Oct
22
Why Palestinian Refugees Are Personae Non Gratae
“You cannot understand the Palestinian refugee question while not at the same time also understanding the broader historical, political, and legal circumstances surrounding the issue.” — Lex Takkenberg, a senior advisor for the Jordan-based Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development
When reading or listening to the discussions about the Israeli/Hamas conflict, you might have wondered why the Palestinians — or, at least, the non-militants — can’t/won’t just move to a another country, especially one of their Muslim neighbors.
Well, as far as the immediate situation goes, one reason is that Hamas won’t let them leave. After all, Hamas needs them for human shields and to both rally outrage and garner sympathy from others when said civilians die in the conflict. (Even if Hamas is responsible, as in the recent Hamas missile that failed to reach its Israeli target but exploded at a Gaza City hospital parking lot.)
But, what about more generally? What about those who make it out of their war-torn land and want to resettle? Won’t someone take them in? How about the United States? Surely, the “land of immigrants” is the perfect choice, right? As per the fire-alarm-and-exit-sign-challenged Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said,
“Fifty percent of the population in Gaza are children. The international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas.”
But, we have no way of reliably vetting Palestinian refugees, especially in large numbers. We have more than enough people already conditioned by anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda, some of them even sympathetic toward terrorist activity in the name of that cause. (Thanks largely to our Leftist-controlled academia.) Why should we risk inviting more of them in? Also, where would we locate a sudden influx of Palestinian immigrants? Neither spreading them out nor keeping them in “camps” seems wise, and the latter certainly wouldn’t appeal to them. (See #2 below.)
Alright, then, what about Arab countries, especially Jordan to Israel’s north and Egypt to the south? King Abdullah II of Jordan was very clear,
“I can quite strongly speak on behalf of not only Jordan as a nation but our friends in Egypt — That is a red line. I think that is the plan by certain usual suspects. [But, there will be] no refugees in Jordan and no refugees in Egypt.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made similar remarks.
1) “fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood [in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem].” In other words, without the Palestinian people present in those regions, there would be no need for a Palestinian state.
2) On a connected note, displacement has been a major theme of Palestinian history, whether from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War or the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians thus fear being forced from their homes again, and Egypt and Jordan don’t want to appear complicit.
3) “a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the two countries’ 40-year-old peace treaty.” It is worth noting here that a) Egypt’s military fought for years against Islamic militants and at one point accused Hamas of backing them; b) Jordan took in Palestinians after the Six-Day War, and it led to a civil war, including the attempted assassination of King Hussein… twice.
4) Economic difficulties with absorbing a large influx of new residents. Egypt, which is dealing with a spiraling economic crisis, already hosts some 9 million refugees and migrants, including a recent addition of roughly 300,000 Sudanese. Jordan hosts the second-largest number of refugees per capita worldwide, many of whom live in camps. It is also the country that hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees.
5) Some fear a potential ethnic cleansing in Gaza by the Israelis, and again Egypt and Jordan don’t want to appear complicit.
I have many concerns regarding any “statehood” agreement, and I’m pretty sure even the hard-liners would not prevail in any ethnic-cleansing action. The remaining reasons seem, well, reasonable, based on misgivings about serious economic, security, and political (domestic and international) repercussions.
It’s a difficult problem with no easy solution.
