Unfreezing the Right of Return: First Stop, Gaza

For decades, Palestinian victims of Israel’s forced displacement policies in the Gaza Strip have been seeking redress. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Munir Nuseibah argues that the authorities in Gaza, Ramallah and Egypt have a legal obligation to immediately facilitate the return of those who want to do so, without in any way letting Israel off the hook. He describes how it can be done, and addresses the political and practical pitfalls.

Will the Palestinians be written out of history? There is a serious danger that this may happen, writes Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Jamil Hilal, who identifies five major misrepresentations of Palestinian history, geography and identity in the dominant discourse. He also discusses how Palestinians and their supporters must take hold of the way their story is told and reclaim their narrative.

The Mahmoud Abbas who heads to the United Nations for non-member state status expressed willingness to give up his right of return. Not so the other Palestinian millions. Instead, as Al-Shabaka Policy Members Ahmad Barclay and Dena Qaddumi argue, the region’s upsurge in grassroots political movements offers an opening to view Palestinian return through the lens of decolonization and to go beyond the zero-sum logic of competing ethnic nationalisms. They will be launching Al-Shabaka’s first Policy Circle to develop this approach.

The first Al-Shabaka Roundtable was held in Beirut, Lebanon on the topic of Palestinians in the Diaspora. Policy Advisors Khalil Hindi, Nadia Hijab, Aziza Khalidi, Jaber Suleiman, and Antoine Zahlan discussed the different interests of Palestinians in the Diaspora and how they can be secured.