I am cross-posting this video, with permission, from the Anne's opinions blog, as noted. I couldn't resist, because it's another of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's delightful videos, this time explaining the Palestinian refugee situation, and it deserves as wide a circulation as possible. The fascinating aspect is that at no time does he say it's all the fault of the Palestinians. No, as we already know, the problem lies with the Palestinians' brothers, the surrounding Arab and Moslem states who won't give them citizenship or even permanent resident status. Also at fault, of course, is that wonderful humanitarian organisation, the UNWRA, who manage to define the descendants of those displaced as refugees, lo, until the nth generation.
One can't help noting the contrast, as Anne does to great effect, with the UNHCR, which defined only those actually displaced as refugees. Further, it strove and strives vigorously to ensure that refugees stop being refugees and become settled, either back in their countries of origin or where they find themselves beached. Thus, the 10 million or so (does anyone have a more accurate figure?) displaced persons (DPs) of WW2 had been undisplaced within less than a generation. Whereas the Palestinians have grown vastly in number - merely because they had children , been denied citizenship where they found themselves and maintained as political pawns. Can't think why…If only Israel had more people as articulate as Minister Ayalon and Mark Regev to explain Israel to the rest of the world. Read the whole article here (linked with permission).
By Brian Goldfarb.
21 December 2011
The truth you already knew about Palestinian refugees.
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