10 Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
recommendation for the creation of both Arab and Jewish states . Wars have consequences , and this war was no different . In launching it , the Arab world cannot avoid responsibility for what ensued .
There have been two refugee populations created by the Arab-Israeli conflict , not one .
While world attention has focused on the Palestinian refugees , the plight of Jews from Arab countries , hundreds of thousands of whom became refugees as well , has been largely ignored . Indeed , many experts believe the size of the two groups was roughly comparable . But there was one profound difference — Israel ( and other Western countries ) immediately absorbed the Jewish refugees , while the Palestinian refugees were placed in camps and deliberately kept there generation after generation as a matter of calculated Arab policy — and with the complicity of the UN . Think about this : Israel withdrew entirely from Gaza in 2005 , but there are still eight UN-run refugee camps there . Why ? Gaza is under Palestinian , not Israeli , control , yet it seems that dismantling the camps would mean abandoning a hallowed symbol of Palestinian “ resistance ” and replacing it with the normality of everyday existence .
As background , the UN established UNRWA in 1949-1950 solely for Palestinian refugees , whereas all other refugees were cared for by UNHCR . Unlike UNCHR , however , UNRWA has no mandate to resettle Palestinian refugees , who carry the status of “ refugee ” from generation to generation , a situation unique in the world and that explains why their numbers continue to grow .
There is no comparable situation in the world today where a refugee population has been cynically exploited in this way .
Until now , only one Arab country — Jordan — has offered citizenship to significant numbers of Palestinian refugees .
The other twenty Arab countries , with their vast territory and