Was that in response to the millions of evicted Palestinian Arabs? Seems to correspond to the creation of Israel..
It was indeed in response to the formation of Israel.
But it wasn't "millions of evicted Palestinian Arabs."
(1) There were never millions of people living in the area. There are only something like 1.3m Arabs living in refugee camps today. I think there were around 700,000 Arabs who left Israel post-48.
(2) Yes, there were Arabs, but the term "Palestinean Arabs" wasn't used in the 40s. I'm not completely sure, but I don't think it was used until the 60s. There hadn't been a "Palestine" for hundreds of years. Under the Ottoman Empire, Damascus was the most important city and the administrative center of the areas that we now call Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Hence, Haffaz al-Assad, when he was alive, always had maps with those now recognized countries called "Greater Syria." I don't know if his son still does this or not. (3) Unlike in Arab countries that evicted their Jewish population, large numbers of Arabs remained in Israel after 1948, have representation in Parliament/Kinneset and own businesses and land. Something like 20% of Israel is Arab. No Arab country has allowed very many Jews to remain in their countries, much less have sanctioned political representation, lol.
There were about 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries in the late 40s, early 50s, the vast majority of whom had their property largely confiscated. If the UN hadn't set up refugee camps, IMHO, this whole issue would have been settled by now in the time honored way--by an exchange of unwanted populations, a period of war and adjustment, and finally resignation. This pattern or something like it has occurred numerous times in the past. It is the refugee camps that gives this dispute its intractable character, IMHO. Were it not for them, yeah, there would have been a decade or two of conflict, but eventually things would have settled down. The camps create a constant source of disgruntled people and a constant reminder of past wrongs (on both sides). |
