| FrontPageMag.com | By Robert Spencer | By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Jihad Watch | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Raymond Ibrahim | Robert Spencer |  |
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Arab and Muslim states, or governments, although they now ask Israel to surrender still more, created the so-called "Palestinian refugee" problem. These were not classic refugees, hounded out, but rather people who left a war zone, for an Arab assault was anticipated even in 1947. They were confident that they would soon be returning. The evidence for this, written and spoken, is overwhelming. However, very few people bother to consult that evidence. Or if they do, they dismiss it with hardly a moment’s thought, since it does not correspond to their own deeply imbedded misinformation. An army of Arab propagandists, speaking both directly and through their willing Western megaphones (such as Jimmy Carter, morally the worst of our presidents), have fed them that misinformation for decades now.
One of the staples of modern journalism is the "Arab" or, in a little nunc-pro-tunc updating, the "Palestinian" family that "returns" to Jaffa or Jerusalem to stare wistfully at their old house. I remember one case a few years ago where someone came to "stare" at his "old house" and it turned out that the "old house" had been built long after 1948, and on an empty plot.
Why is it, do you think, that you never have stories showing Jews who fled Syria, or Iraq, or Morocco, or Yemen, under threat of pogrom replacing the usual insecurity and daily humiliations of life as a Jew in a Muslim Arab land, visiting their "old houses"? After all, Baghdad early in the 20th century was the second Jewish city in Asia (after Jerusalem). What happened to all those "houses"? No, the Jews do not make a fuss, do not demand compensation, do not make their huge losses a source of constant, obsessive media attention and U.N. focus. In Israel they integrated the Jewish refugees from Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, and later from Iran, not to mention those who came from non-Arab and non-Muslim lands lands such as Ethiopia and Russia.
A Saudi columnist’s recent recognition that the so-called Arab refugees ought, more than 55 years after they left, be integrated into the Arab countries, is welcome -- but it is 55 years late. And if it is being suggested as part of a campaign to force Israel, in turn, to surrender still more of the territory to which it is entitled, both under the specific terms of the Palestine Mandate and under all the rules that have governed the aftermath of wars (as a thousand examples in the past century demonstrate -- start with Austria's Sudtirol becoming Italy's Alto Adige), then it is to be treated warily.
For the last forty years, all over the world, the Arab and Muslim propaganda machine has run circles around the naive Israelis, who seem incapable of understanding the nature of the enemy they face. Or perhaps they are unable for reasons of realpolitik to describe accurately that enemy, or even fear that doing so might damage morale: no one likes to be told that the threat to his nation is a permanent one, prompted by the immutable tenets of a belief-system with hundreds of millions of thoroughly brainwashed believers.
That same machine renamed the local Arabs, the ones in Gaza and in the "West Bank" (as the Jordanians had renamed the area of Mandatory Palestine they seized in the 1948 war), as the "Palestinian people." It had its effect. For most people, most of the time, know very little about anything. And if the area was once known, in the Western world, as "Palestine" and if there was now a group of people called the "Palestinians," well then -- that was it, wasn't it? The Jews must have taken their land, the land of those "Palestinians," unfairly. And all those poor "Palestinians" and their justifiably outraged supporters wanted was just a little bit, just a tiny bit, of what they should have had. And thus it was that tiny Israel, existing on 22% of the land area originally planned for Mandatory Palestine, created for the sole purpose of establishing the Jewish National Home (read the Preamble to the Mandate for Palestine), it is now the Arabs who, preposterously, use the exact same figures, claiming that "even if we get Gaza and the West Bank, that is only 22% of 'Palestine.'"
Someone in a Western country ought to have the courage to stand up and tell the Arab states that the “Palestinian” “refugee” “problem” is one that they created. And that it is up to them to solve.
Posted by Hugh at April 30, 2007 7:31 AM
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Unfortunately, real academics has been replaced by activist academics and "narratives," in almost every discipline the flakey types can manage to infiltrate. But then what can one expect of folks who worship at the altar of Said, an english prof. turned loose on the rest of academia. Any english major from pre-Saidian times will know exactly what the problem is in today's humanities departments.
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at April 30, 2007 8:35 AM
" What happened to all those "houses"? ...
...what happened to all those Jews and Christians who used to live in those houses?...
at April 30, 2007 8:57 AM
This is a subject which has been raised here before but I will raise it again.
The subject of Arabs who moved into the Israel/Palestine area in the 1920’s- 1930’s in the years leading up to the Israeli declaration of Independence in 1947.
Obviously, modern Israel did not simply come into existence on that date.
The Israeli nation-building project was already several decades old by this point. Much had been done in terms of building Tel Aviv, setting up Kibbutz’s etc.
It has been argued that the new prosperity Israeli settlers created attracted Arabs looking for work etc so a lot of the Arabs who left in 1947-48 had only been there for a few years.
Would anyone care to put a number on how many Arabs arrived in this way?
Any claim would need to be backed up with statistical analysis, websites, book references etc to give it a bit more authority.
I have heard many Muslims say there is no such thing as Israel, it is occupied Palestine….. I have yet to hear one say there is no such thing as Istambul, it is occupied Constantinople.
Still less have I heard any admit that some Arabs only moved there because of the Israeli success in creating a thriving economy.
at April 30, 2007 9:04 AM
Once again Hugh points out the obvious facts all too clearly. Shame on the palestinians for allowing themselves to be used as tools and fools for the various Arab governments (who really could care less about them) for all this time. Had they genuinely wanted peace they probably would have had a nation by now and would have discovered that Israel would be their best neighbor in the region. Instead, the idiots whine about some ridiculous "right of return" while they continue to soak up all the BS their neighbors throw at them about a Nazi Israel. So long as the palestinians continue to behave as they have for the last 60 years they will have nothing and they will be nothing. And for that they deserve nothing-except scorn.
Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at April 30, 2007 9:29 AM
Odyessus, start looking here.
Posted by: Shy Guy at April 30, 2007 9:53 AM
As the first poster notes, universities are also "the problem." A Muslim MP wannabe here in Canada (I recently discovered) obtained a "PhD" writing about Algeria (yes, the doctoral thesis alleged -- on the one hand that the civil war in Algeria was to "defame" Muslim Islamists with false allegations about the killing of civilians, and on the other hand that the cause of the war was a conspiracy by the French government and Algerian militarists.) I should look up the synopsis of this individual's "PhD"...I'm sure it would be good for a few laughs. Liars and dishonesty appear to be the hallmarks of a number of "universities" -- many in the UK (chalk it up to corruption and once one liar gets in, then others follow). (I guess the problem has grown worse over the years -- not just an Abbas getting a doctorate "degree" from Moscow "University" by denying the Holocaust...It's now much more extensive...even Israeli universities are affected...or perhaps "infected" would be a better term.)
Speaking of the "clueless" -- there has been a great deal of PR about Dafur (marches and walks, etc.) -- yet I don't think the people (all "outraged") know anything about Dafur or the role of Islam in the creation of Dafur's "problems." Total naifs.
Posted by: J.S. at April 30, 2007 11:58 AM
I am reminded of an anonymous Israel's mordant riposte to someone who raised the issue of the Palestinians and the keys they haul out every year on the anniversary of the "naqba": "Tell them we changed the locks."
Posted by: scaramouoche at April 30, 2007 1:34 PM
Interesting blog on the Middle East's forgotten Jewish refugees.
Posted by: Shahryar at April 30, 2007 2:11 PM
Interesting that nobody mentions Jewish refugees from Arab lands, not even in the west.
Posted by: Witch-king of Angmar at April 30, 2007 2:25 PM
Will there be a right of return for all peoples displaced by the moslem hordes? Maybe right of return for the Armenians? The Cypriot Greeks? How about the right of return for the Hebrews who were banished to the desert? The world awaits.
Posted by: infidel! at April 30, 2007 4:23 PM
Carter was paralysed by the hostage crisis.
Reagan lied to everybody about being tough, and then paid them in weapons to get them back.
The animals looked from pig to man, and man to pig, etc etc etc.
at April 30, 2007 5:28 PM
I don't understand. Why would there be Palestinian refugees? They make their own problems! They have been given land and still insist on wiping out Israel now I would say it looks like they may have been pushed right out of their homes by Hamas and Hezballah! We have given them millions of dollars and aide. They have contributes all over people giving money! They had a rally here and all their Palestinian flags! Need money! Even the illegals now protesting for their jobs are corrupt and they want to change it!
Expose America's corruptness in the markets! Tomorrow we will hear more on that. I would like to round them up and they can sit on the border till Mexico gets them- they should be the refugees! OUT!!!!! I totally believe we will brake out in civil war here too. Our country is at stake on this issue! If they are made legal I might as well head to Canada! We will have worse hell to pay unlike any can imagine!!!!!!!!!.
at April 30, 2007 8:08 PM
I prefer Palestrina to "Palestine".
All the latter ever do is steal other people's lands (historical Judea and Samaria turned into "Palestine" by the conquering Roman legions to humiliate the rebellious, crushed and diaspora'd Jews then occupied by invading Arabs), destroy things, start wars they cannot finish, then whine about being defeated honestly by the Jews to the U.N., who gave the "Palestinians" a state that they refused in 1948, seeking "reparations" and "the right of return".
While the former makes beautiful music.
I'll take music over mayhem.
Magnificat over Muslims.
(We all need some solace from these suckers.)
Posted by: profitsbeard at April 30, 2007 8:56 PM
"I prefer Palestrina to 'Palestine.'"
-- from a posting above
And Benjamin Brittain to Great Britain? And Pierre Mendes-France to France? And Jacopone da Todi to Todi?
Where will it all end?
Posted by: Hugh at April 30, 2007 11:34 PM
There was an article in the times magazine about a decade ago, reliably pro-Palestinian, but recounting one entertaining anecdote near the end.
A Palestinian treks to his father's former home, title documents in hand, and confronts the current Israeli inhabitant. The Israeli scrutinizes the documents and say, yes, indeed, everything seems to be in order. But on the other hand, he says, I have three homes in Baghdad: why don't you go take one of those.
Posted by: mountainecho at May 1, 2007 12:12 AM
There was a huge lot of debating on this issue over at Andrew Bolt's 'blog last week. No point in posting the link as the thread is closed.
The muslm posters were, as usual re-writing history. They use this "refugee" issue as a means for radicalizing their new recruits.
If you get a chance to find them, I recommend these 3 movies, shown on cable:
1.The Grid = a miniseries which is as relevant now as when they made it. I managed to get a copy from Ebay. I think Amazon has it also.
2. The Hamburg Cell = about Atta and the 9/11 maniacs, and how they got these creeps to gether using propaganda, and removed any of their group ruthlesly if they wanted no part in it.
3. Yasmin = a more light-weight story about a young muslim girl in the UK who wants to intergrate, but in the end it shows how hard it is for her.Her young brother radicalized by the usual propaganda.Set just before 9/11.
at May 1, 2007 2:53 AM
One should add Elgar to England.
As performed by Jacqueline Du Pre at Westminster Abbey- I still have that cello recording after 40 years.
And the link many years after her death, through her Jewish husband to Edward Said and the Palestinians.
And Mendes-France thrown to the foxes like Dreyfus, in Clermont Ferrant for being the only honest Frenchman in that city! Interestingly it was Valerie Giscard D'Estaing, as a young official in the Vichy administration, who pleaded his case to the Marechal to no avail.
at May 1, 2007 3:07 AM
The leaders of Arab countries apparently don't see the irony of having created something in the region of 1,000,000 Jewish refugees who have fled to the only safe haven that will take them - Israel.
Posted by: londongirl at May 1, 2007 9:55 AM
The arabs are just plain frustrated, after 1400 years of trying .....the Jews are still here...and the Jews are still more properous...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at May 1, 2007 4:26 PM
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