Many years after World War Two, displaced persons were able to begin a return trip home, or rather where home used to be. But rather than finding a nostalgic community of their old friends, family, and neighbors, these DP’s were strangers in a strange land once again. Street names had changed, businesses moved or left, communities of families had become business districts, all the people were different: their homes were destroyed while they were gone. Things had changed drastically over the years of their exile, and whether they were gone for five years, twenty years, or even some generations mattered little to their heartbreak of losing their home.
In Kanafani’s novella, Return to Haifa, a couple, Said and Safiyya S., are driven out of their home city of Haifa in 1948, leaving their possessions, house, and first-born child, a five month old boy named Khaldun, later renamed Dov by the Jews that adopted and raised him. Said and Safiyya return to Haifa in 1967 to see their old home, but find almost nothing remaining from their memories, creating a dysphoric feeling in the reading. They constantly compare how things are to how they were, marking little distinctions between the two periods: a vase contains less feathers, only some of the original chairs remain, a table’s paint had faded. Their feelings during their return visit were common, but not universal; while most Palestinians found only heartbreak upon arrival, some found joy and happiness, content that “much of Palestinian culture survived Israel’s assault (Abu-Lughod, 78).” Abu-Lughod’s father returned to Palestine in 1991 to stay and found happiness. In the hearts and minds of Arabs and Palestinians still living there, his culture had survived Israel’s erasure.
But whether one experienced joy or despair, happiness or isolation, animosity or community upon their return, Palestinians were still driven from their homes, creating a diaspora of peoples living in foreign lands. Similar to the Jewish problem immediately after the war, these people had nothing to return to; they were unwelcome in their own homes. This sparked a discussion on a Palestinian’s “right of return” to their ancestral lands: should Palestinians be allowed to return to Palestine? David Benkof juxtaposes the two sides of this discussion, saying “Palestinians view a right of return as an essential reparation for their displacement and suffering, while Israelis reject the notion as an unrealistic, existential threat.” Palestinians were, and to some extent still are, refugees who cannot legally return to their home state, and were forced to live in refugee camps (pictured below) for entire generations.
Is it not ironic, then, that Israel has a Law of Return that allows citizenship to any Jew, no matter their birth state, but will not allow people born on the soil Israel stands on to return?
I do not think it is fair that Israel has a law that allows any Jew to become a citizen of Israel, but they do not let the Palestinians return to their homes. The Israeli forces made the Palestinians flee their homes and become refugees. I thought the idea of creating the state of Israel was a good idea for creating a sanctuary for the Jews, but not at the expense of kicking the native Palestinians from their homes. Pushing Palestinians from their homeland is no better than Germany’s haavara agreement with the Zionists to get rid of their Jewish population. I think that Israel should reconsider their restrictions on Palestinians returning to their homeland.
I never realized the irony in Israel’s Law of Return. You are right. I suppose Israel justifies the policy by saying that Palestinians are not Jewish, so they cannot return. I do believe that morally, Palestinians should have a right to their land. However, I also understand why Israelis do not want Palestinians in Israel. If there were no restrictions on admission, there would be another civil war. There already is bombing in Israel by Palestinians, and honestly worse killings of Palestinians. It is no secret that Israel forced these people from their homes. If Palestinians were able to return to Israel or get rid of the state, where would the Israeli people go, who have been living in Israel for their entire lives?
I agree that Israel’s law of return is perhaps tragically ironic. However, Israel cannot extend the law as it is to the Palestinians because undoubtedly many thousands of Palestinians would choose to return to Israel – or Palestine as they see it. It would certainly lead to increased tension and violence between the two groups. Unfortunately, the time for such a policy for the Palestinians has perhaps long since passed.