While I disagree that there is any such thing as a "palestinian", the below article sheds a little light on who the real refugees were. Many Jews didn't just move to Israel on their own free will. Many were forced without any choice by the arab muslim nazis themselves right after all their homes, land, and assets were stolen and their citizenship revoked. Barach Hashem they went to Israel, but it's a much different story than the arab nazis and anti-semitic self-hating left always use against the Jewish people in order to get them to commit national suicide, G-d forbid.
What about the Jewish refugees?http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23194/language/en-US/Default.aspxThe issue of "Palestinian refugees" is often brought up as one of the major sticking points of the Israeli-Arab conflict. But just as often ignored (at least by the likes of the UN) is the fact that there were even more Jewish refugees produced by the 1948 Israeli-Arab war.
Over the course of the past 100 years, there have been numerous refugee exchanges as a result of major conflicts. Greece and Turkey exchanged ethnic refugees in order to not prolong their own conflict. The same happened between Pakistan and India.
Israel sought to do the same by fully absorbing and integrating the 850,000 Jews who were booted from the Arab nations round about and their millions of descendants.
Israel's Foreign Ministry insists that for a genuine and lasting peace to be achieved, this fact must be acknowledged, and the Arabs must adopt a similar approach. Below is the text of a Foreign Ministry resolution recently published in Jerusalem:
Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries
Between 1948 and 1951, about 850,000 Jews were expelled or forced out of Arab nations, and became refugees. Between the late 1940s and 1967 the vast majority of the Jews from Arab countries were uprooted from their lands of birth.
General
Up until the present day, an injustice was done to the Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries. Their property rights and their historic justice were abandoned.
During various efforts and talks in pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, negotiators have overlooked an important element pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict - the uprooting of around 850,000 Jews living in Arab nations, the loss of their assets and property, and the difficulties they underwent upon migrating to Israel and their absorption.
Close to half of Israel's Jewish citizen's today, including their descendents, came from Arab countries. Thus during the attempt to resolve the conflict through a political process, which will resume at some point in the future, this issue should be expanded, raised to the forefront, and addressed from every angle.
Background
Thriving, prosperous Jewish communities existed in the Middle East and North Africa a thousand years before the rise of Islam and more than 2500 years before the birth of the modern Arab nations. These communities, which extended from Iraq in the east to Morocco in the west, enjoyed a lively fabric of life and were influential in the local economies. Until the 10th century C.E., 90% of the world's Jews lived in regions now known as Arab countries.
Between the late 1940s and 1967 the vast majority of the Jews from Arab countries were uprooted from their lands of birth, most of the Jewish communities in these countries had vanished, leaving behind a few thousand Jews scattered throughout a small number of cities.
Even before the Partition Plan of November 1947, increasing hostile measures were taken by the Arab nations, led by the Arab League, against their Jewish communities. Following the Partition Plan, Arab governments started confiscating Jewish property. Simultaneously riots and massacres broke out against the Jewish communities throughout the Arab world. Jewish-owned stores and synagogues were looted and burned, hundreds of Jews were killed and thousands were imprisoned.
As Israel was established as an independent state in May 1948, the Arab League Political Committee convened and drafted a series of recommendations for all Arab and Muslim countries on how to take action against the Jews in their countries. Among other recommendations, the citizenship of Jews was revoked, and they were henceforth considered citizens only of the newly established Jewish state. Their assets were confiscated, their bank accounts frozen, and property worth millions of dollars nationalized. Jews were barred from government ministries, their entry in to the civil service was severely restricted, and many lost their means of livelihood.
The anti-Jewish trend only increased over time, and an organized plan of oppression and persecution was implemented against Jews in Arab states. Between 1948 and 1951, about 850,000 Jews were expelled or, as explained above, forced out of Arab nations, and became refugees.
Topic: What about the Jewish refugees? (Read 455 times)