Organizers of the march, sponsored by over 80 Arab, Moslem, Palestinian, Jewish, and human rights organizations say they hope the event will draw attention to the issue. The refugee issue, some officials and analysts say, has proven even more difficult to resolve than sovereignty over Jerusalem. Israeli officials, including doves like Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, have asserted that Israel will not acknowledge responsibility for the plight of the refugees nor offer a comprehensive right of return for the estimated four million refugees. The Israelis say that accepting their return would jeopardize the Jewish nature of the state. Parallel marches will be held this weekend in London, Lebanon, Haifa, and the Dehaishe and Balata refugee camps.
Education is our goal.
The purposes of the rally, as described by the Council for Palestinian Restitution and Repatriation, are to demand an end to five decades of Palestinian exile, to demand recognition of the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands, and to mark the 18th anniversary of the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre, when Israeli-backed Lebanese Phalangist forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians while on a mission to root out PLO forces believed to be in the camps. The march and rally, which will culminate in a park outside the White House, sprung out of an initiative that started last December when advocates of a Palestinian right of return started circulating a petition which now has roughly 80,000 signatures. In April, after a convention in Boston on the issue, the Right of Return Coalition was born and 30 action committees were set up across the country. For Israel to allow these people to return would be national suicide. The statement also recalled the 800,000 Jews who were forced to flee their native Arab countries and leave behind homes and businesses.