On April 6 and 7, 2013, activists, scholars, and community members will converge at Boston University to participate in the Right of Return Conference at Boston University. The last Right of Return Conference took place in Boston more than a decade ago and featured the late Edward Said as its keynote speaker. This Conference is especially critical at this juncture as the Oslo Peace Accords turns twenty and in the direct aftermath of President Barack Obama's first visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in his two-year term. The Oslo Accords sought to establish two ethno-nationally homogenous states as a remedy to Israel's settler-colonial regime. Not only did the Plan fail to deal with the root cause of conflict in the region but it also failed to thwart the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians both within Israel Proper as well as the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the shadow of the Peace Process, for example, Israel has accelerated its Judaization campaign of East Jerusalem, where it administratively revoked the residency rights of 4,800 Palestinian Jerusalemites in 2008 alone. Oslo excluded refugees from its consideration all together when it relegated the fate of 6.6 million Palestinian refugees to final status negotiations which remain elusive. Since then Israeli officials, like Avi Dichter have made clear that the return of refugees is a red line in any negotiated solution. In response to a PA officials mention of refugees in 2011, Dichter declared “The 'right of return' will not be included in the peace process... Talk about the 'right of return' is meaningless. Everyone understands that there will not be a solution that includes 'return,' no matter who says what.” The right to return, however, is not a political matter, it is a humanitarian one governed by international law and precedent. Those precedents include the return of, restitution to, and compensation of refugees to East Timor, Bosnia, and South Africa. Those laws include:
This speaks volumes to the vision of Conference's organizers who have remained on course despite significant political pressure. In an article published today on Mondoweiss, two of these organizers, Zena Ozeir and Jamil Sbitan explain: As aptly argued by Edward Said 13 years ago, this failure on the part of official channels precipitates the urgency that these matters be taken into the hands of non-governmental actors through independent planning and organizing. This is the framework from which the current upcoming Right of Return Conference at Boston University emerges; from an impetus to plan rather than debate the realization of the Palestinian Right of Return. Through examining the legal, cultural, discursive and spatial dynamics of a political order that facilitates this Right, this conference asserts the applicability of this goal, thus countering those who voice its supposed inapplicability. Check out the full conference schedule below. Better yet come through this weekend or join an effort to make real the return of Palestinian refugees. During my allotted time, I will be sharing some of the findings of Badil's comparative study tours that it has conducted in furtherance of that effort. Conference Schedule Saturday, April 6th 9:00 OPENING REMARKS 9:15 PANEL: “Discourses of Return and Resistance Among Palestinian Refugees” Moderator: Sa’ed Atshan Charlotte Kates & Khaled Barakat: Return and Liberation, Liberation and Return: The Palestinian National Movement and the Implementation of Return Ziad Abbas: Palestinian Refugee Youth and the Legacy of Right of Return Sarah Marusek: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: Somewhere in between Rights and Resistance 11:00 PANEL: “Identities on Display: Collective Identity and Daily Practice” Moderator: Amahl Bishara Joseph Greene: The Palestine Archaeological Museum: Disentangling Cultural Heritage “After the Return” Riccardo Bocco: Collective Memory and Dreams of Return: A Journey through Documentary Films Portraying Palestinian Refugees 12:30 LUNCH BREAK 1:30 Keynote Speech: Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta 2:30 PANEL: “Paradigmatic Shifts: Jewish Identity, Theology, and Liberation Post-Return” Moderator: Eve Spangler Bekah Wolf: Re-Visiting Self-Determination Cory Faragon: Meusharot, Knafonomics and the Right of Return Yakir Englander: “Choose Life”: The Imperative of a New Jewish Theology of Return 4:30 PANEL: “Deconstructing Colonial Narratives: Navigating Space, Peoplehood, and Origins” Moderator: Heike Schotten Alborz Koosha & Lila Sharif: Land and Peoplehood(s): Countering Zionist Settler Origin Stories for a Post-Return Palestine Linda Khalil & Sarona Bedwan: Negotiating Space: Deconstructing Palestinian Identities & Illuminating Ways of Being 6:00 CLOSING REMARKS Sunday, April 7th 9:00 OPENING REMARKS 9:15 PANEL: “Disappearing and Reappearing: Refugees Between NGOS, Legal Status, and Return” Moderator: Susan Akram Anne Irfan: Handing Back the Keys: UNRWA and the Right of Return Jinan Bastaki: Disappearing Refugees and the Legal Gaps: The Implications of Third Country Citizenship for Palestinian Refugees and the Right of Return 10:45 PANEL: “Imagining Spaces of Return & Mapping Palestinian Liberation” Moderator: Salim Tamari Linda Quiquivix: Liberation or Independence: Palestine as Land or Palestine as Territory? Einat Manoff: Counter-mapping and the Geographical Imagination: Mapping Spatial Scenarios of Return Thomas Abowd: The Return of Homes and the Restitution of History in Jerusalem 12:45 LUNCH BREAK 1:45 Keynote Speeches: Noura Erakat (Badil) & Liat Rosenberg (Zochrot) 3:30 PANEL: “Rehabilitating the Body Politic: Palestinian Politics and Models for Return” Moderator: Leila Farsakh Sadia Ahsanuddin: Restitution in the Land of Milk and Honey: Implementing the Palestinian Right of Return via Israeli-Palestinian Federalism Sarah I.: Who Is A Palestinian? Political Representation of the Shatat in the Homeland 5:00 Keynote Speech: Dr. Joseph Massad 6:00 CLOSING REMARKS
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