Gaza, ALRAY - Under a forum entitled 73 years of UN 194 resolution, specialists called for restoring momentum to UN Resolution 194 regarding the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.

Palestinian return center held a forum entitled “73 years of UN 194 resolution” as a part of the activities for the annual Week of Return that started last week in London.

UN 194 resolution that issued in 1948, is considered one of the famous international resolutions. Despite the fact that the legal strength of this resolution is only literary in its legal meaning, the emphasis on it every year in the General Assembly gave it this dimension.

The resolution called for applying the right of return as an integral part of the international law, and stressed the that refugees wishing to return to their original homes should be allowed, the choice either to return or not belongs to the owner of the right, and no one else can decide on his behalf or prevent him.

The Israeli-American activist Miko Peled, called for ending the racist separation against Palestinians, considering the right of return is legal and sacred for refugees and should not be negotiated under any circumstances or conditions.   

Peled noted that 194 resolution is the most important resolution for Palestinian refugees in UN, so that it must be leaded any Palestinian speech and the center of any negotiations.

“If Palestinians do not call to apply 194 resolutions continuously, they will lose the ability to activate it,” Peled warned.  

The prominent Palestinian historian and researcher Salman Abu Sitta confirmed that depriving Palestinians of their right of return is in itself a crime.

He stressed that the new Palestinian generation will not forget the right of return, and the evidence for that is their movements in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Lydda, Haifa and all over the world.

Abu Sitta stated in a speech that studies proved that a little number of settlers live in 246 places, in other world less that 5% of Israeli claims that they live in 924 places.

The Canadian academic Terry Rimble noted to the legal gaps between principle and practice when it comes to the right of return.

He discussed a number of Western governments manipulated Resolution 194 in an attempt to deprive Palestinian refugees of their inalienable right of return.

It is noteworthy that the Week of Return is an annual event launched by the Palestinian Return Center for the first time in 2020 and aims to commemorate the anniversary of the Palestinian Right of Return Resolution No. 194 issued by the United Nations General Assembly (December 11, 1948), as well as the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948). In addition to the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA (December 8, 1949), according to what the Center reported on its website.