What happened next, though, was COMPLETELY different. The Jewish refugees who can to Israel were resettled by the young country, at great expense, with some social problems, but with brotherly love. The descendants of the Jews who came to Israel from Arab lands, Turkey, and Iran now account for more than half of the Jews in Israel. They have had full citizenship from the day they arrived and are an important part of the country today. The Arab refugees, on the other hand, were almost all forced to live indefinitely in refugee camps. With the exception of Jordan, their host countries refused to allow them to become citizens and limited the kinds of occupations in which they could work. For Palestinian refugees ONLY, the official UN definition was expanded to also include DESCENDANTS of refugees. These "refugees" now number about 3 million, few of whom, of course, were even BORN yet in 1948!
Why were these Palestinian refugees and their descendants treated so poorly by their Arab brothers? There are at least two reasons. First, the brotherly love was obviously not very strong, and the people in the host countries were not keen on these new-comers potentially taking their jobs. This, of course, is a common prejudice against immigrants that exists in nearly any country that has an immigrants in significant numbers. Even Israel isn't totally immune to this.
But the much more important reason for this bad treatment is that these unfortunate people are essentially pawns in the Arab world's determination to destroy the Jewish state. The Arabs' one demand that has never changed to this very day is that ALL of these "refugees" be allowed to return, not merely to somewhere in Palestine, but to their exact homes, many of which are in villages that no longer even exist. Such a return is absurd and would certainly mean the end of Israel. Also, note that no one would even CONSIDER demanding such as "right of return" for the Jews who left Muslim lands, even though their families had lived there continuously for centuries, pre-dating Islam!
So, when you hear that Palestinian "refugees" want to return to their homes in Israel, THIS is what it's really about.
4 comments:
What I'm waiting to hear from you and all the others who are critical of Obama's proposed two-state solution, is what is your idea of a better proposal? Israel cannot indefinitely control the Arab population of the West Bank. No, the "refugees" cannot go back to Israel proper. Yes, there must be some realignment of boundaries from the 1949 cease-fire line. But all those Arabs in the West Bank need to have a country that is not Israel, for their own sake and more importantly, for the sake of Israel. Israel has to do what is best for Israel, and I believe that means cutting the West Bank loose.
Barry, you've actually hit on the problem exactly! It's ISRAEL that has ALWAYS needed the 2-state solution. It's ISRAEL that is most in need of "peace". The Arabs don't really want a state of their own, because they could certainly have had one from the beginning. What they want is the destruction of Israel! So, what's the solution? There probably really isn't one. No matter WHAT borders Israel suggests, the Palestinians have repeatedly insisted that all "refugees" must return TO THEIR ORIGINAL HOMES. This would make ANY border completely meaningless. All we would have is one state with NO Jews and another with a Jewish minority. And you don't have to look very far to see what happens to such minorities (try the Copts in Egypt, for example).
Good, clear explanation Arlen.
As the descendent of a family that was expelled from an Arab country I find the Palestinian insistence on the return of 'refugees' ridiculous.
I'm not totally agaisnt the Palestinians declaring a state. Whether it is historicaly valid or not a Palestinian people has been created and I think they should try and be constructive for once. They need to build something for themselves instead of using Israel and the Jews as a scapegoat for all their failures.
It would CERTAINLY be good for the Palestinians to have a state, especially if they took it seriously and tried to improve it and make it succeed as the Jews have made Israel succeed. And it would be great for Israel, too, in that case. But the Palestinians' goal, as they have stated over and over and over, is to eliminate the Israel, the Jewish state. Until they can accept that the Jews have a state, they simply won't be happy with a Palestinian state that does NOT include Israel.
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