“Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”
Israeli novelist Amos Oz is among those who have argued that the enactment of the Palestinian "right of return" would make Arabs the majority in Israel. In Oz's view, such a step would amount to "abolishing the Jewish people's right to self determination."
However, the treaties are clear on the right of the Palestinians to return:
2 November 1917, United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Lord Balfour. His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.
11 December 1948, Article 11, UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.
The Geneva Conventions of 1949. UN General Assembly Resolution 3236, passed on 22 November 1974 declared the right of return to be an "inalienable right".
Hence, the State of Israel's excuse is utterly feeble:
David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, insisted in an interview with the members of the Conciliations Commission that as long as Israel could not count on the dedication of any Arab refugees to remain "at peace with their neighbors" - a consequence, he contended, of the Arab states' unwillingness to remain at peace with the state of Israel – resettlement was not an obligation for his country.
Hence, since the State of Israel expects the Palestinians to remain at war with them, and since the State of Israel effectively acts on this expectation, the Palestinians will simply have to give the State of Israel what they are asking for, and continue military operations until the State of Israel caves in on the demand of the Palestinian refugees to return.
There is also a serious issue at the level of the
statutes of limitation. If you fail to persue a claim, after some period of time, the claim will expire, because you will be supposed to have given up on the claim. You can only collect on a claim for a limited period of time. In order to keep the claim alive, you must regularly engage in collection efforts. Every credible collection effort will restart afresh the period of time listed in the statutes of limitation. Hence, the Palestinians
must produce new collection efforts in order to prevent the statutes of limitation from expiring their claim. State-level collection efforts amount to
hostilities. Hence, without fresh hostilities, the Palestinian claim will gradually expire. Even just throwing stones across the border, is better than not producing any collection efforts at all. Therefore, it is a requirement that the Palestinians:
[1] Insist and believe that they will return
[2] Duly punish any defeatists in their own ranks who are willing to release their right of return
[3] Organize new hostilities against the State of Israel, if only, by throwing stones across the border
If the Palestinians stopped their attempts at enforcing their right to return, they would effectively lose it. Hence, military operations against the State of Israel are unfortunately NOT optional. They are a
legal requirement, to prevent the claim to expire by reaching its statutes of limitation. Furthermore, it does not matter how long it takes for the Palestinians to return. As long as they keep believing that they will return -- and regularly keep acting to keep the claim alive -- one day they will.