Reparations to the American Indians isn't really a problem - I was pulling your leg to see if you knew what you were talking about. Here in the US, the US government and various Indian tribes have already negotiated various treaties and made reparation payments many decades ago. My own great-grandmother was the beneficiary of one such settlement. There are many cases in the Federal reporters which detail the settlements. From time to time people who can prove their connection to a tribe try to reopen old cases when they have - or think they have - evidence that the settlement was not honored. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose.
The process is orderly, and done according to law.
The process between Jews and German corporations and governments is also orderly and according to law. I followed with interest a case a few years ago where the descendents of some victims tried to sue a German corporation, only to find out that the corporation had already made reparation payments decades earlier.
There is also an orderly legal process for Palestinians to obtain compensation from Israel. In fact, Israel has already compensated thousands of Palestinians who advanced claims for land which was lost:
>>When plans for setting up a state were made in early 1948, Jewish leaders in Palestine expected
the population to include a significant Arab population. From the Israeli perspective, the refugees
had been given an opportunity to stay in their homes and be a part of the new state.
Approximately 160,000 Arabs had chosen to do so. To repatriate those who had fled would be,
in the words of Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett, "suicidal folly."
Israel could not simply agree to allow all Palestinians to return, but consistently sought a solution to
the refugee problem. Israel's position was expressed by David BenGurion (August 1, 1948):
When the Arab states are ready to conclude a peace treaty with Israel this question
will come up for constructive solution as part of the general settlement, and with due
regard to our counterclaims in respect of the destruction of Jewish life and property,
the long-term interest of the Jewish and Arab populations, the stability of the State of
Israel and the durability of the basis of peace between it and its neighbors, the actual
position and fate of the Jewish communities in the Arab countries, the responsibilities
of the Arab governments for their war of aggression and their liability for reparation,
will all be relevant in the question whether, to what extent, and under what
conditions, the former Arab residents of the territory of Israel should be allowed to
return.
The Israeli government was not indifferent to the plight of the refugees; an ordinance was passed
creating a Custodian of Abandoned Property "to prevent unlawful occupation of empty houses
and business premises, to administer ownerless property, and also to secure tilling of deserted
fields, and save the crops...."
The implied danger of repatriation did not prevent Israel from allowing some refugees to return
and offering to take back a substantial number as a condition for signing a peace treaty. In 1949,
Israel offered to allow families that had been separated during the war to return; agreed to release
refugee accounts frozen in Israeli banks (eventually released in 1953); offered to pay
compensation for abandoned lands and, finally, agreed to repatriate 100,000 refugees.
The Arabs rejected all the Israeli compromises. They were unwilling to take any action that might
be construed as recognition of Israel. They made repatriation a precondition for negotiations,
something Israel rejected. The result was the confinement of the refugees in camps.
Despite the position taken by the Arab states, Israel did release the Arab refugees' blocked bank
accounts, which totaled more than $10 million. In addition, through 1975, the Israeli government
paid to more than 11,000 claimants more than 23 million Israeli pounds in cash and granted more
than 20,000 acres as alternative holdings. Payments were made by land value between 1948 and
1953, plus 6 percent for every year following the claim submission.<<
us-israel.org |
