“Remember that anyone and everyone can be a shadchan”
As always, Yonoson Rosenblum hit the nail right on the head with his excellent article “No Right of Return.” I’d like to add a small (or maybe not that small) detail that lends context.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (the so-called “good Palestinians” of the Palestinian Authority) adopted the Palestinian National Charter in July 1968. Article 6 reads as follows: “The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians.”
It is questionable whether the “beginning of the Zionist invasion” refers to 1917, the year the Balfour Declaration was declared, or to the 1880s, the years of the First and Second Aliyahs. In any event, the vast majority of Israel’s eight million Jews are considered foreign usurpers and fall under Article 20 which states: “Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.”
When President Clinton visited Gaza in 1996, he brought the matter up with Yasser Arafat, who convened the Palestinian Parliament and asked for a show of hands to vote on repealing the objectionable clauses. This meaningless gesture satisfied the naive US president.
Create a free account to keep reading.
