I see this the other way around, where it's actually Israel refusing to budge on this issue of 'right to return' or at least make some effort to acknowledge the wrongs of the Nakba and grant at least partial concessions in a genuine offer of peace.
In your article on the oppression-oriented 'new left', you express disdain for viewing issues through the lens of oppression. However, it's impossible to analyze conflicts without analyzing power and the power dynamics involved, and who wields the most power and who they wield it over. Conflicts are - at their essence - a struggle for power between competing interest. So I'm not really sure how you can properly analyze negotiations and ignore this.
Israel enters these negotiations with an extreme power imbalance in their favor, especially since they're backed militarily by the US. The Palestinians are backed by Arab countries, but not to the extent and to the degree that the US backs Israel.
Therefore, Israel doesn't really have to negotiate. As far as land goes, they can pretty much grab as much of that as they want through force (as they've done throughout the years). They just need to make a show of at least pretending like they're willing to entertain the idea of negotiating to curry favor politically. But, they already hold the favorable ground and are in a position of power over the Palestinians. They can merely stall for time and run the clock down as they expand their demographics to further entrench themselves and make the possibility for a Palestinian state even less likely.
In fact, this is exactly what Israel does, and there's no secret that this is their strategy. Netenyahu openly boasts about this and the right-wing parties he's formed a coalition with in order to cling to power openly brag about their strategy of encouraging illegal settlements in the West Bank and to continue expanding the land owned by Israelis to further encroach and squeeze out Palestinians.
These efforts are aggressively supported and promoted by a large percentage of the Jewish diaspora that embraces Zionist ideology - especially in the US. Sales of West Bank land at events in the US sponsored by various groups take advantage of murky legal loopholes to deprive Palestinians of their land and transfer it into the hands of Jews. (Mostly) Americans buy this land and then either immigrate or fund immigrants from the US to set up settlements on this land. This is yet another strategy to win the demographic war of which you speak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbPnF8Hvj0I
Zionists and their apologists frequently blame the Palestinians for not accepting 'deals' that the Israelis would never accept were the situation reversed. The onus for compromise and sacrifice is always placed more heavily on the Palestinians, and the blame as well when they inevitably reject various proposals.
I wrote more about the absurdity of criticizing Palestinians for rejecting 'deals' that Zionists would never accept themselves here:
https://pontifico.medium.com/in-1947-while-palestine-was-under-british-mandate-rule-2a9372a99534
Israelis express fear that the Palestinians would win a demographic war if allowed any sort of 'right to return' or various other concessions even as this is exactly what the Israelis have done to the Palestinians: encourage rapid growth and expansion of settlements (particularly illegal ones) to entrench Jewish communities on lands (much of which they shouldn't even legally be on). These are strategically placed to disrupt and break up the continuity of Palestinian dwellings and communities, much like how water works its way into fissures in concrete and then breaks it up by expanding as it freezes.
More than 3 million Jews have immigrated to Israel since it was established as a state in 1948. The vast majority came from Europe and places like the former Soviet Union. Most of these - like the descendants of Palestinians you mention - had most definitely never set foot in Israel either. Yet, somehow it was feasible for all of them to 'return' to the land they never came from.
But, when it comes to any sort of 'right to return' for the descendants of the Nakba (which was only 1 or 2 generations ago), suddenly it's not feasible to consider any of these returning. Their parents and grandparents made up 80% (or around 750,000) of the population that was displaced in order to make way for the state of Israel. Yet, according to the 'demographics' as explained by Zionist apologists, there's just no place for them to go. Yet, there was plenty of room for 3 million Jews from Europe and settlers from the US (many who also have never set foot in Israel prior to purchasing land and moving there).
In addition, there are around 5.7 million Jews in the US alone, most of which are eligible to immigrate to Israel and apply for citizenship if their grandmother is Jewish under the 'Law of Return'. Again, most of these probably have never set foot in Israel. But they're eligible for citizenship simply on merit of being Jewish.
If I understand this correctly, Palestinians - the people forcefully removed during the Nakba - are consistently denied any 'right to return', yet 5.7 people in the US (and their spouses) are eligible under the 'Law of Return' to immigrate to Israel if they have a Jewish grandparent.
I'm not shocked at the Palestinians' refusal of any 'deal' that did not address this legitimate grievance.
