The Geneva Initiative was formally launched amid flourish and flair in its namesake city on Monday – replete with last minute approval from Chairman Yassir Arafat. Notwithstanding the pomp and pageantry, the less-than-total support for the plan being expressed by Arab-language media appears to reflect the same hesitations present in Arab leadership.
A look at coverage of Geneva reveals two often-repeated storylines. One that apparently opposes the initiative warns of the high price the Palestinians would pay if forced to renounce the ‘right of return.’ Those who support the idea cite the need to end the ongoing and escalating violence in the region.
The two articles excerpted below are illustrative of these opinions: the first from Palestinian daily Al-Hayyat Al-Jadida, the second from Jordanian daily A-Dustour.
Ahmad Dahbour, in the Palestinian daily Al-Hayyat Al-Jadida, asked in the title of his article, “Is there any other meaning?” Dahbour says, “We have reached the stage where we have to clarify the meaning of the words if we want to be able to talk. And if the word ‘Awda’ [Return] is the most used word in the life of the Palestinian people… we should agree on its meaning…
“‘Awda’ in the Palestinian mind is connected with a specific place – Palestine… it means the return of the refugee to his original home in Palestine, and if he was born after the ‘Nakba’ [the word meaning “catastrophe” that is used to refer to the war of 1948 that resulted in Israel’s birth], then it means his return to his father’s and grandfather’s home in Palestine. And therefore our right of return is our right for Palestine…
Give the gift of hope
We practice what we preach:
accurate, fearless journalism. But we can't do it alone.
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
Join us.
Support The Media Line. Save democracy.
“I do not believe that anywhere in the written history of mankind we would find a people who signed a submissive paper which included its renunciation of its historic homeland…
“The refusal to renounce the right of return does not mean necessarily a direct non-equal war against the Zionist enemy who is militarily advanced and supported by America. The announcement of war or of a cease-fire… has to do with timing, balance of powers, and stating the near and far goals. In the past, the Bedouin took his revenge after 50 years and said ‘I hastened’…
“If we cannot declare war now – while reading these words… we can otherwise refuse the renunciation of our rights…
“But that doesn’t mean we will wait forever. Earth spins – around itself and around the sun – nothing stays frozen…
“This stubborn people gave the modern world a word with an Esperanto magic flavor – ‘intifada’ [forceful resistance].”
Those who supported the initiative saw it as a way to end the conflict. One such writer is Batir Muhammad ‘Ali Wardam, a columnist in Jordanian daily A-Dustour:
In ‘Ali Wardam’s article entitled, “They Refuse the Geneva paper… but !” he wrote that, “… With all honesty, I find it amazing that the Palestinian leadership agrees to an absurd and vague paper as the ‘Road Map’, only because it is American-made, and refuses in turn papers which offer more rational and advanced solutions as ‘Camp David’ [July 2000] or ‘Geneva’…
“The right to refuse the ‘Geneva paper’ and to concentrate on the difficult articles in it remains at the hand of all Palestinians. But it is not beneficial to blame those who participated in its preparation with treason or neglect. For everybody knows… there is an urgent need to end the ongoing destruction and to put a stop to the Sharonic option, and to make headway towards other options…
“It would be preferable for the Palestinian leadership and factions, to hold straightforward stands about the issues of the final solution… rather than refuse every suggestion and continue in the statements-game, which doesn’t help the Palestinian people against the loose barbaric animal who governs Israel and destroys daily every possible opportunity for an agreement.”