Who is a refugee?

Follow @icjsr

The U.S. Congress is seeking clarifications over why it is that only Palestinian refugees are able to pass the "refugee" status down from generation to generation, while every other refugee in the world cannot.

A lot has already been written about the U.N. body established specifically to assist Palestinian refugees – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. It has become a professional organization, that provides many employees with a steady living, but it does very little to resolve the refugee status of the Palestinians. The bulk of UNRWA's budget comes from the U.S.

A key achievement can be credited to Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. He is promoting a new memorial day on the Jewish calendar – Jewish refugee day. On this day, we will remember the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were forced to flee from Arab states. This would not just be a symbolic act; in our blood-soaked region, remembrance carries a political and diplomatic meaning. The Palestinians are speaking about refugees at length? Then we will too. While our refugees have assimilated into society, the Palestinian refuges have always been, and still remain, no more than a propaganda tool for their leaders.

On this day, our schools should teach Joan Peter's book "From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine" (on the demographics of the Arab population of Palestine and of the Jewish population of the Arab world before and after the establishment of the State of Israel). Peters found that only when it came to Palestinians did the U.N. alter its classification of refugees to apply to people who lived in the territory for only two years prior the establishment of Israel. Why did the criteria need to be changed? Because many of the refugees arrived in the area on the heels of the Zionist enterprise and the British mandate in search of work. Somebody should tell Israel's African infiltrator population – they have been here for more than two years, and they, too, can demand a right of return to Israel.

Yair Lapid's peace

Journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid was interviewed by Channel 2 newscaster Yonit Levy on Tuesday. The interview raised some interesting points. My problem is with Lapid's diplomatic platform (on which, unsurprisingly, Levy did not challenge him). According to Lapid, "[Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu decided that he is not interested in doing anything that could ever possibly bring peace. He took Israel's most complicated, most bleeding issue – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and said 'let's pass this one on to our children… let them figure it out.'"

Excuse me? Netanyahu hasn't done anything to advance peace? In his Bar Ilan speech at the beginning of his term he said "two states for two peoples," he froze settlement construction (in some places in Judea and Samaria the freeze is still in place), what about all that? The chance for peace is directly linked to Israel's financial, security and cultural strength. In these areas, in my opinion, the current government is doing more than its predecessors.

As far as I can recall, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented the Palestinians with the most reckless offer in Israel's history – he offered to hand over to the Palestinians 100% of Judea and Samaria, he agreed to divide Jerusalem, and even offered a compromise on the absorption of Palestinian refugees within our borders. Short of turning this country into a state of all its citizens (as opposed to a Jewish state), a more extreme offer is not possible.

And still, the Palestinians rejected Olmert's offer as though it were the plague. The honest truth is, and Lapid knows it, that the Palestinians will not agree to any deal that will force them to recognize the rights of Jews to any part of this country. Even the most extreme Left would not be able to strike peace with the Palestinians in our time.

Yes, this is our "most complex, bleeding issue," but not because of any diplomatic negotiations. It is a complex issue because it touches on the very essence of the Israeli debate: the question of our identity. In this debate, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem above all, carry a very clear message of being the cradle of ancient Hebrew nationhood.

Therein lies the root of the desire expressed by parts of our society to relinquish these territories, and the Jewish majority's desire to hold on to this land. Not every problem has a solution. Western logic doesn't always work here in the Middle East, and sometimes, the passage of time resolves things in the best possible way, defying certain reporters' doomsday prophecies. Therefore, it is okay to leave this issue for the next generation to resolve.

# reads: 210

Original piece is http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2108

Printable version

Tell us what you think

It is fascinating for me to note that there are some 60,000 African 'refugees' who have arrived here, in Israel, in recent years and the UN gives them NOTHING. Food, shelter, health care and education are all provided by Israelis. At the same time, the UN has an entire agency, UNRWA, that is dedicated to spending BILLIONS on so-called "Palestinians", categorizing them to legally be refugees forever and ever, without any limit of generations of descendancy, irrespective of where they live or what citizenship they have today. The Palis have their very own "refugee" agency which is lavishly funded. UNRWA is dedicated to "Palestinian refugees" while the UNHCR takes care of all refugees everywhere else in the world. There is no question that UNRWA and it's UN parent body are the problem and not the solution. Had the UNHCR cared IN THE SLIGHTEST about refugees, they would have sepnt SOMETHING on Africans fleeing Africa. Instead it all goes to the so-called "Palestinians". Once UNRWA is closed down, the Palis will have to find real jobs and real solutions. When that happens, everlasting Jihad, subsidized by the UN, will no longer be so attractive.

Posted by Jake in Jerusalem on 2012-06-25 12:07:28 GMT

Eydar's conclusion that the ("Palestinian") refugee issue can be left to the next generation to solve is wrong. Niether the next or the following generations will solve the Arab refugee problem as long as UNWRA exists. UNWRA is falsely seen as a refugee aid association, when in truth it is a UN agency dedicated to the fight against one of its member states, Israel. Arab were made refugees by their Jew hating, jihad launching, territory grabbing brothers who cannot accept Jews as equals, even if they are secular. For the Arabs, being "refugees" is a patrimony and a paycheque. As long as Israel cooperates with UNWRA and remains silent while the funders of that hostile agency warehouse the cannon fodder for the next war, solving the "refugee" problem should not even be contemplated.

Posted by paul2 on 2012-06-25 03:03:18 GMT

Links

Who is a refugee?

Tell us what you think