The security cabinet decided this morning not to allow the return of Arabs to two northern villages they abandoned over 50 years ago during the War of Independence. The ministers decided not to change a decision made by the Golda Meir government some 30 years ago regarding the villages Ikrit and Bir\'am, explaining that to allow the return at this point would set a dangerous precedent regarding the Arabs\' demand for the return of millions of refugees to Israel. The ministers thus adopted the recommendations of a committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar that investigated the matter in depth. The Saar Committee found that allowing the Arabs to re-settle the areas is liable to harm Israeli security and would give an official stamp of approval to an Arab \"right of return.\"
Opposition leader MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) said he would join those appealing the decision in the Supreme Court.
The situation of Ikrit and Bir\'am is unique in that the residents were asked in November 1948 to temporarily leave their homes to enable the establishment of a security zone along the Lebanese border. The Arab residents contend that they were promised by the government that they would return - and in fact, the Rabin government decided to allot 12,000 dunams (approx. 3,000 acres) to 600 families of the two villages, thus overturning a decision by the Golda Meir government - also of Labor - not to allow the Arabs to return. Today, the lands to which the Arabs wish to return are owned and worked by the Jewish farmers of five northern communities, including Shomera, some 15 kilometers east of Rosh HaNikra on the Mediterranean coast and less than ten north of Ma\'alot. A representative of Shomera explained to Arutz-7:
\"The residents of Ikrit are not displaced persons. They actively fought against the Israel Defense Forces, and only when they realized that they would lose the battle and suffer heavy casualties, did they surrender unconditionally. I have a copy of the document of surrender written and signed by the village representatives... We have paid a heavy price of blood to live here. Children have been killed from enemy fire. In the [Rabin] government\'s attempt to correct an injustice, it is creating a bigger one.\"
Merom HaGalil Regional Council head Aharon Ma\'atuk said that it was true that the government had made a promise to the Arabs, \"but it seems that we are forgetting one issue, perhaps the most important matter of all: We are, little by little, losing our grip on the Jewish state... [In addition to the national and demographic blow], allowing these people to return to land currently worked by Jewish farmers would be very damaging. The economic situation of our residents is poor... The government [planned] to bring here an Arab population that has already become established in the larger cities, and bringing them here will create a large gap between the Jewish and Arab residents...\" He said that the objections in Merom HaGalil transcend political boundaries, and that both right- and left-wingers are against allowing Arabs to return to the areas they left over 50 years ago.