الحلول السياسية لقضية اللاجئين الفلسطينيين و آفاق مفاوضات السلام

العناوين الأخرى

Political solutions for the refugee issue in the context of the peace process

مقدم أطروحة جامعية

درويش، ياسر فارس سليمان

مشرف أطروحة جامعية

باومغارتن، هلغى

أعضاء اللجنة

كناعنة، شريف
تماري، سليم

الجامعة

جامعة بيرزيت

الكلية

كلية الدراسات العليا

القسم الأكاديمي

الدراسات الدولية

دولة الجامعة

فلسطين (الضفة الغربية)

الدرجة العلمية

ماجستير

تاريخ الدرجة العلمية

2004

الملخص الإنجليزي

This thesis presents a case study of possibilities for solving the problem of the Palestinian refugees from the perspective of the people directly involved in the case, i.e.

Palestinians and Israelis.

The discussion follows this case through different historical periods culminating in the Oslo negotiations for peace which were taken up in 1993.

The thesis tries to answer several questions, most importantly among them the question if the Palestinian refugee-problem in fact does present an insurmountable obstacle in the way of establishing peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The hypothesis is that the Palestinian refugee-problem does in fact present a major and possibly insurmountable obstacle in the way of a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement.

This obstacle is unlike any other obstacle due to the limitation of viable alternatives, acceptable for both sides in the conflict, for solving this problem.

In this dissertation, I tried to find answers for many questions and issues employing theories of International Relations.

I started with the theory of Institutionalism which however did not allow me to explain or to clarify what happened between both Palestinians and Israelis starting in 1949 and until today.

Obviously, one reason for this is the simple fact that the relevant international organizations, led by the United Nations with its legitimate resolutions, did not force both sides to apply these resolutions.

Therefore, the conflict has continued and been kept alive viciously since 1949.

However, the theory that helped me explain the nature of the conflict proved to be the theory of Neo-Realism.

It allowed me to discover and to study in depth the major and most relevant cause of the problem.

What happened during the different periods of negotiation could thus be clarified using the different questions and hypotheses of this theory such as the national interest, national power and power-politics, as well as the position of a country on the international level and in terms of the international, regional and national balance of power.

Besides, neo-realist theory helped me in identifying the position of both sides, Palestinian and Israeli, in the matter of the Palestinian refugees, their attitude and position toward this case, and the reason for taking such a stand and the effect of the prevailing context.

The Palestinian position towards the case can be summarized as a whole series of concessions, starting with the Lausanne conference in 1949, passing through the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988 and the Madrid Conference of 1991.

During that period the Palestinians step by step accepted all relevant international resolutions, while at the same time calling for the return of refugees.

The main goal for the Palestinians and their official leadership, however, was the establishment of a Palestinian state in Palestine.

The most deep going Palestinian compromise was made in the Oslo Agreement of 1993 (Declaration of Principles) when the refugee-problem was postponed, in addition to other major questions, to be discussed in later periods, basically as a response to Israeli demands.

This almost inexplicable compromise can best be explained by neo-realist theory.

The Camp David of July 2000 did not bring about anything new and the refugee problem was not discussed on the same level of seriousness as other issues which definitely contributed to its failure.

The negotiations in Taba in January 2001, however, differed from all previous rounds of negotiations, because Israel started to compromise when admitting part of its responsibility towards the refugee-problem.

The end of Barak government with his defeat in the Israeli elections in early 2001 prevented the signing of an agreement, as it had been discussed in Taba.

According to Neo-Realism, the continuous compromising by the Palestinians was due to Israel's overwhelming power and diplomatic superiority.

This did not leave any space for the Palestinian side which in any case has lacked any source of power all through its history since the nineteenth century.

The Israeli position towards the refugees has never really changed, and no refugee is allowed to come back.

Also, Israel has not dealt with the refugee question as a political question, but rather as a social or human rights-problem.

The only exception to this was the Taba-negotiations of January 2001 as mentioned earlier.

As for the other periods in the negotiation process, Israel never saw any reason to open up the Palestinian refugee-problem again.

The different official and non-official initiatives such as the Road Map 4 June 2003, the Nuseibeh-Ayalon Initiative 19 June 2002 and the Geneva Document of Abed Rabo-Beilin 1 December 2003 did not exclude the main issue mentioned earlier, but the Palestinians kept giving up things while the Israel position kept steady and did not change.

Israel benefited from its superiority in the military, political and economic field.

It had a diplomatic and political power which the Palestinians proved incapable of confronting.

At the same time, the refugee-problem constituted a threat to Israeli's national security; therefore, it proved to be near impossible for both sides to agree upon a mutually acceptable resolution to this problem.

After Camp David (2000) and Taba (2001) the conflict has been deteriorating and has turned more vicious especially in the course of the Second Intifada or Uprising, named "Intifada Al-Aqsa".

Security became worse for both sides, just as the general economic situation, while especially the Palestinians' suffering has increased dramatically.

In this dissertation, I reached the following results: The refugees’ case constitutes the basic element for a fair Palestinian-Israeli peace, while at the same time presenting the main obstacle towards reaching such a peace agreement.

It is, however, not impossible to find resolutions to this problem.

As a first step to get there, Israel has to admit its recognition to the right of return and its moral responsibility for this problem and apologize to its victims for the harm it has caused them.

An analysis of a possible solution to the refugee question, together with the necessary details to be addressed in the context of such an overall solution, cannot be presented in the context of this humble study.

This will have to be done by other researchers in future articles and books.

التخصصات الرئيسية

العلوم السياسية

عدد الصفحات

121

قائمة المحتويات

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

لغة النص

العربية

نوع البيانات

رسائل جامعية

رقم السجل

BIM-680505