Palestinian refugees from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein (2007 photo)
I don’t have to tell you that every day we are bombarded with stories about ill-treatment, racism and apartheid perpetrated against Palestinian Arabs by Israel. Fifty, a hundred NGOs painstakingly document every tiny humiliation suffered by the noble Palestinian Arabs at the hands of the Jews. Half the world directly supports the Palestinian Cause, which is always described in terms of human rights and justice, although we know that as a matter of fact it is the opposite.
But I’ll bet there is some recent history of the Palestinian Arabs that you don’t know. It’s not surprising — the West doesn’t really care about Arabs; they are just barely above black Africans on the ladder of importance in our media and to our politicians (quick: how many died in the Second Congo War between 1998-2008? Did you even hear about the Second Congo war? Try 5.4 million human beings).
Of course since 1967 everyone’s heard the Arab version of the Palestinian story ad nauseum. But here are some questions to think about (and then I’ll tell you where to find the surprising, even shocking answers):
- Who has practiced apartheid, de jure as well as de facto, against Palestinian Arabs?
- What countries do not allow Palestinian Arabs to work in various professions, to go to regular schools, to be appointed to civil service jobs, to vote, etc.?
- Who really made the Gaza Strip an “open-air prison?”
- What country expelled 450,000 Palestinians?
- Why does no Arab country except Jordan allow Palestinians to become citizens (and even in Jordan their rights are strictly circumscribed)?
- What country has killed more Palestinian Arabs than have died as a result of their struggles with Israel since 1948?
- In 1967, the life expectancy of a Gaza resident was 48 (today it is 72). Why is that?
- Why are there 4-5 million claimants of Palestinian refugee status today (about 600,000 fled from Israel in 1948)? Why has this problem persisted longer than any other refugee problem in history, including that of 850,000 Jews who were kicked out or fled from Arab countries at about the same time?
Thanks to Ma’ariv writer Ben-Dror Yemini, and the bloggers Elder of Ziyon and IsraeliNurse, you can find the answer to these questions, as well as the real story of the Palestinian Arab refugees here.
Don’t miss it. Seriously, read it (you won’t find it in English anywhere else) and ask yourself why Israel should pay the price for the real nakba of the Palestinian Arabs.
Technorati Tags: Palestinian refugees, Arabs
The Arabs may offer verbal support to the Palestinian Arabs but in reality they despise them and won’t lift a finger for them.
But they’re useful for keeping the Arab masses distracted from the fact they are far behind the Jews and Israel in every measure of life.
A gap that only widens with time.