The sixty-year-old Palestinian refugee issue has little connection with reality. It has become solely a bargaining
chip used by Arabs and Palestinians in peace talks with
Israel and, as such, is a distraction from the real issues
of terrorism and boundaries. Indeed, continuing to call
Palestinians refugees is a misnomer. They no longer
live in tents or temporary quarters. In addition,
the Palestinian refugee issue is unique.
Since 1920 all other major refugee crises involving
the exchange of religious or ethnic populations, while
creating hardships, were dealt with in a single
generation. Meanwhile, issues such as the "right
of return" and compensation never were adequately
resolved and were largely forgotten. The same pattern
evolved for Jews who fled Middle Eastern and North
African countries, even though their number was
some 50 percent larger than Palestinian refugees
and the difference in individual assets lost was even
greater.
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"Under UNRWA's operational definition, Palestine refugees are persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. UNRWA's services are available to all those living in its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered with the Agency and who need assistance. UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948. The number of registered Palestine refugees has subsequently grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 4.3 million in 2005, and continues to rise due to natural population growth."
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Danske bloggaren Hodja tipsar om filmen:
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Läs också
-en rapport från Fred i Mellanöstern
2008
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Aktuellt:
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Här är James G Lindsays avslöjande
rapport om UNRWA:
