Amidst the Genocide: The Right of Return Remains a Key for Justice in Palestine

Abstract This article describes the process of writing a vision document drafted by a joint working group convened by Zochrot, bringing together Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish-Israeli participants committed to imagining practical pathways for a just return of Palestinian refugees after the Genocide, and a rebuilding of Gaza—not as an isolated strip but as part of a free and whole Palestine. Writing from within a landscape shaped by the Nakba, the work is situated in the reality that preventing return has been a central Israeli project since 1948, leading all the way to the Gaza Genocide, yet it was ignored by international institutions. The authors participated in the group process. The process of the group work itself and the basic principles for return and decolonization in Palestine are described, including physical return to occupied lands and rebuilding of fragmented communities, and also processes of healing, cultural and educational revival, and truth and justice committees. The article concludes with a call to action directed at NGOs, civil society, academic institutions, and the United Nations to engage with return not as a utopian ideal but as an urgent and achievable political, ethical, and practical project.