OPINION:
According to the United Nations, a refugee is “a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence.” The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has a different operational definition for a Palestinian refugee: someone whose “normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.”
According to UNRWA, there are eight U.N. sanctioned refugee camps in Gaza. The Palestinian “refugees” in the West Bank and Gaza are not refugees. Palestinians who are 50 years old or younger were born there. In the refugee camps—where more than 80% of the population in these two areas lives—more than half the citizens are under the age of 25. Only 30,000 are original refugees.
The Arab states continue to exploit and manipulate the “refugees” to distract their own public from their terrible socio-economic conditions and human rights violations. Palestinian leaders have held the nearly 2 million people in the West Bank and Gaza as hostages. For nearly seven decades, they have insisted that the “right of return” of the refugees (which is a non-starter) is the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The pity is that there seem to be no Palestinians willing to step up and advocate for effective self-governance and peace with their neighbors, which would mean a better life and more freedom for everyone. Since 80% of them (and especially the 50% under the age of 25) have been fed a consistent diet of hatred for Israel and the Jews — and that it is their duty to kill as many as possible—the prospects for a satisfactory resolution are dim.
ARLENE HERSH
Jerusalem, Israel
