commit 8bd2397be7ced4c8b2b3ec3171ac9a0b706b6739
parent 3f4b45e09dd1f5307fdfb2984ba986faafea8541
Author: FIGBERT <figbert@figbert.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2023 21:42:41 -0800
Add War of Return review and supporting files
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5 files changed, 403 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/reading/_index.md b/content/reading/_index.md
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+title = "Reading"
+template = "books.html"
+page_template = "book.html"
+sort_by = "date"
+insert_anchor_links = "left"
+generate_feed = true
+++
-
-Coming soon!
diff --git a/content/reading/war-of-return/index.md b/content/reading/war-of-return/index.md
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+title = "A Review That I Should Probably Have Saved For Another, Less Contentious Time But Nevertheless Did and Ultimately Enjoyed"
+date = 2023-12-16
+[extra]
+book = "The War of Return"
+author = "Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf"
+finished = 2023-12-03
+rating = "★★★★☆"
++++
+
+*The War of Return* is a book written by two self-described "prominent
+Israeli leftists" that makes a bold claim in its subtitle: "Western
+Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to
+Peace."[^1] The book was originally published, in Hebrew, in 2018. The
+English translation debuted two years after in 2020. Three years later,
+and three months after the October 7th attacks, those who hope for peace
+seem to have more reason for despair than ever. I read *War of Return*
+hoping for a fresh perspective. So together, let’s turn to co-authors
+Adi Schwartz—an Israeli journalist formerly at Haaretz, the country’s
+largest left-wing newspaper—and Einat Wilf—a former Labor party
+politician—to discuss "the single largest obstacle to lasting peace" and
+how we might go about solving this seemingly intractable conflict
+capturing the attention of the world.[^2]
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+## The Narrative of the Conflict, as Recounted in *War of Return*
+### You Probably Think You Know What the Arab-Israeli Conflict Is
+The Arab-Israeli conflict, stretching now for over seven decades and
+continuing to impact the lives of millions of people throughout the
+Middle East, has had numerous near misses with peace. This is because of
+a fundamentally incorrect assumption often held by Israeli and Western
+negotiators that “this [is] a territorial conflict that [can] be solved
+by partitioning the land into two states, that the Palestinians only
+[want] a state of their own in the territories, and that the Israeli
+occupation and the settlements [are] the primary obstacle preventing
+peace.”[^3][^4] According to Schwartz and Wilf, they have misunderstood
+the problem.
+
+In reality, our favorite co-authors say, this is an ideological conflict
+over the very existence of Israel. It is an absolute rejection of
+minority sovereignty in a region dominated by the Arabs, and it is not
+new: “…the belief that Zionism was an outrageous injustice predated the
+war and caused the Arabs to violently oppose the Jewish national
+liberation movement many decades earlier.”[^5] The territorial framing
+of the conflict is thus not conducive to a solution—no state, with any
+borders, will appease a movement that feels like partition itself is an
+injustice.
+
+> ...this was not a conflict between two national movements, each
+> seeking first and foremost its own independence, but rather about one
+> group (the Arabs) seeking first and foremost to foil the independence
+> of another (the Jews).[^6]
+
+### What Does That Have to Do with Refugees?
+Palestinians' claimed right of return, in the minds of Schwartz and
+Wilf, is a deceptively named aspiration to negate Jewish
+self-determination. There can be no democratic Jewish sovereignty where
+Jews are a minority.[^7] It is thus that the Palestinian right of return
+is "not merely about moving ten or twenty miles to homes left behind,
+but primarily about returning to the time before the terrible defeat of
+the Nakba and the establishment of the state of Israel," by making Jews
+a minority in their own homeland.[^8] In essence, it is about rewinding
+history and undoing the creation of the Jewish state.
+
+I myself misunderstood what was meant by "right of return" before
+reading this book. As the phrase is used, the right of return is the
+right of Palestinians to return not to a future Palestinian state in the
+West Bank and Gaza—as I had believed, and supported—but in fact, to the
+sovereign state of Israel. Return "could only be realized in the
+territory of the state of Israel atop the ruins of the Jewish right of
+self-determination.”[^9] To mandate a right of return to Israeli
+territory is to reject "the principle of territorial partition" and a
+two-state solution.[^10]
+
+*War of Return* attributes the creation of the refugee issue to this
+rejection of the two-state solution by the Arabs. They argue that if the
+Arabs had accepted partition in 1948 and established a state of their
+own, no one would have been displaced:[^11]
+
+> ...it is a fact that the departure of the Arabs was a result of the
+> war and only of the war. Before the Arabs waged war against partition,
+> they did not leave their homes. The Arab flight and the refugees from
+> the war were neither inevitable nor necessary nor inherent in
+> Zionism.[^12]
+
+The blame for the displacement of the refugees, they claim, is
+unflinchingly on the shoulders of the Arabs, not the Jews. No one is
+entitled to the status quo ante:
+
+> Those who wage war to eliminate another people, and to prevent their
+> achieving independence, cannot legitimately complain that “they
+> suffered an exceptional injustice” when they lose and flee the
+> land.[^13]
+
+Furthermore, according to Schwartz and Wilf, the legal right of return
+simply does not exist: "No legal obligation or treaty existed that...
+obliged Israel to let [Palestinians] return to its territory" in the
+aftermath of the 1948 war.[^14] Flight and expulsions occurred
+throughout the 20th century, including during this seminal war. Indeed,
+unlike in Israel where an Arab minority remained after the war, "not a
+single Jew remained in the areas conquered by Arab forces."[^15]
+
+How can it be that the Palestinian refugee problem still exists 75 years
+later, and at a greater scale than its start? "The answer to why the
+Palestinian refugee problem still exists lies neither in the conditions
+of its birth nor in its scale nor in the number of victims: nothing here
+is unique. The answer must lie elsewhere."[^16] That elsewhere, *War of
+Return* posits, is in the refusal of the Arabs "to solve the [conflict]
+by creating a new status quo in the Middle East" in which Jews and Arabs
+could have exercised self-determination side-by-side—which was
+accomplished through the political manipulation and exacerbation of the
+Palestinian refugee issue.[^17]
+
+### The Tragic Ensuing Decades
+Schwartz and Wilf argue that the critical issue is the Palestinians'
+demand for return to Israel. Progress toward peace is made on all fronts
+but return, the "one article that Israel [can] absolutely not agree to,
+as it [entails] its very suicide."[^18] Return is instead silently
+propped up by Arab support—all but guaranteeing a continued, violent
+existence for Palestinians and all others in the region. Promising
+initiatives to resettle hundreds of thousands of refugees in the
+immediate aftermath of the 1948 war, in the Jordan Valley and the Sinai,
+went nowhere. The "biggest rehabilitation project of the 1950s for
+Palestinian refugees," a farm run by Musa Alami (a prominent Palestinian
+nationalist), employed thousands of Palestinians in the Jericho
+area—with a specific focus on orphans of the war—and grew orchards and
+productive crops over thousands of dunams, with export contracts to
+Saudi Arabia, fifty wells, and a school.[^19] It was leveled in 1955 by
+Palestinians believing its existence would help "enable the resolution
+of outstanding political disputes between the sides."[^20]
+
+The refugee issue, claim Schwartz and Wilf, is cynically manufactured
+and perpetuated by Arab leaders. The long-term adoption of the position
+that "improving the living conditions of a few hundreds of thousands of
+refugees [is] less important than their war with Zionism" has led the
+Arab world to the creation of a Palestinian refugee-hood that is
+completely divorced from the experience of every other refugee
+group.[^21] Indeed, Palestinian refugees are not governed by UNHCR, the
+UN agency for refugees, but by their own temporary commission—UNRWA—the
+regular extension of which "has become a quasi-automatic annual
+tradition" at the United Nations.[^22] *War of Return* devotes a great
+amount of effort to describing how UNRWA "was transformed from being a
+failed agency for refugee rehabilitation to a very successful
+organization for" halting progress in the Middle East.[^23] "For
+decades," Schwartz and Wilf say, "UNRWA has sustained a parallel world
+of policy and executive decisions that serve the Palestinian narrative
+alone," and leave the Middle East in a radicalizing limbo that actively
+works against peace.[^24]
+
+The list of UNRWA oddities is very, very long. Unlike all other groups,
+UNRWA's "Palestine refugee" status is hereditary—resulting in a
+registered population of over 5 million people from an initial group of
+approximately 700,000 displaced Palestinians (see chart below). Unlike
+all other groups, refugee status is not surrendered when additional
+citizenship is achieved; indeed, 2.2 million UNRWA-registered refugees
+are citizens of Jordan, but they retain their "refugee" status.
+Astoundingly, these refugees make up 70% of Jordan's population: "It is
+difficult, bordering on impossible, to get a consistent answer from
+Jordanian officials to the question of how the Jordanian state sees its
+own citizens."[^25] Another 2.2 million UNRWA-registered refugees live
+in the West Bank and Gaza, territories allocated for the future
+Palestinian state, making them refugees within their own future state.
+An additional million are officially split between Syria and Lebanon,
+territories where "most of them do not even reside... anymore."[^26]
+Since the 1960s, "most of the [Palestinian] refugee camps were
+neighborhoods of the Arab towns next to which they were built," with
+housing markets and daily realities entirely different from the Western
+image of vast, impoverished tent cities.[^27] Within these
+refugee-camps-that-are-cities, Western-funded UNRWA-run schools teach
+students "a narrative of victimhood, based on a singular, striking
+injustice," which have resulted over time, Schwartz and Wilf believe, in
+a direct connection between "the perpetuation of UNRWA for political
+reasons to the emergence of" Palestinian terrorism.[^28] Thus, according
+to Schwartz and Wilf, the purpose of the continued use and expansion of
+refugee status in this situation is to perpetuate and reinforce the Arab
+claim toward the right of return and its inherent goal of eliminating
+Israel.[^29]
+
+
+
+## So, Should You Read It?
+
+*The War of Return* is worth reading, but is difficult to synthesize.
+The book is disorganized: it has a message it wishes to impress upon
+you, but is not sufficiently clear and driven in doing so. It is without
+a doubt the most thoroughly cited book I have ever encountered. A full
+third of its page count is dedicated to footnotes and bibliography
+alone.[^30] In an issue swimming in contentious Instagram infographics,
+Schwartz and Wilf have brought the receipts.[^31] In doing so, however,
+they interweave theory, history, and proscribed solutions in a manner
+that leaves the reader with a significantly improved understanding of
+the conflict but great difficulty summing up this new knowledge. The
+book desperately needs a more linear structure.
+
+Additionally, assertions about Palestinian thought are found throughout
+the book and can be difficult to prove true or false. How would one go
+about assessing the claim that "the Palestinians' commitment to the idea
+that they are still refugees and also possess a right of return to the
+state of Israel is deeply embedded in the Palestinian identity and its
+collective ethos?"[^32] Schwartz and Wilf proffer that it "is an issue
+on which no Palestinian political opposition or dissent exists," which
+is perhaps as good a proxy as you will find.[^33] I don't necessarily
+doubt that it is correct that there is a cultural narrative of
+"perpetual injustice" in the Palestinian camp, but I am cognizant of the
+fact that it is difficult to prove definitively. The book's arguments
+are made weaker by their occasional reliance on alleged Palestinian
+beliefs, as opposed to evidence of action.
+
+Furthermore, the book's critique of the West—which we are led to believe
+by the subtitle will be severe—is, in essence, that it has failed to
+sufficiently counter anti-Israel extremism in the Arab world. The book
+makes a compelling argument that this is the case, and that
+"geostrategic interests" (read: oil) have muddled what would otherwise
+be clear opposition to an ideology that seeks to eliminate a UN member
+state.[^34] Still, this strikes me as a somewhat confusing target for
+criticism in this case when it may be more appropriate to condemn the
+Arab extremists themselves.
+
+With that said: this book managed to significantly change my thinking on
+the conflict. As someone who thinks about this a fair amount, I would
+consider that on its face to be a significant endorsement. If that's not
+enough of an endorsement, here's another one: you should probably read
+this book. I now realize that I did not at all understand the
+Palestinian refugee issue before reading this book, and in its aftermath
+feel confident and prepared in its discussion. Schwartz and Wilf did not
+challenge my fundamental view of the conflict, but they gave me a much
+clearer understanding of the refugee issue, which has profound
+implications.
+
+*The War of Return* has been a timely read ever since its publication.
+Indeed, in the ensuing years, very few of the foundational facts and
+conditions it addresses have experienced any shift; the Arab-Israeli
+conflict had reached somewhat of a standstill.
+
+It is the "fervent hope [of Schwartz and Wilf] that in writing this book
+[they] contribute in a meaningful way to real and lasting peace." As
+such, their proposals need adjustment.[^35] With the outbreak of the
+Israel-Hamas War in the aftermath of October 7th, there is potential for
+a serious shift in the history of the conflict.
+
+After the war is over, there may be an opportunity—for the first time in
+a long time—for meaningful change. The parties must move quickly to
+final-status negotiations, to bring a conclusion to the violence that
+has plagued our peoples for decades. We can no longer think about slow
+change. Two states, for two peoples, as originally envisioned by the
+United Nations in 1947 as "lawful, moral, and legitimate" solution.[^36]
+In order for that to happen we must be guided, in part, by the book's
+total refusal of the right of return:
+
+> When Palestinians complain that recognizing a Jewish state means
+> relinquishing the right of return, the response should be, "Yes, that
+> is exactly what it means."[^37]
+
+If indeed we stand, surrounded by violence, on the precipice of
+peace—the storm before the calm, if you will—then this book stands to be
+more relevant than ever.
+
+---
+
+[^1]: In the interest of full transparency, I will admit here that the
+subtitle begins with the word “How,” which I have not included in the
+quotation for the purpose of sentence flow.
+
+[^2]: Literal, ["The War of Return"](https://literal.club/book/the-war-of-return-24grq).
+
+[^3]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 55
+
+[^4]: As you read this review, you may find yourself confused, thinking:
+"These citations seem to imply that *War of Return* has thousands of
+pages. That seems unlikely." You would be correct. I read *War of
+Return* on a Kindle, and thus have had great difficulty finding stable
+page numbers. Instead, I have provided a "location." You may ask
+yourself: "How do I use a location?" To which I respond, "This is a
+question for Amazon." For now, I will simply apologize in advance.
+
+[^5]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 131.
+
+[^6]: Id. at 148.
+
+[^7]: This is just definitional—you'd get outvoted. You can also look at
+historical examples: there was no self-determination by Jews in Arab
+countries, or the United States, or anywhere else that Jews lived. One
+needs a majority.
+
+[^8]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 761.
+
+[^9]: Id. at 2448.
+
+[^10]: Id. at 2961.
+
+[^11]: It is left unaddressed how fledgling Israel would have handled a
+much larger Arab minority. In the modern day, Israeli Arabs make up
+around 20% of the population.
+
+[^12]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 387.
+
+[^13]: Id. at 436.
+
+[^14]: Id. at 907.
+
+[^15]: Id. at 416.
+
+[^16]: Id. at 496.
+
+[^17]: Id. at 1398.
+
+[^18]: Id. at 2961.
+
+[^19]: Id. at 1631.
+
+[^20]: Id. at 1329.
+
+[^21]: Id. at 1474.
+
+[^22]: Id. at 1953.
+
+[^23]: Id. at 2248.
+
+[^24]: Id. at 3559.
+
+[^25]: Id. at 3785.
+
+[^26]: Id. at 3516.
+
+[^27]: Id. at 2065.
+
+[^28]: Id. at 2496.
+
+[^29]: I would like to note, at this point, that there is a lot more to
+say about UNRWA. In fact, there are probably several books worth of
+things to be said about UNRWA. If you want to read one such book, you
+should definitely read *War of Return*! There are comparisons of budget
+details and staffing numbers between UNRWA and UNHCR, analysis of the
+success of other major UN revitalization agencies like UNKRA and why
+that didn't happen with UNRWA, and more. But, for the purpose of this
+review, we have to move on. Apologies.
+
+[^30]: I love footnotes. I especially like when they are humorous,
+instead of just page citations, which I realize this review—much like
+*War of Return* itself—lacks. So here is one in compensation.
+
+[^31]: Including but not limited to archives from the UN, Israel, US,
+UK, and Al Jareeza's Palestine Papers, interviews with high-ranking
+Israeli politicians and military figures, and a wealth of books,
+articles, reports, and position papers from throughout the conflict's
+long history.
+
+[^32]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 3246
+
+[^33]: Ibid.
+
+[^34]: Id. at 1309.
+
+[^35]: One such adjustment, if Schwartz and Wilf are taking suggestions,
+would be to address the rise of the new Israeli right. Netanyahu's
+current government contains a minister with a conviction for terrorism;
+their book was published before this latest example of extremism from
+the Jewish side, and I would hope an updated version would address this.
+
+[^36]: Schwartz and Wilf, *The War of Return*, 1006.
+
+[^37]: Id. at 3408.
diff --git a/content/reading/war-of-return/refugees.png b/content/reading/war-of-return/refugees.png
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