It happens like clockwork. Though they may live anywhere from the United States to Chile, Lebanon to France, or Canada to Syria, when Palestinians in exile first meet, it is common for one to ask where the other is from in Palestine. It is an act of reclaiming family history, an assertion of “I am from there.” Though there is no single “Palestinian” identity, there is a fundamental Palestinian experience rooted in the shared trauma of the Nakba – or “catastrophe” in English – when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland during the creation of the State of Israel on May 15, 1948.
Although it occurred decades ago, understanding this event and critically engaging with its consequences is crucial to understanding the Palestinian issue today, as the Nakba continues to shape the Palestinian experience.
To this day, Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to their homelands, only because they have the wrong ethnic and religious identity. However, to think that these experiences of expulsion and oppression begin and end with the Nakba would be to ignore the systematic denial of rights Palestinians continue to endure under occupation. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are denied basic rights such as equal access to water, electricity and freedom of movement. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians suffer the most extreme forms of imprisonment – the coastal enclave is now blocked on all sides and is slowly being strangled of electricity, raw materials and the basic necessities we in the West often take for granted. Many who fled Palestine, either during the Nakba or during occupation, instead live in similarly dire conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon or war-torn Syria. With no alternatives, the ostensibly temporary status of refugee becomes a permanent reality for Palestinians in exile.
Palestinians who fled to the West may have escaped occupation and life in refugee camps, but have lost their ability to return to their homeland. While a Western life and education offers some Palestinians many privileges denied to most other Palestinians, those here often must attempt to put together the pieces of their family histories and grapple with the complicated, politically fraught identity of being Palestinian.
Like all Palestinians, Palestinian students at UCLA have had their lives and identities shaped by the events of the Nakba. Many of them are here only because their families were driven out from their homes and villages by proto-Israeli militiamen, and forced into lifelong refugeehood. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine has left lasting scars on generations of Palestinians. The constant denial that this event ever happened – and the total relegating of any aspect of Palestinian history to the off-limits, the taboo, the unsayable – means Palestinians are denied their selfhood and humanity.
In order to fully understand the Nakba and its consequences, we must recognize it not simply as a moment in history, but rather as a continued lived experience of the Palestinian community, perpetuated by occupation and denial of narratives. To help provide the UCLA community with background and personal narratives, Palestinian students have come together to create a space to explore the Nakba and its ongoing effects, and to share this with other UCLA students.
We invite the campus community to attend two events next week, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine, for the first annual Nakba Week at UCLA. The first event, titled “Refugees and the Right of Return: A Teach-In”, will be held Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m., in Franz Hall 2258A, and will focus on the ongoing and dire refugee crisis faced by Palestinians. The second event, titled “Hear Us Speak: Stories on the Nakba and Exile”, will be held Thursday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Boelter 2444, and will feature Palestinian students discussing their personal experiences related to the Nakba. In presenting these narratives of Palestinian exile, and the effects the Nakba continues to have on Palestinian identities, it is our hope that fellow students will begin to understand Palestine and Palestinians in a new light, and with this critical lens, challenge themselves to understand the lasting impact of forced expulsion and exile.
Ibrahim is a fourth-year comparative literature student and the incoming president of Students for Justice in Palestine. Kureh is a graduate student in applied mathematics and the incoming outreach co-director of Students for Justice in Palestine.
The plight of Palestinian refugees is certainly very real and deserving of world attention. But trying say it is the result of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and by implication the continued existence of the State of Israel historically revisionist and while it might provide a cathartic scapegoat, does nothing to actually make progress towards a viable solution beneficial to all parties.
In point of fact, prior to 1948 there was no Palestinian state or state of Israel, there was just British occupied territory. And from the early 1500s until 1920, the region was under the control/occupation of the Ottoman Empire. So to act like the creation of the State of Israel displaced some kind of preexisting Palestinian State is false. Secondly, on November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to create an independent Jewish State AND an independent Arab State in Palestine. The Jewish population agreed and the Arab population along with the governments of the surrounding Arab states rejected the proposal. If they had accepted the proposal there would be a Palestinian state today alongside the State of Israel.
After the formal creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, after a bloody war sparked by the Arab states refusal to agree to the two state solution it is undoubtedly true that many Palestinians, as a result of the conflict in which many of them were active participants, were displaced and became refugees. However, many more Palestinians who lived within Israel’s borders and stayed and did not raise up arms against Israel were treated as full Israeli citizens with full civil rights as they and their descendants remain to this day where they enjoy more human rights and a higher standard of living than citizens of any other nation in the region.
Further, after 1948 Israel did not control or occupy either Gaza or the West Bank. Those areas, along with other territory were occupied/controlled by Egypt and Jordan and were certainly available for the creation of a Palestinian State. However, instead of pursuing peaceful coexistence with Israel and creating a state for the Palestinian population, the Arab states once again chose war with Israel. In 1967, the six day war was sparked by the Arab states massing on the Israeli border for an invasion with the stated intention as articulated by Egyptian President Nasser to “destroy Israel.” Between 1948-1967 Gaza and the West Bank were controlled by Arab states. Why was no Palestinian state created then?
Then in 1973, the Arab states launched a joint attack on Israel resulting in the Yom Kippur War. As a result of these and other conflicts Israel has understandably never had a period of time where it did not feel that its very existence was under threat. Consequently, in Israel’s quest for security, I would certainly agree that it has taken steps resulting in the human rights of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank not being sufficiently protected or respected and that Israel needs to make reforms/improvements in how it balances its security interests against protecting the rights of civilians in those area. That said, the mere fact that Israel acknowledges that it needs to respect the human rights of the Palestinians makes it far different from Hamas, Iran, and other groups opposing it which do not extend any such similar courtesy to Israeli citizens, at least those of Jewish ancestry. As a final point, with respect to the right of return, it can never be a viable part of the solution unless those to whom it would apply, and their allies, accept the continued existence of the State of Israel as a given. No nation on Earth would ever grant access to its borders to a large influx of people committed to its destruction, nor should they. I hope your talk explores these complexities rather than just defaulting to a simplistic “blame Israel” default. That is the only way real progress on this issue can be made.
An excellent post!
It is encouraging to see someone who knows their history. Unfortunately, I fear it is wasted on SJP. They’re more interested in demonizing and delegitimizing Israel than they are in actually discussing genuine solutions.
It is certainly not revisionist history. It is a historical fact that millions of Palestinians are refugees is a direct result of the creation of Israel which depended on the expulsion of Palestinians. Many Israeli historians have demonstrated this extensively including Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, Tom Segev, Hillel Cohen, Baruch Kimmerling. Whether this is good or bad is what’s disputed.
Many people love to say there was no Palestine state, but that is never what was at issue here. There was a Palestine. Many maps, books, advertisements, etc. refer to a place called Palestine which had its own existence–perhaps not as a state that we in the West might understand that concept now. It’s just like how the comedian Eddie Izzard mocks the British taking control of Indian because they didn’t have a flag. It’s ludicrous to think people who didn’t organize a state in the Western sense are illegitimate.
The rest of your comment is quite irrelevant to the message of this piece.
Just as many Jews were exiled from Arab lands at that time. But Israel absorbed them all, and they got on with their lives, rather than claim an eternal right to UN handouts.
There is no claim to eternal right to UN handouts. It claim to the UN charter on human rights and many other UN laws that Israel violates.
“There is no claim to eternal right to UN handouts. It claim to the UN charter on human rights and many other UN laws that Israel violates.”
False. UNRWA has special provisions that allow Palestinians and *all their descendants* to claim refugee status, unlike any other refugee in the world (which gets administered by UNHCR). These UNRWA refugees also include those with citizenship in other countries (at least 2 million of the “5 million” refugees) and citizenship in their own country (West Bank and Gaza), despite the fact that this would mean they were no longer refugees under the definition applied to EVERY OTHER REFUGEE IN THE WORLD.
You Wrote:
“It is a historical fact that millions of Palestinians are refugees is a
direct result of the creation of Israel which depended on the expulsion
of Palestinians.”
You’re full of it – and I’ll prove it…
First of all, the above article claims a figure of 750,000 Palestinian – and even that figure is ridiculously inflated. Where do you come up with “Millions”?
Secondly, at the time of the partition in 1948, the UN census gave the count (for the area that would become Israel) as 538,000 Jews and 397,000 Arabs. Certainly, all 397,000 Arabs were not indigenous, and considering that many Arabs remained in Israel and became citizens (there are 1.2 Israeli-Arab citizens in Israel today), it is very obvious that your figure of “millions” is way over the top.
Also, a fairly equal amount of Jews were displaced from Arab states during this period. The Jews managed to adsorb all of them into an area 800 times smaller than the land the Arab states had.
You’re not going to help your case if your claims are going to be ridiculously over the top and you’re going to ignore other pertinent pieces of information. Try being a little more fair and honest about the facts.
Today, there are over several million refugees as descendants of those initially expelled from their homelands. Many of my Palestinian colleagues were alive when the Nakba began and I would certainly consider their children refugees still given that they live in a refugee camp.
If you want to considers descendants “refugees”, than nearly everyone alive today is a refugee from some place. Look, if you want to find ways to exaggerate your claim, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of people on the opposite side who will be happy to tell you that “millions of Jews” were expelled from Arab states. Where will this get you? Do you think it will lead to a faster resolution?
If you really want to resolve this thing, don’t make it worse than it is. It is already bad enough for both sides.
The UN knows that Israel want’s to run the clock out on the Palestinians which is why they and their descendants are granted refugee status. Y
No, the UN doesn’t want Palestinian refugees to lose the chance to remove Israel.
The UN doesn’t care about Israeli refugees who were from Arab countries and went to Israel, because Israeli refugees were integrated. Palestinian ones were not.
“Today, there are over several million refugees as descendants of those initially expelled from their homelands.”
There are 5 million registered refugees, given status that *no other refugee in the world does*, because of the broken UNRWA system that perpetuates victimhood.
“Many of my Palestinian colleagues were alive when the Nakba began and I would certainly consider their children refugees still given that they live in a refugee camp.”
Hardly 100,000 Palestinians were alive and are the original refugees from the 1948 war. Living in a refugee camp nowadays is living in a city, and given that many of them have citizenship in other countries and *refuse to leave those camps* because they want to move to the only democracy in the Middle East, your claim is moot.
Paul, so in other words you cannot dispute any of the actual facts I discussed but you are still unwilling to entertain any narrative more nuanced than “It’s Israel’s Fault!” or “Israel Bad!” If your end goal is something other than shouting pointless slogans and you recognize that a realistic peace will be one that requires the acknowledgement of Israel’s right to exist from all parties than you have to moderate your stance.
As a start, both sides should acknowledge that both Jews and Arabs have deep historical ties to the Palestinian region that go back thousands of years and that pre-1948 there was no autonomous state in Palestine. Secondly, while myself and most other supporters of Israel’s right to exist readily acknowledge that it has not done enough to protect the human rights of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, there is almost a complete unwillingness by the SJP and similar groups to acknowledge the role that the Arab world has played in creating and prolonging the Palestinian refugee crisis. Doing so would show good faith and help foster productive dialogue since no one feels particularly prone to make concessions when they are the target of a very one sided demonization campaign with arguably racist overtones.
Specifically, SJP and similar groups should acknowledge the role of the following in creating the current crisis: refusing to accept the two state solution when it was originally approved by the UN in 1947, attempting to wipe out or expel the Jewish population from Palestine in the war leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, refusing to create a Palestinian State in Gaza, the West Bank and other territories when those territories were under Arab control from 1948-1967, continuing to militarily provoke Israel throughout its existence making peaceful dialogue and resolutions difficult if not impossible, actively hindering Palestinian refugees from resettling in other areas, actively calling for the destruction of the State of Israel (it is very difficult for moderate Israeli politicians to make concessions involving giving up territory or any version of a right of return when the persons who would control the territory or be “returned” and their allies are on record as wanting to destroy Israel and/or kill all Jews), etc.
Hopefully then both sides can move on from the blame/demonization game and actually move towards realistic and mutually beneficial solutions.
There was indeed a region called Palestine, and a large number of people associated it with *Jews* in the 1920-1948 period. There was a Women’s League for Palestine in New York in the 1930s, and it worked towards the establishment of the state of Israel. I know, because I have a letter from Albert Einstein to the League supporting their efforts to create a Jewish state.
Moreover, while there never was a Palestinian state, there *was* a State of Israel. There can be disputes over its origins, but it was clearly in existence around 2800 years ago, when it was mentioned by the Egyptian and Assyrian cultures. There was a clearly Jewish state at multiple times from 3000-2000 years ago, ending with the Hasmonean dynasty, which was taken over by the Romans.
Nobody disputes that a large number of Palestinians left what is now Israel around 1948. But that’s just part of what happened. Ignoring the comparable number of Jews who were forced out of Arab lands is just as bad as ignoring what you call the Nakba. The difference between the Jewish and Arab refugees is that Israel welcomed the Jewish refugees, and the Arab nations rejected the Arab refugees. And whose fault is that?
“It is certainly not revisionist history. It is a historical fact that millions of Palestinians are refugees is a direct result of the creation of Israel which depended on the expulsion of Palestinians”
No, it is not.
“Many Israeli historians have demonstrated this extensively including Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, Tom Segev, Hillel Cohen, Baruch Kimmerling. Whether this is good or bad is what’s disputed.”
Actually, only a few of these claim that Israel depended on the expulsion of Palestinians. Ilan Pappe, for example, is the guy who says openly that he is biased and searches for ways to push his narrative, which is the exact *opposite* of a credible historian. Morris points out that the decision for Israel was between expulsion and genocide against the Israeli Jews, and that Israel did not undertake a central policy of expulsion but rather let commanders do what they figured was best, which resulted in less than 1/4 the total refugees being expelled. He also happens to be the authority on the refugee problem, and has written plenty describing the fact that Israel didn’t depend on expulsion, but that Palestinian aggression made it the only option to stop a genocide.
You Wrote:
“To this day, Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to their
homelands, only because they have the wrong ethnic and religious
identity.”
There are many false statements in your article, but the above is particularly egregious. Religion and ethnicity are not the issue. Palestinian-Arab refugees are kept out of Israel because they seek to destroy Israel. The Palestinian Arabs who stayed in Israel and were willing to live peacefully in Israel became Arab-Israeli citizens. There are over a million Palestinian Arabs living in Israel as Israeli citizens. Over 80% of them are Muslims.
But if you really want to talk about people being barred from some place, take a look at Gaza. Hamas has made it illegal for a Jew to try and live in Gaza. The penalty for a Jew attempting to live in Gaza is death. Jews have had a presence in Gaza going back over 3000 years, but today, the population of Jews in Gaza equals exactly zero.
“Palestinian-Arab refugees are kept out of Israel because they seek to destroy Israel.”
Yeah, I’m not engaging in conversation with you.
You don’t have to engage me, but you should know the facts. Hamas is the legitimate government in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority has partnered with them. The Hamas Charter makes their position very clear:
‘Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.’ (Preamble)
The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.’ (Article 6)
‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’ (Article 7)
Here’s a link to the Hamas Charter:
http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/880818a.htm
Now I already know what you are going to say. You are going to say, “The Charter is old. They don’t stand by it anymore.” Well, that’s not true. The Charter is a legitimate political document and they could change it if they wanted to.
Besides that, this summer, during the Gaza conflict, Charlie Rose on PBS actually interviewed the head of Hamas and he admitted that he can’t live next to a Jewish state.
Here’s the link to the video.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365297457/
Look, if you really want to be fair about this conflict, you need to acknowledge some facts. No Israeli politician is going to grant a right of return to people like this. Would you?
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/new-palestinian-poll-shows-hardline-views-but-some-pragmatism-too
“If the Palestinian leadership negotiates a two-state solution with Israel, do you think that:
That would be its final goal – 27.2%
That would be part of a ‘program of stages’, to liberate all of historic Palestine later – 65.2%
No Opinion/Don’t know – 7.6%”
You were saying?
Wow! Extraordinary link you’ve provided!
I’ve never seen that poll before. Thanks for posting it.
I have to wonder how accurate such a poll is in Gaza and the West Bank. I suspect a few people probably answered in a way that they would assume would keep themselves safe by satisfying Hamas. If I were living in Gaza and the West Bank and I supported a 2-state solution, I don’t think I would say it in public.
All that being said, the numbers are significant. The number of people in Gaza and the West bank who seek to bring down Israel is just too large to ignore.
Frankly, as much as I wanted to see a 2 state solution, I just don’t think it is possible anymore. If the Palestinians ever hope to get a state, their going to have to change their attitude towards Israel – and that just doesn’t seem likely. It seems more likely that the Sunnis and Shiites will kill each other before that.
How is this event being advertised as educational? All it is is a political rally. You have some facts, some that are valid and some that can be engaged within intellectual debate, but then these facts are manipulated into something else. It turns into a clearly one-sided blame game that does not present all facts and does not provide any progressive solutions to these issues. What is this, Fox “News”?
Would you consider it a one-sided blame game if students who are descendants of a people who survived an ethnic cleansing from somewhere else came to speak about their lives?
No. But you and I know very well that this event is not the same set of circumstances that you describe. Unless you are somehow saying that the Arab-Israeli conflict is some sort of ethnic cleansing? Which is absurd and offensive to all parties. Additionally, I think you are referencing that if a Holocaust survivor, or one’s descendent, where to come and speak about the ethnic cleansing of 6 million Jews in Europe in the early 1940’s by the Nazis, then yes, it is very appropriate. The same level of appropriateness would be given for anyone who came to speak on a matter such as that; a descendent of the Armenian genocide, Bosnian genocide, etc. But unless you are suggesting that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a matter of ethnic cleansing, then your logic does not follow.
This is why real and credible historians don’t engage in debate with Nakba deniers. Historians know that a people are not defined by an official state and national flag, but by culture and geographical location. Just because Palestine wasn’t an official State documented by a national body, doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. In fact, Palestine was recognized by ancient Greece and Egypt, amongst others. So, this notion that the Palestinians never existed, and therefore, aren’t real people is an atrocious lie right out of Israel’s Hasbara department. This argument is serves nothing more than as a propagandist talking point. Thus, these people are ignored.
I’m reading through the posts here and I don’t see anyone claiming that the Palestinians aren’t people. I don’t think anyone here is denying that Palestinian-Arabs had a unique culture. But that isn’t the point.
The point is that there were two very distinct cultures living in Palestine and both had legitimate claims to the land.
The whole purpose of the UN’s involvement was to determine if there should be one government or two. The fact was that Palestinian Arabs did not want to live under a Jewish government, and Palestinian Jews did not want to live under an Arab government.
Going by their rule of self-determination – the rule that unique peoples should have the right to choose their own government – the UN came up with resolution 181. They offered an independent state to both Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews.
That certainly demonstrates that the UN saw the Palestinian-Arabs as a unique people, worthy of their own state. But the Jews of that region were also a unique people, worthy of their own state and they had legitimate claims to the land, too.
“Going by their rule of self-determination -” which was never offered to Palestinians. And the UN never offered the West Bank and Gaza to Israel.
You’re just wrong…
A state and self-determination was ABSOLUTELY offered to the Palestinian people. The Arab leaders rejected it.
You need to look up UN resolution 181 of 1948.
You’re right that Israel wasn’t offered the West Bank and Gaza – and Israel didn’t enter the West Bank and Gaza until the 1967 war. In 1967, Jordan attacked Israel and Israel LEGALLY occupied the West Bank because they were attacked by Jordan. That’s how the West Bank became occupied by Israel.
The West Bank was supposed to go to the Palestinians in 1948, but Transjordan (Jordan) occupied it during the 1948 war and illegally occupied it until they lost it in the 1967 war.
This is all historic fact. Look it up.
Self Determination – Were the Palestinians offered to vote on their future ? NO.
First of all, NO arab leader ever offered a vote in Palestine.
But in 1947 the UN did offer to do a referendum within the area that was to become Israel, but the Arab leaders rejected it because they knew the area designated for Israel had a Jewish majority.
As far as the areas outside of Israel, that was under Arab leadership control and no, the Arab leaders never offered a referendum to the Palestinians. The Arab leaders rejected resolution 181 and did not even give the Palestinians living outside of Israel an opportunity to decide for themselves.
Who’s fault is that?
Whatever your segue, it still does’t change the fact that the self determination you preach is absent then and now for Palestinians.
I don’t “preach” self-determination. I’m explaining why the UN decided to divide Palestine into two states.
The ONLY reason the Palestinians did not get their own state was because the Arab leadership refused to give it to them. That’s the historic fact.
You’re going to have to find a way to live with it. You can choose to deny it, suffer it, do whatever you want, but the truth will always be the truth.
Again. No self determination, your favorite mantra, is or was offered for Palestinians. Why ? Is it only for Jews ?
I’ll stop repeating myself now. When you learn to read, look up resolution 181 and see for yourself. Otherwise, you’re just rambling.
Palestinians could self-determine by voting for a peaceful Palestinian Authority leadership. Instead the one they have praised the attempted murder of an Israeli civilian, funded the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (which carried out suicide bombings against Israel), and so on. And the last legislative elections they had picked Hamas.
They lack self-determination because the leaders they picked turned out to be dictators incapable of making peace. That is not Israel’s fault.
“Going by their rule of self-determination -” which was never offered to Palestinians. And the UN never offered the West Bank and Gaza to Israel.”
Palestinian leaders rejected the 1947 partition resolution, UN Resolution 181. They called instead for “rivers of blood” to flow, quoting Palestinian politician Jamal al-Husseini.
They rejected a state and self-determination offers from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert, for his part, offered 93.7% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, an internationalized Old City, land equal to 5.8% of the West Bank as an exchange, and an end to the conflict. Abbas never responded.
Way to go on that straw man argument…
“In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians suffer the most extreme forms of imprisonment – the coastal enclave is now blocked on all sides and is slowly being strangled of electricity, raw materials and the basic necessities we in the West often take for granted.”
Based on last year’s events, it’s pretty clear that the occupants of Gaza would prefer to use their limited resources to build tunnels into Israel for the sole purpose of attacking Israel. The tunnels used hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete (over a million, by some estimates). For comparison, the new Dallas Cowboys stadium used about 400,000 tons of concrete, so Gaza could have built 2-3 stadiums using that concrete.
It’s all about choices. Israel uses its limited resources to provide for and protect its residents. Hamas uses them to attack Israel.
Then, you go on to complain about Palestinians who fled Israel and are in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. When 700,000-800,000 Jews fled Arab nations in 1945-55, many went to Israel, and were (likewise) originally placed in refugee camps. The number of refugees on both sides were similar, but there the similarity ends. Israel absorbed its refugees. The Arab nations didn’t. How is this Israel’s fault?
Its about choices, you’re correct. When Israel occupies another land and wonder why people fight back, I wonder why Israel and its supporters don’t reflect on the choices Israel has made. How long do you expect to subdue another people and expect them not to fight back>
Israel absorbed its refugees in a country specifically set aside for them. Why can’t people who were born on that land have a right to live there. Its about choices.
“Israel absorbed its refugees in a country specifically set aside for them.”
There was land specifically set aside for the Palestinians. UN resolution 181 offered one state for Jews, and one state for Palestinians! The Jews accepted it and formed Israel. The Arab leadership rejected the Palestinian state and instead attacked Israel.
What is it about this fact that you can’s seem to grasp?
Beyond that, there are hundreds of thousands of Jews who were born in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya and many other Arab countries. They were forced off their land. They can’t go back to where they were born.
You don’t seem to give a damn about what they lost.
Why should we care what you think?
And the West Bank and Gaza strip are on which part of the 181 resolution ? Oh wait. Never mind.
“Its about choices, you’re correct. When Israel occupies another land and wonder why people fight back”
Israel began its occupation of the West Bank in 1967. Fatah was founded with its first terrorist attack on Israel in 1948. So…about your logic?
“How long do you expect to subdue another people and expect them not to fight back>”
This is a nonsequitur. Palestinians fought Jews the moment they arrived in the Ottoman Empire, with anti-Semitic pogroms in 1847 and 1870, as well as in Damascus, Beirut, Cairo, and more in the 19th century. The first attacks on Jews were by Palestinian Arabs, and they continued throughout, with the Hebron Massacre of 1929 and the riots in 1920 and 1921.
“Israel absorbed its refugees in a country specifically set aside for them. Why can’t people who were born on that land have a right to live there. Its about choices.”
Fewer than 100,000 Palestinians were born in Israel and are not citizens. They can’t return because the rest of them, and every one of their descendants, demands to go into Israel too. This, despite the fact that 55% of Palestinians support armed attacks on Israeli civilians *inside Israel*, and the fact that at least 2 million of these “refugees” have citizenship in other countries. In any other refugee situation, they wouldn’t be called refugees, but Palestinians get special and unprecedented treatment from UNRWA (instead of the UNHCR), which perpetuates victimhood and claims against Israel that just make no sense at this point.
By the way, if you want to keep following that logic about people born on land being able to stay there, I hope you don’t want any settlers who were born in the West Bank to leave, because Palestinians already forced Israel to remove them from Gaza, despite many of them being born in Gaza.
You forgot the fact that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem allied himself with Hitler in WW2, going so far as to request that the Nazis extend their “Final Solution” to the Arab world. He also recruited 20,000 Muslims to volunteer for the SS. The Mufti said that the Arabs were Germany’s natural friends because they had the same enemies as the Germans: the Jews.
It’s impossible to blame this on a Jewish state since it all took place several years *before* Israel was set up as a country, and thus several years before the Palestinians could have been forcibly evicted from Israel. We can disagree over how many left voluntarily vs. forcibly during Israel’s War of Independence, but I think we can all agree that few, if any, were forced out before 1946 when all of these anti-Semitic activities took place.
But go ahead and blame all of the problems on Israel, despite the mountain of hard evidence that the Palestinians were anti-Jewish long before Israel became a state.
“To this day, Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to their homelands, only because they have the wrong ethnic and religious identity.”
Last I checked, there were about a million Arab Muslim citizens in Israel, with full voting rights and other rights. There are Arab Muslims in the Knesset and on the Supreme Court. Muslims may pray and practice their religion openly, a right guaranteed by Israel.
Perhaps you were thinking of Yemeni Jews, who cannot return to Yemen for fear of their lives. Or maybe it was Syrian Jews, an ancient community forced out of Syria by persecution. *Those* are examples of refugees barred from returning to their homelands because of their religious and ethnic identity.
Yemeni Jews got an entire new country – Israel. Palestinians refugees got kicked out of their original homes and now are being constricted like cattle in the West Bank.
Saying something over and over again does not make it true.
There are over a million Palestinian-Arabs who living in Israel, as Israeli citizens. Deal with it.
And millions more in Israel under Apartheid. Hypocrisy.
“Millions” more? “Millions” of Arabs in Israel???
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
They are not in Israel, are they? I thought the West Bank and Gaza aren’t part of Israel?
They don’t live under apartheid. Apartheid is a system where races are separated. Palestinians who are Israeli citizens are allowed full rights, Palestinians in the West Bank (who support killing Israeli civilians) are not able to move freely because of their aggressive stance and attacks on Israelis. That isn’t racial segregation or apartheid, it’s self-defense and the attempt to preserve the lives of Israeli citizens.
“Last I checked, there were about a million Arab Muslim citizens in Israel, with full voting rights and other rights. There are Arab Muslims in the Knesset and on the Supreme Court. Muslims may pray and practice their religion openly, a right guaranteed by Israel.”
To add, there are over 1.6 million Arab Muslims in Israel, and the third-largest party in the Israeli Knesset is an Arab one.
“The ethnic cleansing of Palestine has left lasting scars on generations of Palestinians. The constant denial that this event ever happened – and the total relegating of any aspect of Palestinian history to the off-limits, the taboo, the unsayable – means Palestinians are denied their selfhood and humanity.”
WHAT A CROCK OF DUNG!!!
Right now, over 1.2 million Palestinian Arabs are Israeli citizens. Over 20% of Israel’s population is Arab and it has been growing steadily for the past 15 years. Israeli-Arabs are found in every layer of Israeli society including prominent positions in law enforcement, government and even the Supreme court. Israeli-Arabs have a lower unemployment rate than most of Europe. Israel even offers affirmative action plans for Israeli-Arab students to attend Israeli Universities.
Does any of this sound like ethnic cleansing to you?
Meanwhile, if you’re really bothered by ethnic cleansing, you should take a look at what Hamas has done in Gaza. They’ve past a law: It is a crime for a Jew to live in Gaza, unless they are over 97 years old. The penalty is death.
Jews have had a presence in Gaza going back over 3000 years. But today, the current population of Jews living in Gaza equals exactly zero.
Now that’s ethnic cleansing!
– “Over 1.2 million Palestinian Arabs are Israeli citizens ” – And a few more million without any rights.
– “Israeli-Arabs are found in every layer of Israeli society ” – Except in govt. and any singular position of authoriy.
– “Israeli-Arabs actually have a lower unemployment rate than most of Europe” – Unsubstantiated fiction.
-“Israeli-Arabs vote in a democracy” – They vote in a theocracy where they know their vote rarely counts.
-“Israeli-Arabs enjoy more civil rights” – Lets ask the Palestinians who have no such rights.
The Palestinians inside Israel, who agreed that the Jews of Palestine should have their right of self-determination and decided to live and grow in peace with Israel did very well for themselves.
The Palestinians outside Israel, who sided with the Arab leaders, tried to deny the Jews of Palestine their right of self-determination, and spent generations trying to destroy Israel did not do so well for themselves.
The Arab leaders – to this day – keep them as refugees.
Who’s fault is that?
The Palestinians inside Israel, did not agree on anything. They happen to be there because they weren’t chased out.
Deflecting the blame for Israel’s ethnic cleansing is silly.
What’s silly is your desperation to find some way to blame Israel.
Who shall we blame for Apartheid in Israel. The Irish ?
There is no Apartheid in Israel. Perhaps you can blame the Irish, because it sounds like you’re drunk.
You hate Jewish settlements in the West Bank, yet you are SILENT about the fact that the entire rest of that region is “NO JEWS ALLOWED” Arab-only neighborhoods that
are just as hateful and bigoted as you insist Jewish neighborhoods are.
You hate Israel’s security barrier, yet you seem to have NO CRITICISM towards Palestinian wars/attacks against Israel that came before the security barrier existed and
caused the need for the security barrier.
You hate Israeli checkpoints, yet you say NOTHING about the MASSIVE WAVES of suicide-bombings and terrorism that were killing Jews on a weekly basis for YEARS AT A
TIME before those checkpoints even existed.
You hate Netanyahu, yet you refuse to criticize Palestinians for supporting Jew-hating psychopaths like Hamas who are a thousand times worse than Netanyahu.
You criticize every military action that Israel takes, yet you IGNORE the fact that every Hamas rocket fired at Israel is an ATTEMPT to kill Jews. THEY ARE TRYING to
kill Jews. Hamas firing 10,000 rockets into Israel, THEY TRIED TO KILL TEN THOUSAND Jews. That’s LITERALLY what that was. Ten THOUSAND attempts. Hamas’ FACTUAL GOAL
was hoping to make 10 THOUSAND Jews die. Yet you shrug your shoulders and ONLY scream hate at Israel and at people like me who merely recognize that no matter what you
think of Israel’s actions THEY ARE DIRECTLY RELATED to the crazy actions of the giant sea of irrational wackjobs who surround Israel.
You put no pressure on Palestinians. You treat them like children. Palestinians can scream all they want about how badly they want Israel dead/gone, and you just laugh
and then you mock all normal Jews who LISTEN to Palestinians, HEAR them talk about how badly they want Israel dead ,and act on that info.
Quiz for the author:
Muslim states are acceptable and Arab states are acceptable yet a Jewish state is “RACIST/UNACCEPTABLE” because:
1) You’re an antisemite and a hypocrite. A bigot.
2) Actually, if Muslim and Arab state are OK, obviously a Jewish state is OK too.
“Pro-Palestinian” activists don’t care about helping Palestinians. They don’t want peace with Palestinians and Israel. They just want Israel dead or erased.
They will never accept peace with a Jewish state.
They will only propose “solutions” that erase the world’s only Jewish state.
They pretend to do this in the name of “democracy,” but only if it’s a Muslim majority. Israel is a Jewish majority, so they reject Israel’s democracy. They demand
Israel merge with millions of Jew-hating Muslims, just enough to make Muslims a majority and Jews a minority, and then suddenly the “pro-Palestinian” activists accept
democracy. Because their only goal is erasing the Jewish homeland to make a 23rd Arab state.
“Pro-Palestinian” activists demonize Jewish nationalism (zionism) as something evil, yet they accept Arab nationalism, Muslim nationalism and Palestinian nationalism.
“Pro-Palestinian” activists demonize the world’s only Jewish-majority state for being Jewish, yet they openly accept Arab-majority states being Arab and Muslim-
majority states being Muslim.
They use one standard against Jews, and a second standard for everybody else. Which is the textbook definition of antisemitism.
The “Nakba” = Arab countries teamed up to try to exterminate the Jews, and failed.
Meanwhile, in 2016, there are over 1.5 MILLION Arab citizens of Israel. Had Israel actually committed “ethnic cleansing” there would be ZERO Arab citizens of Israel, instead of 1.5 MILLION.
Want to know what real ethnic cleansing is?
1) Gaza has declared Jews to be illegal. So there are no Jews there at all. Zero.
2) West Bank Palestinians declare Jews to be illegal. So any Jews in the West bank are deemed “illegal” and need army protection because local Palestinians try to murder Jews who try to live in a place that was called JUDEA for almost 2,000 years.
3) Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, etc. used to have Jewish populations. Arabs ERASED THOSE Jews. There are almost ZERO Jews left in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan. There are zero left in Gaza. And the West Bank declares Jews in the West Bank to be illegal and TRIES to erase them.
4) Arab countries between 1948 and the 1970’s ETHNICALLY CLEANSED over 800,000 Jews out. Those Jewish refugees fled to the only country in the region that would accept them, ISRAEL.
In summary, in response to this absurd editorial:
The Palestinian population INCREASES each year.
The Israeli Arab population INCREASES each year.
That’s the OPPOSITE of genocide.
And here’s the final FACT: Know what has DECREASED? The Jewish (AND CHRISTIAN) populations of EVERY SINGLE Muslim country.