DOCSLIB.ORG

The Palestinians' Right of Return Point

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Palestinians' Right of Return Point Human Rights Brief Volume 8 | Issue 2 Article 2 2001 Point: The alesP tinians' Right of Return Hussein Ibish Ali Abunimah Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Ibish, Hussein, and Ali Abunimah. "Point: The aleP stinians' Right of Return." Human Rights Brief 8, no. 2 (2001): 4, 6-7. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Rights Brief by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ibish and Abunimah: Point: The Palestinians' Right of Return point/ The Palestinians’ Right of Return The Controversy Over the by Hussein Ibish and Ali Abunimah* Right of Return alestinians are the largest and In 1947, after a wave of Jewish immigration, the United Nations most long-suffering refugee pop- voted to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish sectors, with Jerusalem Pulation in the world. There are administered as an international enclave. Despite Arab opposition, more than 3.7 million Palestinians reg- istered as refugees by the United the Jews began to build their own state. On May 14, 1948, Israel Nations Relief and Work Agency declared its independence. Shortly thereafter, the War of Indepen- (UNRWA), the UN agency responsi- dence broke out when Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon refused to ble for them. During the 1948 war, accept the partition of Palestine. After nearly 15 months of fighting, these people and their descendants Israel emerged victorious and expanded its borders. As a result, an were expelled or fled from their homes in what is now Israel. Their future and estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled to refugee camps in Lebanon, Jor- the status of their right of return has dan, and Egypt. According to the United Nations Relief and Works become one of the most contentious Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Palestinian refugees are persons issues in the effort to find a lasting whose normal place of residence was Palestine between 1946 and peace between Palestinians and Israelis. 1948, who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the Right of Return in International Law 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, and who took refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, The right of refugees to return to Syria, the Jordanian ruled West Bank, or the Egyptian-administered their homes is embedded deeply in cus- Gaza Strip. This displacement of refugees is still an issue today, with tomary international law and the most fundamental human rights instruments. the number of registered refugees estimated at 3.7 million. According to prominent legal scholars Mallison and Mallison, “[h]istorically, the right of return was so universally rights with regard to the country in Convention have been terminated.” accepted and practiced that it was not which they had lived simply because of (Convention I, Article 63; Convention deemed necessary to prescribe or cod- a change in the nature of the state or II, Article 62; Convention III, Article ify it in a formal manner.” government in that territory. More- 142; Convention IV, Article 158). The Perhaps the most basic expression of over, where expulsion or prevention underlying assumption of these provi- the right, however, is contained in the from return results in denationaliza- sions, and the numerous prohibitions Universal Declaration of Human Rights tion and statelessness, Article 15 of the in international law against involun- (Declaration), Article 13, which states Declaration, which stipulates that tary repatriation under conditions of that “[e]veryone has the right to leave “[e]veryone has the right to a nation- danger, can only be that of an absolute any country, including his own, and to ality,” becomes a further relevant pro- and universally accepted right of return. return to his country.” It is a generally tection of the right of return. And cer- In 1948, the UN adopted Resolu- recognized principle of international tainly, where a population has been tion 194, which specifically applies the forcibly expelled, as Lex Takkenberg, right of return to the Palestinian the Chief of Field Relief and Social Ser- refugees. Paragraph 11 states “that the The right of refugees to return vices for UNRWA, points out “the right refugees wishing to return to their of return derives from the illegality of homes and live at peace with their to their homes is embedded the expulsion itself” because “those neighbors should be permitted to do so deeply in customary expelled clearly have the right to at the earliest practicable date, and that reverse an illegal act, that is to return compensation should be paid for the international law and the most to their homeland.” property of those choosing not to fundamental human rights The four Geneva Conventions (Con- return and for loss of or damage to instruments. ventions) assume the right of return property which, under principles of in numerous articles and provisions. international law or in equity, should be For example, all four Conventions made good by the Governments or provide that any formal denunciation authorities responsible.” The UN has law that when sovereignty or political of one state by another for violating reaffirmed this resolution practically control over an area changes hands, provisions of the Conventions “shall every year since its adoption with near there is a concurrent transfer of respon- not take effect until peace has been unanimity. sibility for the population of that terri- concluded, and until after operations It is sometimes argued by opponents tory. Therefore it cannot be argued connected with the release and repa- of the right of return that because Res- that Palestinians, who were expelled triation,” and in the case of Convention olution 194 is a General Assembly res- or fled from what became Israel during IV, Article 158, re-establishment “of a period of conflict, no longer had any the persons protected by the present continued on page 6 4 Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2001 1 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 8, Iss. 2 [2001], Art. 2 Right of Return, continued from page 4 out, “[i]t should be noted that the UN olution, rather than a Security Council Mediator recom- resolution, it is “non-binding.” The gen- mended that the right eral principle of when and if a Gen- to return be affirmed eral Assembly resolution can be “bind- rather than be estab- ing” need not be debated to invalidate lished. Although the this argument. Israel’s admittance to issue is not explicitly Photo courtesy of UNRWA the UN as a member state, through addressed in the report, Resolution 273, was conditioned on Count Bernadotte was acceptance and implementation of Res- apparently of the opin- olution 194. Therefore, Israel is bound, ion that the right of as a condition of membership in the refugees to return UN, to implement 194 and to facilitate already formed part of the return of the Palestinian refugees. existing international Despite this commitment, Israel has law.” consistently denied the right of return. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Israel The Right of Return in passed laws forbidding the return of Other Conflicts refugees and expropriating their prop- These assumptions— erty. Israel also routinely killed in cold that the right of UNRWA emergency food distribution center in Beach blood Palestinians who attempted to refugees to return is an refugee camp, Gaza Strip, 2001. cross its borders in order to return to established and univer- their homes. sally accepted principle Shea told the press that “[t]he most Resolution 194 is particularly note- of international law and that this right important thing is that at the end of the worthy in that it provides for the return is linked to homes and property, not day… that those people should be able of the refugees not simply to “their just to a country or homeland—formed to exercise their right to return….” country” or homeland, but to “their the basis for much of the discourse of United Nations humanitarian offi- homes.” The former UN Mediator for the United States, NATO, and the UN cials agreed with NATO political and during the Kosovo conflict in 1999. military leaders that the right of return Indeed, this conflict appears to have was a fundamental aspect of interna- been a massive reaffirmation of the tional human rights law as demon- Obviously, if the property right of return as a general principle of strated by the crisis in Kosovo. On April international law, and even a valid casus 19, 1999, Dennis McNamara, Director rights of Jewish Europeans sur- belli for “humanitarian intervention” in of Protection at the Office of the United vive after more than 56 years the internal affairs of sovereign states, Nations High Commissioner for following expropriation, those as well as being inextricably linked to Refugees (UNHCR) said of the Kosovo specific homes and property rights. conflict, “[h]uman rights were at the of Palestinian refugees must During the Kosovo crisis, on April heart of the exodus— the right to asy- similarly survive after 53 years 6, 1999, former U.S. president Clinton lum was critical to saving thousands of or less. Moreover, if such declared that “[w]e cannot say, well, lives, and the right to return would ‘we’ll just take all these folks and forget have to be honored for any lasting solu- property rights survive after so about their rights to go home.’ The tion to be achieved.” many years and pass from one refugees belong in their own homes on The principle of the right of return their own land.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Resource List for Palestine and Israel Film Series Feb
    Resource List for Palestine and Israel Film Series Feb. 12 – March 19, 2018 Series hosted by Montpelier Senior Activity Center Films and Resources Selected by Vermonters for Justice in Palestine BOOKS Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation by Saree Makdisi, 2008. Powerfully written, well documented, and integrates the present with historical context, including the Nakba (known as the War of Independence in 1948). 298 pages. Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe; published in 2017 explores claims that are repeated over and over, among them that Palestine was an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration, , whether Palestinians voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, whether June 1967 was a war of “no choice,” and the myths surrounding the failures of the Camp David Accords. 167 pages. Sleeping on a Wire, Conversations with Palestinians by David Grossman, 1993. Written by Israel’s best known novelist, this is a book of insightful interviews that illuminate the contradictions of Zionism, behind which Grossman remains standing. 346 pages. The Battle for Justice in Palestine, Ali Abunimah, 2014. Well-written, accessible exploration of the fallacy of a neoliberal Palestine, Israel’s fight against BDS, and the potential benefit to Israelis and Palestinians of a one-state solution. 292 pages. The Myths of Liberal Zionism, Yitzhak Laor, 2009. A fascinating exploration of Israel’s writers and Zionism by an Israeli poet and dissident, illustrating the inherent conflict between Zionism and democracy. 160 pages. Goliath, Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, Max Blumenthal, 2013. Beginning with the national elections carried out in 2008-09, during Israel’s war on Gaza, this hard-hitting book by a prominent American-Jewish reporter examines the rise of far-right to power in Israel and its consequences for Jews and Palestinians, both in Israel and in the occupied territory.
    [Show full text]
  • I Want to Believe I Want to Believe Posadism, Ufos, and Apocalypse Communism
    I Want to Believe I Want to Believe Posadism, UFOs, and Apocalypse Communism A.M. Gittlitz First published 2020 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © A.M. Gittlitz 2020 Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material in this book. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this respect and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions. The right of A.M. Gittlitz to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7453 4076 0 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 4077 7 Paperback ISBN 978 1 7868 0619 2 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0621 5 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0620 8 EPUB eBook This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Abbreviations viii Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 PART I: THE TRAGIC CENTURY 1. Commentaries on the Infancy of Comrade Posadas 19 2. Revolutionary Youth or Patriotic Youth? 24 3. The Death Throes of Capitalism 34 4. The Origins of Posadism 42 5.
    [Show full text]
  • National Strategy for Homeland Security 2007
    national strategy for HOMELAND SECURITY H OMELAND SECURITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 2 0 0 7 national strategy for HOMELAND SECURITY H OMELAND SECURITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 2 0 0 7 My fellow Americans, More than 6 years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, we remain at war with adversar- ies who are committed to destroying our people, our freedom, and our way of life. In the midst of this conflict, our Nation also has endured one of the worst natural disasters in our history, Hurricane Katrina. As we face the dual challenges of preventing terrorist attacks in the Homeland and strengthening our Nation’s preparedness for both natural and man-made disasters, our most solemn duty is to protect the American people. The National Strategy for Homeland Security serves as our guide to leverage America’s talents and resources to meet this obligation. Despite grave challenges, we also have seen great accomplishments. Working with our part- ners and allies, we have broken up terrorist cells, disrupted attacks, and saved American lives. Although our enemies have not been idle, they have not succeeded in launching another attack on our soil in over 6 years due to the bravery and diligence of many. Just as our vision of homeland security has evolved as we have made progress in the War on Terror, we also have learned from the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. We witnessed countless acts of courage and kindness in the aftermath of that storm, but I, like most Americans, was not satisfied with the Federal response. We have applied the lessons of Katrina to thisStrategy to make sure that America is safer, stronger, and better prepared.
    [Show full text]
  • The Necessity of Including Hamas in Any Future Peace Process and the Viability of Doing So: an Argument for Reassessment and Engagement
    THE NECESSITY OF INCLUDING HAMAS IN ANY FUTURE PEACE PROCESS AND THE VIABILITY OF DOING SO: AN ARGUMENT FOR REASSESSMENT AND ENGAGEMENT by Peter Worthington Bachelor of Arts, University of British Columbia, 2007 MAJOR PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES In the School of International Studies © Peter Worthington 2011 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2011 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Peter Worthington Degree: Master of Arts in International Studies Title of Thesis: The necessity of including Hamas in any future peace process and the viability of doing so: an argument for reassessment and engagement. Examining Committee: Chair: Dr John Harriss Professor of International Studies ______________________________________ Dr Tamir Moustafa Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Stephen Jarislowsky Chair School for International Studies ______________________________________ Dr. John Harriss Supervisor Professor of International Studies ______________________________________ Date Approved: April 26, 2011 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users.
    [Show full text]
  • Helping to Shape the Policy Discourse on Palestine
    Helping to Shape the Policy Discourse on Palestine Al-Shabaka in 2016 and into 2017 Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, is an independent, non- partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self- determination within the framework of international law. Contents Letter from the Executive Director 1 1. Policy Insights and Options 2 2. Fielding the Policy Team in Strategic Locations 5 3. Expanding the Global Palestinian Think Tank 9 4. Outreach & Engagement 11 5. Financial Report and List of Donors 13 6. List of Publications 2010 - 2016 15 7. List of Al-Shabaka Analysts 22 Letter from the Executive Director With key anniversaries for Palestine and The network has grown by 30% since the Palestinians on the calendar in 2017 2015, with new policy members reinforcing and 2018, Israel’s aim to consolidate its existing areas of expertise as well as occupation went into overdrive. Over the providing coverage in additional geographic past year this has included a ramped- areas (see Section 3). Al-Shabaka’s reach up effort to erase the use of the term has also expanded through well-placed op- “occupation” from the public discourse eds in both the Arabic and English media, while multiplying settlement activity; the increased use of English and Arabic social drive to occupy key positions on United media, speaking engagements in many Nations committees while violating different locales, and translation of policy international law; and cracking down on free content into French and Italian, among speech and non-violent activism.
    [Show full text]
  • Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance to Occupation Since 1967
    FACES OF HOPE A Campaign Supporting Nonviolent Resistance and Refusal in Israel and Palestine AFSC Middle East Resource series Middle East Task Force | Fall 2005 Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance to Occupation Since 1967 alestinian nonviolent resistance to policies of occupa- tion and injustice dates back to the Ottoman (1600s- P1917) and British Mandate (1917-1948) periods. While the story of armed Palestinian resistance is known, the equally important history of nonviolent resistance is largely untold. Perhaps the best-known example of nonviolent resistance during the mandate period, when the British exercised colo- nial control over historic Palestine, is the General Strike of 1936. Called to protest against British colonial policies and the exclusion of local peoples from the governing process, the strike lasted six months, making it the longest general strike in modern history. Maintaining the strike for so many months required great cooperation and planning at the local Residents of Abu Ghosh, a village west of Jerusalem, taking the oath level. It also involved the setting up of alternative institu- of allegiance to the Arab Higher Committee, April 1936. Photo: Before tions by Palestinians to provide for economic and municipal Their Diaspora, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1984. Available at http://www. passia.org/. needs. The strike, and the actions surrounding it, ultimately encountered the dilemma that has subsequently been faced again and to invent new strategies of resistance. by many Palestinian nonviolent resistance movements: it was brutally suppressed by the British authorities, and many of The 1967 War the leaders of the strike were ultimately killed, imprisoned, During the 1967 War, Israel occupied the West Bank, or exiled.
    [Show full text]
  • BDS Is Anti-‐Semitic
    BDS is Anti-Semitic The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel spreads anti-Semitism and undermines the peace process. BDS demonizes and delegitimizes the only Jewish state. ● BDS is an anti-Semitic movement because it spreads lies about the only Jewish state in an attempt to isolate it politically, economically, and socially. ● Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the BDS movement, spreads anti-Semitic propaganda. ○ He stated that Israeli soldiers “shoot Palestinian children for sport” in a speech he made at UCLA in January of 2014.i This is a direct manifestation of the blood libel that accuses Jews of killing Christians “for fun.” ○ Barghouti argues that Israel is a fascist state,ii directly comparing Israel to the Nazi regime.iii ■ Equating Israel’s liberal democracy with the genocidal Nazi regime is a classic form anti-Semitic propaganda, according to the U.S. State Department,iv as it spreads lies about the only Jewish state and offends the real victims of genocide. ○ Barghouti likens the right of self-determination for the Jewish people with “racism and hatred.”v Demonizing only the Jewish people’s right to self-determination is discriminatory and racist. ● Campus speakers who advocate for BDS often spread blatant anti-Semitism. ○ Muhammed Desai, the National Coordinator of the South African chapter of BDS, incites the killing of Jews. ■ In 2013, he organized a protest of an Israeli musician in South Africa and started a chant, screaming, ‘Shoot the Jew.’vi ○ In 2014, the SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) at Brooklyn College hosted Steven Salaita.vii ■ Salaita advocates for anti semitism as a logical response to the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
    [Show full text]
  • Ali Abunimah, Mandy Turner, Saleh Hijazi, Halla Shoaibi, Ismail Khalidi, Cecilie Surasky
    [email protected] www.al-shabaka.org al-shabaka roundtable HOW TO RECLAIM THE PALESTINIAN NARRATIVE With Ali Abunimah, Mandy Turner, Saleh Hijazi, Halla Shoaibi, Ismail Khalidi, Cecilie Surasky February 2013 Overview Jamil Hilal’s provocative commentary Reclaiming the Palestinian Narrative evoked diverse responses from the Al-Shabaka network that are captured in this roundtable. Hilal identified five major misrepresentations in the discourse on Palestine: “shrinking” Palestine, truncating its history, “shrinking” the Palestinian people, the mirage of the two-state solution, and the myth of development under occupation. He proposed several ways to reclaim the narrative. In the first of the Roundtable responses, Ali Abunimah urges that the Oslo fictions, including the one that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is a representative body, be stripped away as Palestinians work on changing the balance of power that sustains the dominant narrative. Guest author Mandy Turner addresses the double struggle, within and outside the Palestinian community, that will be needed to overturn the Oslo paradigm in favor of an alternative narrative. Saleh Hijazi ties the problems in the narrative to the Palestinians’ inability to be clear about the end goal and to the very pertinent question of whether there is a place for the Israeli in the Palestinian narrative. Halla Shoaibi criticizes the role of the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in designing a flawed curriculum that distorts the discourse and calls for a move to reclaim the education system to build a new discourse on solid ground. Ismail Khalidi points out that reclaiming the discourse is one part, albeit important, of a multi-faceted struggle to expose the Israeli matrix of control in all its aspects, ending the Oslo illusions once and for all.
    [Show full text]
  • Operation Protective Edge a War Waged on Gaza's
    OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE A WAR WAGED ON GAZA’s CHILDREN www.dci-palestine.org Copyright © 2015 Defense for Children International Palestine All rights reserved. Cover photo: A Palestinian girl sits in front of a wall riddled with shrapnel, in Beit Hanoun, North Gaza on November 17, 2014, which came under heavy attacks during Operation Protective Edge. Photo credit: Anne Paq, Activestills.org Acknowledgements Producing this report would not have been possible without the invaluable work of a number of individuals. Defense for Children International Palestine’s monitoring and documentation team of field researchers, coordinators, and office staff have worked meticulously in very difficult and dangerous circumstances, often exposing themselves to very real threats to their personal security in order to retrieve, verify and prepare the information documented in this report. For their efforts, DCIP expresses its deepest appreciation. DCIP would like to extend particular gratitude and admiration to the victims, victims’ families and eyewitnesses who willingly shared with us the testimonies of the deeply traumatic and tragic events they went through during Operation Protective Edge. Mona Patel, reporting officer, Olivia Watson, advocacy officer, and Brad Parker, international advocacy officer, researched and wrote the report based on investigations conducted by DCIP’s monitoring and documentation unit and Gaza- based field team. It was reviewed and edited by Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director, and Ivan Karakashian, advocacy unit coordinator. Defense for Children International Palestine is an independent, local Palestinian child rights organization based in Ramallah dedicated to defending and promoting the rights of children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
    [Show full text]
  • Homeland Final Season Release Date
    Homeland Final Season Release Date Sturgis is ill-conceived and creams organisationally while steric Doyle shinny and aromatised. Unbarbed and accurst Sonnie often donees some aria indistinctly or graduate tensely. Suprarenal and hoariest Giorgi lot her daisy westers coincidentally or swivelling serially, is Bogdan multivalent? Brody agrees that means her command of more dutiful spy games to date in advance of entertainment, costa ronin and admits that. Why Homeland's Final Season Has Been Delayed Until 2020. Keane is right about the last day, what had to do not install any time jump between two. Watch the Trailer for Homeland's Eighth and Final Season. The official site taking the SHOWTIME Original Series Homeland. Homeland Season on iTunes. Homeland Series-Finale Recap Season Episode 12 Vulture. Homeland Season Episode 12 Trailer Episode Guide and. We got it can i think that he was held his release date pushed back into its look back. Over they past nine years since its premiere in 2011 Homeland has always. The globe thing within that Carrie Mathison has relinquished custody of new daughter Franny who now has slight chance see some semblance of a normal childhood. Showtime's Emmy-winning espionage series Homeland readies its final season with plate new trailer that paints Carrie as a potential traitor Kevin Yeoman Dec 6. Television is finally rescued, the navy holds a russian intelligence operatives pound on. El niño and final season finale and children whom the. In August 201 it was announced that the final season will premiere in June. Now believes in afghanistan peace, brody to muslims living at the russia plot as cia to your voice dr.
    [Show full text]
  • A President's Jeremiad of Terror (Excerpts from Honors Thesis, the Rhetoric of the War on Terror: George W
    Denison Journal of Religion Volume 6 Article 6 2006 A President's Jeremiad of Terror (Excerpts from Honors Thesis, The Rhetoric of the War on Terror: George W. Bush's Transformation of the Jeremiad) Lauren Alissa Clark Denison University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/religion Part of the Ethics in Religion Commons, and the Sociology of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Lauren Alissa (2006) "A President's Jeremiad of Terror (Excerpts from Honors Thesis, The Rhetoric of the War on Terror: George W. Bush's Transformation of the Jeremiad)," Denison Journal of Religion: Vol. 6 , Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/religion/vol6/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Denison Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denison Journal of Religion by an authorized editor of Denison Digital Commons. Clark: A President's Jeremiad of Terror (Excerpts from Honors Thesis, Th a president’s jeremiad of terror s both governor and president, George W. Bush has always demon- strated religious devotion in his public rhetoric. His language ap- Apears most overtly religious in the defining event of his presidency: the war on terror. Faith and public policy intertwine in Bush’s presidency, pro- viding him with “guidance and wisdom and strength” during a trying time (as qtd. in Viorst 102). God and nation unite in a mission, a mission described and mediated by the president. It is this unique aspect of Bush’s presidency, which bears examining. How does his rhetoric blur the boundaries between public and private faith, religious beliefs and public policy? How does his rhetoric unite these components in his speeches regarding the war on terror? A useful way to answer these questions is to examine his rhetoric through the form of the jeremiad.
    [Show full text]
  • Isratin: the One-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
    Isratin: The One-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Ken-Ben Chao War in the 20th Century Mr. John Bickel January 6, 2011 An anxious crowd of two hundred and fifty people gathered and waited outside the Tel Aviv Museum on May 14, 1948. Within the next thirty-two minutes, the State of Israel was formally established. After nearly two millennia in exile, the Jewish homeland was reborn. The next day, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq attacked Israel, prompting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Within the next sixty years, several other wars would be fought over the Israeli-Palestinian question. Today, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, or Arab-Israeli Conflict, remains a critical obstacle to world peace and stability in the Middle East. Though peace talks have been in progress for decades, numerous issues continue to obstruct success in the negotiations. If a viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is not created and implemented, the conflict will continue to plague the region with terrorism and war. Despite many proposed solutions, obstacles such as Jerusalem, the Israeli settlements, and Palestinian terrorism impede significant progress in the peace talks. With the numerous issues regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the best solution is a gradual reintegration of Palestinians into the Holy Land, a relaxation of tensions between the various factions, and the beginning of serious negotiations towards an eventual one-state solution. History In order to fully comprehend the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an understanding of the region’s bloody history must first be attained. The origin of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict goes as far back as the Biblical era.
    [Show full text]