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Let them return!

It is an interesting paradox that Israel, which has a specific Law of Return [that is, all Jews are allowed unfettered entry into Israel] now faces a UN report which says that the Israelis should permit Palestinians to return to their property.

Needless to say the usual response by the Israelis, and its supporters, will be that the UN is anti-Israeli. Whatever the reaction, the issue of the displaced Palestinians will just not go away - perhaps more so this year, 40 years after the commencement of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

As Haaretz reports:

"A United Nations committee has called on Israel to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their property and land in Israel and to ensure that the bodies responsible for distributing property, such as the Jewish National Fund, not discriminate against the Arab population.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination made the recommendation in its concluding observations released Friday, in response to a report Israel submitted on the matter. Representatives of a number of human rights groups appeared before the committee, including Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which presented objections to the official Israeli position."

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