Only the Palestinians are allowed to hand their refugee status down from generation to generation, not other refugees in the world are entitled to such a right. I think Israel should agree to the "right of return" for those that lost their homes in 1948. That does not mean their offspring.

Why is the world obsessed with this little country? With any objectivity I can see that the all consuming interest in Israel is pathological, and of course, without knowing the facts, I would imagine that this obsession must be intolerable at times for the residents of Israel and its current leaders, and is not pleasant for the rest of the world either. Obsessions are not healthy and can only lead to unhappiness. Wake up world, let Israel govern itself and stop meddling!!

as the Holy and eternal, undivided and indivisible captial of the State of Israel. Jerusalem is not listed as a red line, but rather open to discussion.

books ,It will be our business to PROTECT Israel and her interest. politically and geografically :)

the "right of return" is an israeli concept that allows jews to return to their homeland and claim their birthright. it has never been a basic human right or a principle of the united nations. what has this got to do with arabs, who belong politically, culturally, linguistically, and ethnically in the "arab world", stretching from morocco to iraq? this fictional "right" has never been adopted for any other group of refugees, anywhere else in the world. and there have been waves of refugees before and since. if the palestinian refugees wish to return to "palestine", they should move to jordan, which was created as the arab portion of the palestine mandate, of which it received 78% of the land area. but in the midst of all this diplomatic frenzy, the players seem to have lost sight of the objective: nowhere in the saudi proposals is there any mention of a just and lasting PEACE with israel.

i hope you keep posting your talkbacks in al Jazeera - English, please don't stop, i've enjoyed reading them, bravo!

Yes it does apply to their descendants! Since no other population in the modern world has had 78% of their homeland stolen, expelled from that homeland, and replaced with a bunch of (armed!!) immigrants from all over the world..their descendants not only have a right of return, but a right of ownership to the lands they were expelled from. The very idea of denying them this very basic and essential right is laughable and will only bring more conflict. Israel should remember that all this blood and distress will come back to them!

He will be gone soon and real leaders will respond efffectively!

i agree with you. jews in general have been the world's obsession for centuries. no matter where jews lives, where they worked, where they enjoyed a limited amount of freedon, where they tried to co-exist with the world in peace and where thy even tried to assimilate into the general population, it was in vein. it didn't help and it was never beneficial for them. we have always been and were treated as a thorn in the worl's butt. when jews didn't have a refuge and a country to call their home so that they can feel at home, practice their religion in peace without prosecutions, when they had no roots anywhere, they were still persecuted, envied for their successses dewspite what the world dished to us. this obsession with us is so prevalent, is so dangerous, is so evil that we are the only people that NEEDED a country of our own to call home, where we can feel safe from that obsession. jews have forever been a displaced people, nomads by force. they lived in judeah under kings and owned vast lands until they were conquered and again, displaced. this has been forever the fate of the jews around the world. so, we returned home, got our own country and self actualized. and look what we made out of that tiny peace of desert land. we made a country through sweat, conflict, death, tears and so much sacrifice. it's our small home, israel. the brits gave it to us. the world gave it to us and history and god gave it to us. whoever says differently is just one of those obsessed people/nations who never intended for us to be what and where we are today. the underdog has come to roost and developed a progressive wonderful country we call home. it is enviable how much we give to the world and humanity in terms of medicine, education, nobel prizes, technological progress, communication technology and "gifts" in all major areas of science and humanity. those that tried to subjugate us didn't suceed. those that tried to anihilate us didn't achieve their goal. those who tried to stand in our way of freedom and self determination also didn't experience sucess in stoping us. and this must hurt those who wish us harm and it must stand as a thorn in their butt that we have not been eliminated. yes, an obsession it is that even in our own country we cannot live without the harsh outsiders' opinions, without the right to live in peace and in harmony with our neighbors. i am not going to use the word antisemitism because it has been so overused in the past and present. i am going to say that it is basically a very unhealthy obsession that must "kill" those who are so obsessed with us.

THis goverment must be working for the EU, US or the Saudis giving them everything they want. If OLmert remains in office more than likely there will be a Civil War

Can the weak Olmert stand firm on this ? Wil he SURRENDER JUDEA AND SAMARIA as a carrot instead of right to return ? Of course he will and Israel will lose more because of faithless leaders who know only to appease and surrender to this enemy instead of defeating them.

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3379238,00.html I forgot. You can read this ad. UNSCR 242 is the only UN resolution in force today that can be used to settle this conflict and it does not enshine any supposed 'right' you quote. It calls for a just solution to the refugee questions, but remember, that doesnt mean just Arab refugees from Israel...it also means a fair settlement for the equal or greater number of Jews who were chased out of the Arab countries and had all their wealth plundered. Best off to call your 'right of return' a wash because the Arabs owe the Jews much more than the Jews owe the Arabs. And it almost certainly doesnt mean all the Arab refugees are coming to Israel. You can continue hanging onto your supposed 'right's but they are made up by Arab propoganda.

the right of return doesn’t need resolutions. you removed people from their homes they have to return. the Jews claimed that they wee removed from Palestine thousand of years ago and there was no UN resolutions to give them the right to go back. so give me a break because WE WILL RETURN.

Just spend 15 minutes on Wiki or some other source reading about refugees. There have been many examples (the Arab Jews for example) of refugees that have suffered far worse then the Palestinians, and in far greater numbers. None of them are allowed to pass their "refugee status" down to their children, grandchildren. As for being forced, I don't think anyone is denying that happened, but how many left voluntarily under the encouragement of surrounding Arab countries? And how many had been residents of "Western Palestine" for merely a few years? And how many sold their land to Jews? And just our of curiosity - why are there still 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Arab countries? 3 generations and they are still denied citizenship! Can you imagine if we tried to do that in the US? The whole world would cry foul! As for being laughable - how about I go back to Russia and ask for my grandfather's house - afterall he was forced to leave. Do you think they would laugh at me?

I've just about given up on Al Jazeera, to many letters have never made it - don't know why. I don't think I've ever written anything really insulting or objectionable. Take a look at Arabisto.com, they are all Arab bloggers, for the most part they are pretty fair and open minded. Thanks again!

Did you even know that Kuwait gave the boot to somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 Palestinians in 1991? Many had been living there as long as the some of the Arabs living in Palestine in 1947. Why no uproar? Do you suppose if Kuwait was a Jewish country the world would have been silent?

I'm curious, what country do you live in?

Anyone agreeing to any deal between Israel and the "palestinians" must KNOW ABOUT THE PHASED PLAN! Hamas wants Israel destroyed, and Abbas' party came up with the PHASED PLAN. http://palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_plo_phasedplan_1974.php" target="_blank"

I've just about given up on Al Jazeera, to many letters have never made it - don't know why. I don't think I've ever written anything really insulting or objectionable. Take a look at Arabisto.com, they are all Arab bloggers, for the most part they are pretty fair and open minded. Thanks again!

Lets not forget that the arabs starting multiple wars that prompted the refugee problem to begin with. Now you have generations of palestinians living in jordan, lebanon, etc where their own arab brothers have effectively denied them any and all rights. Yet you fail to see the root of the problem, which was of your own doing. You fail to see the injustice in the way that your brethren are treating your people. You fail to see the fact that the leaders of muslim countries are benefitting by keeping you in poverty and misery. People born in Jordan who have never set foot in Israel can't possibly have any legitimate claims simply because great grandpa says so. If it was so easy, perhaps the thousands of jews should file claims against the dozens of arab countries from which they fled because their lives were made unbearable. What do you think those arab countries would do? do you think they would welcome the jews back or re-imburse them for losses they suffered. They won't even give their own people any rights. What makes you think you can demand jack sh#t from israel? Moron. -k-

Sam you know you shouldn't be reading the newspaper. It's against your doctor's orders.

i know, that's exactly what i've been experiencing with them too, i got tired of their censorship too, but i think some of us have to keep going, they don't have enough balanced opinions there, they have too many brainwashed talkbackists....

the link you've posted is gonnnnnne.....

Just look at the way the Arabs are complaining that they're persecuted, down-trodden people all because of jews, ad if it were not for Israel the whole Middle East would be a paradise. By the way Palestinian in Haifa - is that an oxymoron? If you live in Haifa you must an Israeli citizen of Arab origin right? If you're Palestinian, why don't go to live in Ramallah?

You, Arabs, declared war against the Jews in 1948. You, arabs, lost the war and the land. Against all odds, and your might and hatred - the Jews created a fluorishing little nation. The desert became green, and children got medicine and education. Now, that it is all built, you want to steel it from them....but you will not succeed. It would be best if you start thinking about alternative solutions for the problem you brought to yourself.

that if they are a "Jew" then they are entitled to Israel? even though a "Jew" is someone from the "Jewish" religion and not actually from any particular race. Maybe Christians should teach their kids that too... Seeing as Christ was born there and he is the foundation of the Christian religion... then they are entitled to make Israel a Christian country based on biblical times.

is impractical because people are full of hate . it will lead to mass religious war and blood baths . nuclear devices will be exploded every where the land will perish .

Whoa, from the responses on these talkbacks, it's very apparent that logic is very scarce here! As for refugees kicked out of arab countries, ofcourse they should have a right of return, and Palestinians kicked out of/massacred in arab countries, we don't expect any better from those nations! Yet Israel claims to be a 'democracy 'and therefore should be held to a higher standard than all other countries in the region, and that includes a right of return for those expelled in 1948, who would have been Israeli citizens had it not been for the zionist policy of ethnic cleansing which is VERY well documented even by Israeli scholars! PS: most people with uneducated comments here are americans which is not surprising! I don't think Israeli Jews want you to defend them since they can represent themselves far better than you can.

Isa. No matter what they say, if it takes 5 yrs, 50 yrs, or 500 yrs, you will return! 3a2edun!