Arabia.com news - Dueling right of return compensation claims [View All]

http://www.arabia.com/newsfeed/article/english/0,14183,372927,00.html

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Israeli government, which has for over half a century defied international legitimacy by refusing to implement UN Resolution 194, decided last Wednesday to pre-empt anticipated Palestinian refugees claims of compensation. UN resolution 194 stipulates the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland in Israel, from which they were forced out by the Zionist paramilitary forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It also stipulates to compensate them for their confiscated property.Israeli Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom Wednesday ordered that NIS 3 million be budgeted to register property claims by Jewish immigrants from Arab countries. The registration will be conducted by a special office to be set up at the Ministry of Justice, the Globes online reported.The claims will be filed by Jewish immigrants from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen who immigrated to Israel since 1940.The purpose is to provide a foundation for claims against these countries and international institutions to counter claims by Palestinian refugees, Globes said. The office will collect documents and legal material pertaining to damage to Jewish property and persecution of Jews in these countries, including confiscation of property and bodily harm. <snip>

... They have not given either their right of return or their right to compensation, according to UN resolution 194.Israel rules out the return of Palestinian refugees in defiance of UN resolutions, but with the Israeli governments new decision, it also insists on depriving them from their right to compensation.The present decision to register claims is intended to pre-empt anticipated Palestinian claims, especially if there is an agreement that material compensation will replace the right of return, the Globes concluded. At the Camp David summit in July 1999, US President Bill Clinton proposed establishing an international fund to compensate all refugees - Jews and Arabs alike. The US, EU, Japan, Israel and Arab countries would provide the funds financing.Globes investigations in recent years discovered that the real value of confiscated Jewish property in Iraq, Egypt and Syria totals $8-10 billion. The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) estimates the total value of property, including communal property, at $30 billion.<snip>

...The Palestinians have advanced various amounts of the value of the refugees property, ranging from a few billion dollars to $100 billion. No registration or accurate examination of the claims has ever been carried out, the Globes said.

http://www.palestine-pmc.com/