Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

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Palestinian Rights and Israeli Wrongs David Matas* Rights are claimed for the Palestinian people and wrongs where neither the rights nor the wrongs exist. Specifically, whole new categories of rights and wrongs are developed that only Israel has to respect; wrongs are created that only Israel inflicts. A discussion follows on the nature and extent of antisemitism. Key Words: Arab, Israel, Jewish, Law, Palestinian A. THE PATTERN There is a troubling pattern of claimed Palestinian rights and Jewish wrongs where neither the rights nor the wrongs exist. Is it fair and accurate to describe this phenomenon as antisemitic? Internationally recognized human rights belong to everyone by virtue of the fact that they are human. Internationally recognized human rights do not just belong to Palestinians or Jews or Canadians or any other particular national group. The very assertion of Palestinian rights is an assertion of exceptionalism, not universality. The same is true of wrongs. A violation of human rights remains a violation whether the victims are Jews or Palestinians or Canadians or any other particular national group. A claim that an act affecting Palestinians is wrong where there is no claim of wrong for a similar act affecting others is also an assertion of exceptionalism. No one person can do everything. There is a value of specialization in human rights as much as in any other area of human endeavor. There is a difference, however, between specialization—asserting a general right for one group and leaving to others the assertion of that right for other groups or combating a general wrong inflicted on one group and leaving to others the combating of that wrong inflicted on other groups—and exceptionalism—asserting a right that exists only for that group or claiming as wrongful treatment only when it affects one group in particular. B. UNREAL RIGHTS There is a whole litany of rights that are claimed only for Palestinians and no one else. These claimed rights are not really rights at all. 115
116 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:115 Every rights carries a correlative duty to respect the right. A right not respected means a wrong has been committed—i.e., a failure to comply with the duty to respect the right. For all of these exceptional claimed Palestinian rights, the claimed duty is owed by the State of Israel. Israel is, for the non-respect of claimed Palestinian rights, the supposed wrongdoer. Because the claimed rights are not real rights, though, the claimed wrongs are not real wrongs. The Right of Return. One example is the claimed Palestinian right of return. 1 This is an assertion of the right of Palestinians to move to Israel permanently from wherever they are, whatever their status is now in the territory in which they live, and whatever their status is or was in Israel. If one thinks of this right being asserted generally, what is it? It seems to be the right of descendants to move to the country that now has jurisdiction over the territory in which their ancestors once lived. Yet, one would scour the international instruments in vain looking for such a right. Palestinian rights activists assert this right for Palestinians, but neither they nor anyone else asserts this right for any other group. Rights of Refugees. There is a similar, related problem about the claimed rights of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian refugees are unlike any other. They have their own international institution responsible for their welfare, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). More important, unlike other refugees, their status is hereditary. The UNRWA Web site states that “the descendants of the original Palestine refugees are also eligible for registration.” 2 Second, they maintain this refugee status even if they hold nationality in another state. For every other refugee, refugee status is a form of surrogate protection, where there is no state of nationality able or willing to protect. That is not so for Palestinian refugees, who maintain refugee status even though they are nationals of states both willing and able to protect them. There are an estimated two million Palestinians who have refugee status with UNRWA despite having Jordanian nationality. 3 Third, persons claiming refugee status who are not Palestinian are excluded from refugee protection if they have the substantive rights of nationality of the country in which they have taken up residence, even if 1. See David Matas, Aftershock: Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism (Toronto: Dundurn, 2005), chap. 1. 2. www.unrwa.org. 3. At the UNRWA Web site, click on “Fields” and then “Jordan.”
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Benjamin Ferencz (1910- ) Benjamin
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The Elephant in the Room ..........
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The Toulouse Murders Manfred Gerste
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The Middle East’s Real Apartheid
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The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The
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2012] THE TSAR’S OTHER LIEUTENANT
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In the Classroom Leonid Livak* Hard
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Irrational Iran Israel W. Charny* H
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Reversing Social Memory in Portugal
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Antisemitism and Hollywood—Part 1
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What Palestinian Polls Reveal Ryan
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Remarkably Unremarkable Crisis Pete
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A Promising Start Richard L. Cravat
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Maybe, Maybe Not Justus George Lawl
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Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

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