israel regards this right as a Palestinian ambit claim, and does not view the admission of Palestinian refugees to their former homes in Israel as a right, but rather as a political claim to be resolved as part of a final peace settlement.
