Refugees not forgotten

Editorial

Between the time of the Partition Resolution and the end of Israel's War of Independence in 1949, about 700,000 Arabs fled the area that became Israel. During that same period, and in the several difficult years that followed, 800,000 Jews fled Arab and Muslim countries – a fact that's often overlooked, but which has recently been officially recognized in the United States.

Most of the Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israel, where they became pioneering citizens, or migrated to North America or elsewhere. Many lost everything when they fled.

The 700,000 Arabs who fled the area that was to become Israel – and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – are still refugees. Imprisoned in camps by their Arab brethren who then abandoned them to the United Nations, these hapless Palestinians have remained among the world's most destitute, powerless and hopeless peoples. They have become a running sore in the international arena; the unresolved catastrophe of previous generations alive and unwell today.

The differences could not be more stark. Israel granted equal citizenship to all within its borders. Not only did Arab countries refuse the Arab refugees in 1947-'49, they also turned against their own Jewish citizens, eliminating millennia-old civilizations from Tripoli to Baghdad.

Conjecture remains over whether those who left pre-state Israel did so willingly or under duress. There were broadcasts – how influential remains a question – telling Arabs to flee Palestine to await the victorious arrival of the combined Arab forces and then return triumphant to a Jew-free homeland. History had other plans. Those who left have not, for the most part, returned. Those who remained in Israel at the time of statehood became citizens and their descendents are now among the most educated, economically advantaged and free Arabs in the Middle East. Those who left have, for the most part, remained in a state of stateless stasis.

The Arab states made a choice in 1949 that destroyed the lives and potential of millions for generations, and undermined hope for peace in the region. They warehoused Arab refugees, preventing any resolution to their statelessness in order to use these human beings as public relations weapons against Israel for 60 years and counting. More, by exploiting rightful anger, hopelessness and desperation, the Arab states and terror organizations injected extremist ideology into this catastrophic mix of impoverished refugees, turning some of these people into more than just public relations weapons – it turned them into real weapons: exploding humans, suicide bombers.

As per the Arab leaders' script, these refugees have indeed served their public relations purposes. The plight of refugees is blamed completely on Israel and resolving the Palestinian refugee problem is considered a precursor to resolving the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, the fate of Jewish refugees – a similar but, in fact, larger, number – has been essentially forgotten. Or so we thought.

This month, in a stunning illumination of historical reality, the American House of Representatives passed a resolution insisting that "as an integral part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace ... all refugees displaced from Arab countries, including Jews, Christians and other minority groups," be taken into consideration, as well as Arab refugees from the time.

This recognition – a simple act of historical fairness and justice – is far overdue and enormously welcome.

"The world needs to understand that it is not just the Arabs and it's not just the Palestinians in the Middle East, but also Jewish people who themselves were dispossessed of their possessions and their homes, and were victims of terrorist acts," said Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who co-sponsored the non-binding resolution, in Ha'aretz.

There seems to be a willingness by some people to accept that the eviction of Jews was an inevitable consequence of the animus between Israel and its neighbors. But there is no equating the two. The Palestinians fled a war zone created by Arab states. The Jews were forced, through pogroms and show trials, to flee erstwhile peaceful countries where their ancestors had lived, in some cases, for 3,000 years. To suggest there could be any justification for Jews being thrown out of their Arab-majority homelands would be akin to saying the evacuation of Japanese from British Columbia's coast in the Second World War was understandable and justifiable under the circumstances. These people were not enemies, they were citizens. They were chased out based solely on their cultural identity.

As the long quest for peace continues, the fact that there were Jewish, as well as Palestinian, refugees must never be forgotten. It is a pleasant surprise that at least the U.S. Congress agrees.

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