Last month saw renewed calls from both Israelis and Palestinians to revitalize the Saudi proposal and many were watching to see whether the Israeli peace camp would endorse the Saudi plan without further clarification of the nature of the ‘just solution’ to the refugee problem.
The answer came last week as part of an unprecedented candid exchange between two of the Middle East’s most respected journalists, Salameh Nematt, an Arab, and Akiva Eldar, an Israeli, published simultaneously in Arabic, Hebrew and English by the Common Ground News Service.
…We, the Israelis, need to be convinced that there is a solution to the refugee problem. Nothing is more likely to deter Israelis than the expression "right of return." … Anyone in their right mind knows that the solution to the Palestinian refugee problem is not to create a Jewish refugee problem. The solution can be found in a peace process that is based on two states and the absorption of most of the Palestinian refugees in their new state.
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