Refugees

Resources:

Leave: The origins of Palestinian refugees (in their own words) by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch, May 15, 2024 (video, 8’34”)

Arabs tell how their own leaders made them into refugees.

Refugee Relief or Refugee Politics by Shoshana Bryen, The Washington Times, January 4, 2024

75 years ago: Arab leaders considered Palestinian refugees in 1948 to be “fifth columnists” by Elder Of Ziyon, June 8, 2023

The Nakba Narrative Is Nonsense by Alex Safian, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), May 17, 2023

The Palestinian Refugees: 1948 to Today by Chaim Lax, HonestReporting, March 9, 2023

How many Palestinians were actually expelled in 1948? by Adin Haykin, Medium, February 19, 2022

Does a Palestinian “Right of Return” Exist in International Law? by Amb. Alan Baker and Lea Bilke, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Issue Brief Vol. 21, No. 23, November 22, 2021

Several international legal and political documents try to tackle the question of return of refugees, but they do not establish any right of return for Palestinian refugees. UN General Assembly Resolution 194 states that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so,” but no resolution of the General Assembly has the capacity to determine laws or establish rights. The term “should” underlines that this is solely a recommendation.

The Palestinian refugee hoax by Mitchell Bard, Jewish News Syndicate, January 26, 2021

The refugee issue is easily solvable if we return to the original definition that applied only to people who lived in Palestine in 1948-1949, not their descendants. This is the true number of refugees.

The Problem Isn’t in Palestinian Numbers by Shoshana Bryen, American Thinker, January 22, 2021

From Pompeo’s Twitter Account, an Understated Policy Statement by Jimmy Quinn, National Review, January 15, 2021

For the PA, “peace” means destroying Israel by flooding it with 5.6 million Palestinian “refugees” by Maurice Hirsch, Palestinian Media Watch, July 12, 2020

Biblio File: A Return to Sanity by Asaf Romirowsky, Australia/Israel Review, June 3, 2020: A review of The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace by Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf

Jewish refugees left $150 billion in property in Arab countries, Israel estimates by Sam Sokol, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 16, 2019 (see also: Lost Jewish property in Arab countries estimated at $150 billion by Dan Lavie, Israel Hayom, December 16, 2019)

Palestinians are tired of being the only refugees denied the right to resettlement by Evelyn Gordon, Jewish News Syndicate, September 11, 2019

It’s time for the world to choose: Either admit that the Palestinians aren’t actually refugees or finally start treating them as real refugees by granting them the basic right of resettlement.

Video: Palestinians: If refugees receive citizenship, are they still refugees? (9’50”), The Ask Project, August 10, 2019

Arabs’ Nightmare: Absorbing Palestinians by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, June 12, 2019

Wilf & Schwartz: The War of Return

The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace by Adi Schwartz & Einat Wilf

The Fate of Palestinian Refugees in Syria and Lebanon by Pinhas Inbari, Jewish Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Issue Briefs Vol. 19, No. 8, June 6, 2019

Pretend refugees by Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom, January 11, 2019

The new campaign by former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor tackles the absurdity of the Palestinian refugee narrative by displaying the successful lives of nine descendants of Arabs who left Israel in 1948 but who still identify as refugees.

Shattering Palestinian Refugee Myths by Mitchell Bard, The Times of Israel, October 3, 2018

The forgotten [Jewish] Palestinian refugees by David Shayne, The Jerusalem Post, September 12, 2018 (review of “Jewish Refugees in the War of Independence” [Hebrew: פליטים יהודים במלחמת העצמאות] by Nurit Cohen-Levinonvsky)

Palestinians, You Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The Wall Street Journal, September  7, 2018

Why Are Palestinian Refugees Different From All Other Refugees? by David Harris, The Times of Israel, August 30, 2018

A self-declared leftist wages war on the Palestinian ‘right of return’ by Raphael Aren, The Times of Israel, July 30, 2018

In new book, ex-Labor MK Einat Wilf says the refugee ethos is the biggest obstacle to peace. She blames the international community, the Israeli government and the IDF

US report finds only 20,000 Palestinian refugees in the world, Jewish News Syndicate, July 18, 2018

Time to Rethink Our Attitudes to Middle East Refugees by Asaf Romirowsky and Alex Joffe, Tablet, July 18, 2018

Expose the Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Scam by Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer, Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2018 (see also: Fifty-One Members of Congress Back MEF’s UNRWA Policy, Middle East Forum, April 20, 2018)

The Palestinian paradox: 70 years of perpetuating refugeeism by Ben-Dror Yemini, YNetNews.com, June 29, 2018

What caused the Palestinian refugee problem? 13 important stories told by refugees from 1948 by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch, May 16, 2018

99 percent of ‘Palestine refugees’ are fake by Daniel Pipes, Washington Times, January 10, 2018

[W]hile enthusiastically endorsing Trump’s political goals, I suggest that withholding funds is not the right tactic. Better would be to focus on the “Palestine refugee” status.

UNRWA Refugees: Where have They Gone? by Shoshana Bryen, Jewish Policy Center/The Gatestone Institute, December 26, 2017 (see also What’s Behind the ‘Disappearance’ of 420,000 Palestinians in Lebanon? By Franklin Lamb, CounterPunch, January 5, 2018)

How the Quakers Became Champions of BDS by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander Joffe, Tablet, November 10, 2017

Quakers had been in the Holy Land for over a century, running schools and hospitals for local Christians. But the refugee program [in Gaza in 1948] was a turning point. Relief workers had never encountered refugees who did not want to be taught new skills or to be resettled elsewhere, only to be maintained at someone else’s expense until Israel disappeared.

Palestinian Authority Information Ministry: There Will Be No Palestinian Concessions On Right Of Return, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Special Dispatch No. 7093, September 15, 2017

Following reports that Israel is campaigning for the dissolution of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and its integration in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC), PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA) institutions and officials said that Israel is acting to thwart the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes. They stressed that there will be no concessions on this issue, and that the only possible solution to the refugee problem is implementing UN Resolution 194 on their right of return.

The Uses and Abuses of Refugee Status by Cliff Smith, American Spectator, July 7, 2017

Video: The expulsion of Jews from Arab and Muslim countries (3’01”), Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June 20, 2017

The only solution to the ‘right of return’ by Daniel Freidmann, YNetNews.com, June 12, 2017

The invention of eternal ‘refugeeism,’ which is passed on from one generation to another, aims to serve as one of the tools for Israel’s destruction. The Palestinian leadership cannot say it wants peace with Israel while supporting the return of refugees.

Palestinian refugees’ dreams of returning home fade by Mussa Hattar and Sarah Benhaida, The Times of Israel, June 1, 2017

Video: Debate on Palestinian “Refugees” in U.S. Congress (3’57”) with Hillel Neuer (UN Watch), February 7, 2017

Who Keeps Shuafat Orphaned? by Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary, December 4, 2016

Palestine Refugees (1948)

In Honor of Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands: Letter from a Forgotten Jew by David Harris, The Times of Israel, November 29, 2016

A Message in Refugee Camp Unrest by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, November 6, 2016

Uncovering the Truth about a West Bank Palestinian Refugee Camp by Clifford Smith, The Washington Examiner, September 7, 2016

The Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Dodge by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, June 29, 2016

Who Were the 1948 Arab Refugees? by Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom, June 3, 2016

The Saudi Solution by Daniel Pipes, Washington Times, May 18, 2016

Accommodations are plentiful in the kingdom for Sunni Muslim migrants.

Palestinian refugees from 1948 may have numbered less than 300,000 by Richard Mather, January 13, 2016

Jordan: We Do Not Want Palestinians by Khaled Abu Toameh, September 12, 2015 (see also Gazan refugees denied rights in Jordan for over 45 years by Aaron Magid, Ma’an News, September 17, 2015)

Refugee ruminations by David M. Weinberg, The Jerusalem Post, September 10, 2015

Video: How We Are Financing the Suffering of the Palestinians (3’40”), Jerusalem Institute of Justice, June 25, 2015

The Arguments Against Palestine Giving Its Refugees Citizenship by Mouin Rabbani, Al-Shabaka/Institute for Palestine Studies, June 2, 2015

Abbas to Syria’s Palestinian Refugees: Go to Israel or ‘Die in Syria’ by Alexander H. Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The American Interest, May 17, 2015

Palestinian Authority’s “Crimes of High Treason” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, May 12, 2015

Video: The Plight of the Palestinian Refugees (13’07”), Jerusalem U., February 12, 2015

What about the Jewish Nakba? by Ben-Dror Yemini, Ynetnews.com, November 28, 2014

For decades, the Palestinians have nurtured the ethos of the Nakba while Israel chose to downplay the persecutions and expulsion of the Arab Jews. It is time to set the record straight.

Sweden’s Palestinian Refugee Contradiction by Einat Wilf and Jonathan Schanzer, The Jerusalem Post, November 18, 2014

The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem by Benny Morris

UN Counts 10 Million Stateless People. None Are Palestinians by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, November 5, 2014

Bringing Back the Palestinian Refugee Question by International Crisis Group, Middle East Report N°156, October 9, 2014

The Only Refugees in the World Denied the Right of Resettlement by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, September 17, 2014

Ignoring Real Syrian Refugees to Support Fake Palestinian Ones by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, September 4, 2014

The equal-rights case for emigration by Evelyn Gordon, Jerusalem Post, June 6, 2014

The Real Palestinian Refugee Crisis by Asaf Romirowsky, The Tower, May 2014

Spain, Portugal and the Right of Return by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, March 7, 2014

Origin of the Palestinian claim of a ‘right of return’ by Richard Schifter, Washington Jewish Week, February 26, 2014

The Politics of the Palestinian Right of Return by Alexander Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, Forbes, February 24, 2014

Palestinians: Eight Million Refugees Must Return to Israel by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, February 21, 2014

Palestine’s Peace Bomb by Steven J. Rosen, Foreign Policy, January 31, 2014

Refugees Who Insist on the Impossible by Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary, January 21, 2014

The Palestinian Refugees – a Reality Check by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, Israel HayomPart 1, December 13, 2013; Part 2, December 29, 2013

Jews from Arab countries: the forgotten refugees by Shlomi Eldar, Al-Monitor Israel Pulse, November 22, 2013

How HRW and Amnesty twist international law against Israel: The Nottebohm Case by Elder of Ziyon, November 6, 2013

Aid for Palestinians: Breaking Down Walls or Building Them Higher? by Carly West, Brown Political Review, October 10

[T]he efforts of international aid organizations such as UNRWA [exemplify] the subversive tendencies of humanitarian aid and development programs to indirectly harm the people which they claim to help.

The Palestinian Refugee Problem Resolved by Shaul Bartal, Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2013

The Palestinian Wrong Of Return: Demystifying the Legal Basis of the “Right of Return” and Analysing “Refugee” Numbers by Cliff Pinto, Times of Israel, August 2, 2013 (see also part II, Perpetuating Victimhood, August 16, 2013)

Justice for Jews from Arab Countries by David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom, June 14, 2013

At Boston U: propaganda dressed as scholarship by Richard L. Cravatts, Times of Israel, March 29, 2013

The True Obstacle To Peace Between Israelis And Palestinians by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander Joffe, Forbes, March 26, 2013

Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Vol VII 2010-2012

The Narrative Of Return In Palestinian Textbooks by Y. Yehoshua, The Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 950, March 20, 2013

Abbas: “Right of Return” Trumps Palestinian Lives by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, January 16, 2013

Video: The Humiliation of Palestinian Refugees: Part 1 – Iraq (3’22”), Part 2 – Jordan (2’31”), Part 3 – Lebanon and Syria (2’40”), December 2012

Justice for ALL Refugees by Zvi Gabai, Huffington Post, September 27, 2012

The Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands: Toward Redressing Injustices on All Sides by Aharon Mor and Orly R. Rahimiyan, Jerusalem Reports Vol. 12, No. 21, September 11, 2012

Counting Palestinian refugees by Daniel Pipes, Israel Hayom, May 29, 2012

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_3A6_qSBBQ[/youtube]

Senate Fight Today Over Palestinian ‘Refugees’ by Jonathan Schanzer, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, May 24, 2012 (see also Status Update by Jonathan Schanzer, Foreign Policy, May 21, 2012: “With the stroke of a pen, a new bill in Congress could slash the number of Palestinian refugees — and open a world of controversy.”)

Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian “refugees” or just around 30,000 — a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The real Palestinian refugee problem by Clifford D. May, Israel Hayom, May 11, 2012

Palestinian Refugees: A Crisis of Recognition by Hanin Abou Salem, Al Jazeera Center for Studies & The Palestinian Return Centre, April 26, 2012

international conventions, major UN Resolutions, and relevant agreements that define who is a refugee and how the international community should deal with refugees have played a role in creating customary international law principles that eradicate the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

The Anti-Palestinian Arab Nations by Elder of Ziyon, The Algemeiner, February 24, 2012

In 1959, the Arab League resolution 1547 confirmed earlier resolutions calling on Arab countries to treat Palestinian Arabs well – but recommends that they “retain their Palestinian nationality.” Meaning that Palestinian Arabs should not be allowed to obtain citizenship in their host countries.

Interview: Refugees will not be citizens of new state by Annie Slemrod, The Daily Star [Lebanon], September 15, 2011 (see also “Palestine” to Deny Citizenship to 45 Percent of its Palestinian Residents by Evelyn Gordon, Commentary, September 21, 2011)

Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon.

Arabs rewriting history by Alexander Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, YNetNews.com, July 27, 2011

Arab reaction from 1949 shows Israel isn’t exclusively responsible for refugee problem

There’s no right of return by R. Gavison, Y. Zilbershats, and N. Gore, Jerusalem Post, July 5, 2011

International law and UN resolutions regarding the Palestinian question do not confer on refugees and their descendants a right to return within the borders of Israel.

End the refugee problem by Nicole Brackman and Asaf Romirowsky, YNetNews.com, May 29, 2011

Arab, Palestinian leaders must stop using their people as negotiating chips

White House Down in Middle East by Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest, May 14, 2011

How Many Palestinian Arab Refugees Were There? by Efraim Karsh, Israel Affairs, April 2011

Martha Gellhorn on her June, 1967 visit to WB camps by Elder Of Ziyon, January 13, 2011

Refugees from Reality by Ingo Way (translated by Elder of Zion), Cicero (Germany), January  2011

The Palestinian Proletariat by Michael S. Bernstam, Commentary, December 2010

The permanent refugeeism of the UNRWA welfare state generates a particular “right of return” claim—the argument that Palestinians should be given title to the land they occupied before Israel’s independence—that fuels perpetual warfare. […] [T]he claim of the Palestinian right of return is intended for one historical ethnic diaspora of the ­descendants of perennial refugees to repopulate another people’s existing nation-state, Israel.  This is not the right of return to a country; this is the right of return of a country, a reconquest after a lost war.

Jewish refugees must not be neglected in peace talks by Danny Ayalon, Guardian/Comment is Free, December 22, 2010

The Palestinian Refugees on the Day After “Independence” by Jonathan D. Halevi, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, December 2010

In Contrast to Palestine: Partitions, Population Transfers, and no demanded “Right of Return” by Daphe Anson, September 19, 2010

Book Review by Edward Alexander: Efraim Karsh, “Palestine Betrayed”, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, SPME Reviews and Recommendations, September 14, 2010

Refugees ad infinitum by Carmel Gould, Standpoint, July/August 2010

Experts: No legal basis for Palestinian refugee demands by Ariela Ringel Hoffman, Ynetnews.com, August 8, 2010

Frozen in time, addicted to pity by Robert Fulford, National Post (Canada), August 7, 2010

Nakba Day and the Fraud by Ben-Dror Yemini, MidEast Truth, May 18, 2010Palestine Betrayed

Palestine Betrayed by Daniel Pipes, National Review, May 17, 2010 [book review of Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh]

European Court of Human Rights on “Right of Return” for Refugees by Shane Hensinger, International Security at the Josef Korbel School, March 16, 2010 [ruling on 1974 Greek refugees in Cyprus]

‘The ladder to climb down from the tree’ by Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, March 11, 2010 [on the European Court of Human Rights ruling against Greek refugees from Northern Cyprus claiming a right of return]

Refugees and Israeli-Palestinian Peace by Michael Steinhardt, Wall Street Journal, March 12, 2010

“It’s time for the world to make one last, best offer on resettlement.”

Arabs became refugees following leaders’ promise absence would be temporary by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palestinian Media Watch, February 15, 2010

Forum at Columbia University Whitewashes US and Arab States by Brendan Goldman, Middle East Forum, October 13, 2009

Putting First Things First: Solving the Arab Refugee Problem by Ruth King and Rael Jean Isaac, Family Security Matters, August 12, 2009

Palestinians Blame Arab Leaders for the “Nakba” by Daniel Pipes, Daniel Pipes Blog, July 23, 2009

How the U.N. Perpetuates the ‘Refugee’ Problem by Natan Sharansky, Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2009

Palestinian ‘Right of Return’ Is Not ‘Inalienable’ by Michael Sharnoff, Pajamas Media/The Jewish Policy Center, October 13, 2008

Why are Palestinian refugees different from all other refugees? by David Harris, Jerusalem Post blog, August 6, 2008

Plans for Mideast Peace: U.N. reforms needed for Palestinian refugees by Peter Berkowitz, Washington Times, August 5, 2008

Blood and Sand by David Remnick, The New Yorker, May 5, 2008 [book review of “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War” by Benny Morris]

1948, Israel, and the Palestinians: Annotated Text by Efraim Karsh, Commentary, May 7, 2008

The Expulsion Libel: 1948 Arab “Exodus” Reconsidered by Rachel Neuwirth, American Thinker, April 13, 2008

Jewish Refugees’ Losses Outweigh Arabs’ by Hillel Fendel, Arutz Sheva/Israel National News, April 13, 2008From Time Immemorial

Palestinians Continue to Think It’s 1948 by Asaf Romirowsky, Jewish Exponent, April 3, 2008

The Palestinian Refugee Issue: Rhetoric vs. Reality by Sidney Zabludoff, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jewish Political Studies Review 20:1-2 (Spring 2008), April 2008

The demonisation of Israel is largely based on lies by Benny Morris, Irish Times, February 21, 2008 (reproduced here for non-subscribers)

Dubious refugee relief by Nicole Brackman and Asaf Romirowsky, Washington Times, June 21, 2007 [“UNRWA is devoted to perpetuating the problem of Palestinian refugees, not to solving it.”]

Israel’s Peculiar Position by Eric Hoffer, Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1968