Posted on August 2, 2001
To accept compulsory population transfer in principle would set a dangerous precedent
for international relations,
and many nations would use such an excuse to cleanse themselves from "unwanted
minorities". In other words, if it is accepted in principle that one can transfer and dispossess the Palestinian people so
that Jews can have a "Jewish state," then
Why would it be unacceptable to "transfer" 10 million Mexican Americans to
Mexico? or
To "transfer" a million Kosovan
Albanians to Albania?, or
Even to "transfer" 6 million American Jews to the "Jewish
state"?
Ironically, Serbia,
under Milosevic's leadership in 1999, used a similar argument to cleanse
itself from its "unwanted Albanian minority", (of course under the pretext that Kosovo was
central to Serbia's ancient heritage and religious past).
Consequently,
the act of
compulsory population transfer (Ethnic Cleansing) has been accepted internationally as a war
crime, and on that basis both Serbia and Iraq were subjected to international
condemnations, and U.N. resolutions were enforced by military action to stop and reverse
these war
crimes.
For the moment, let's assume that the above argument are nonsense to the average Israeli or
Zionist. Let us analyze why
the integration of
Palestinian refugees into neighboring host countries is not viable for the following
economic
and political reasons:
Economic reasons
- It should be emphasized that 75% of the new Jewish immigrants to Israel, after
the 1948 war, operated looted Palestinians houses, farms, cars, truck, banks,
and the infrastructure resource such as water networks, the power grids, railroads, airports, wells,
the telegraph network, and the schools, roads, and ports.
In other words, Israel has had
the looted Palestinian capital as collateral, German compensation money
for war crimes committed during WW II, and over 120 billion dollars in
American taxpayers' money to help settle the new Jewish immigrants. On the other hand,
Palestinian refugees and their corresponding host countries had no such good
fortune. If Palestinians are to be helped to settle someone else's country, they have to take somebody else's property,
which is unfair and unjust to others. From an economical standpoint, the biggest economic boost
the "Jewish State" had was the looted and stolen Palestinian properties.
- For a second, let's assume that such repatriation is possible in the host
countries, and calculate the cost of such repatriation. For example, let's assume that we need to provide a reasonable health care insurance (not
government subsidized) for each Palestinian refugee in Jordan (which hosts close to 3 million
Palestinian refugees), and let us also assume that such insurance costs a $100/month per refugee. So the
total yearly cost of providing health care insurance to all refugees in Jordan is
at least 3.6 billion dollars = $100 * 12 months * 3 million refugees.
Note that we have not yet analyzed the costs of providing infrastructure
services, i.e. roads, water networks, power grids, education, transportations,
ports, airports, ...etc. While contemplating these staggering numbers, keep in mind that the
annual budget for the Jordanian government is little over 6 billion
dollars, compared to 53 billion dollar for Israel.
While the average Jordanian citizen has some kind of collateral (such as land, real state, ... etc. ) to support
his or her
future well being, the average
Palestinian refugee has nothing but his or her tent as collateral, and even
the tent belongs to the
United Nations. Consequently, the net worth (in economic terms) of the average
Palestinian is almost nil, which negatively impacts tax revenues in the host countries.
In fact, the huge number
of refugees stifled economic growth in these host countries for several
decades-since many
essential services had to be diverted to help the refugees.
Ironically, the absence of the Palestinian economic base has motivated the average Palestinian
to invest in his or her intellectual capital.
It's really amazing how many Palestinians live the lives of many Jews in the
past. In general, Europeans used to restrict land purchases by their Jewish
citizens, which in return motivated many Jews to invest in their intellectual capital.
- For the moment assume that the above economic formula is nonsense to the average Israeli or Zionist, then let's ask the following questions:
If it's easy for
the host Arab countries to integrate Palestinian refugees into
their economic and social structure, then why after three decades of Israeli
military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has Israel been unable to improve
the lives of the Palestinian refugees under its direct control?
If it's easy for the host countries to integrate the refugees (despite their limited
resources), then surely it should be much easier for Israel to do so?
Paradoxically, many
Palestinian refugees' economic situation has actually worsened under Israeli
occupation, and if it were not for United Nations' food rations, many
refugees would have starved by now! In fact, malnutrition among Palestinian
Children in the occupied West Bank and the occupied Gaza Strip has increased
by 1600% since September of 2000.
- It's unfair to claim that many Arab countries did not integrate Palestinian
refugees into their economic, social, and even political structures. Out of
the 5.9 million Palestinian refugees, there are 3.5 million refugees who
still live in refugee camps (usually known as "registered
refugees"). So despite
all of the above obstacles, some 2 million Palestinian refugees (almost half the
number of the Israeli Jews) are already integrated into the host countries'
economic, political, and social structures.
Political Reasons
- For the above economic reasons, Palestinian refugees were obliged to compete for all available resources in the host
countries and continue to do so. The average Palestinian (ironically, like many Jews in the West) knows that he or
she
has to work twice as
hard as the local worker just to keep his or her job. On average, Palestinians (for economic and political
reasons) are not welcomed in the host countries, and that generates
anti-Palestinian feeling. For instance, take
the discriminatory practices of the Lebanese government where Palestinians
are excluded from 73 job types, such engineering, health care, financing,
... etc.
Although this behavior
is deplorable, it is a natural reaction by any state to any external
threat to its resources, and this is a common experience among Jews when they
emigrate to the "Jewish state". It should be noted
that it is still a tense situation between Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and
African Israeli Jews, and the blood of the latter was not welcomed in Israeli blood banks
for a very long time.
- It should be noted that even if the Palestinian refugees are integrated into
the host countries, that won't stop Palestinians from demanding their right
to return to their homes in Israel. Palestinians are extremely proud of their national identity,
and continuously assert
their unique cultural and political differences at the earliest possible opportunity. This deep
sense of nationalism is widely shared most Palestinians, especially
among the affluent families, who
are already integrated in Western and Arab societies, i.e. in the US, Europe,
Canada, ... etc. Actually, many of them still marry from the same indigenous
localities, and maintain their unique dresses, folklore, and accents.
The major obstacle that many Israelis and Zionists have in their dealings with
Palestinians is that they think that 8.5 million Palestinians have no national
rights, such as the right of self determination. Paradoxically, they believe that 4.5 million Jews
in Israel have the right of self determination! From the start, the
struggle between Zionism and the Palestinian people was a struggle
between two distinct and conflicting nationalistic movements.
- Most, if not all, host countries are hesitant to grant political rights
(such as the right to vote) to non-citizens, especially if the "newcomers"
could overnight change the political landscape. This
political problem was the case in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria soon after the
1948 war. For example,
Jordan's
citizens became (overnight) a minority in their own country. To ask the
average Jordanian to accept this situation on a permanent basis, without anything in return,
is to create a "political time bomb". Unfortunately, this "political time
bomb" has already exploded in Jordan and Lebanon, and its after shocks
are still felt today.
There is no question of the fact that some political movements have
benefited politically and economically from not integrating the
Palestinian refugees. We
agree that all host countries used (and will continue to use) the refugees as a tool to collect
international aid and bribes. We also concur that suppressing Palestinians makes political and economic
sense to some regional leaders. On the other hand, it's not fair to
point the finger of blame at the host countries for not solving a problem that Israel
has created. By blocking the Palestinian refugees' return to their
homes, farms, and businesses, Israel has made this problem persist and fester for many generations, and it has to put up the
lion's share of the effort needed to solve it.
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