This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3461

Palestinian Journalists Correctly Blame "Refugee Problem" On Arabs - flight was part of jihad plan against Israel

May 20, 2008

Palestinian Journalists Correctly Blame "Refugee Problem" On Arabs

May 20, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an investigative piece recently written by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook for Palestinian Media Watch, the writers reveal that despite heavily politicized claims to the contrary, the "Palestinian Refugee Problem" was wholly created by the Arabs, as part of a plan of jihad against the young Israeli state in 1948.

In coming to this conclusion the author's rely not upon their own research, but on the writings of Palestinian journalists, stating:

"The Arabs who became refugees in 1948 were not expelled by Israel but left on their own to facilitate the destruction of Israel, according to a senior Palestinian journalist writing in a Palestinian daily. This plan to leave Israel was initiated by the Arab states fighting Israel, who promised the people they would be able to return to their homes in a few days once Israel was defeated."

Jawad Al Bashiti, the above referenced Palestinian journalist wrote in Al-Ayyam just a few days ago:

"...The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our Catastrophes today. During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe the following happened: the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the "Arab Salvation Army" came and told the Palestinians: 'We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won't be hurt.' It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. Arabs fought as if intending to cause the "Palestinian Catastrophe". [source, Al-Ayyam, May 13 2008]

Additionally Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Palestinian Journalist,wrote in the Palestinian Authority's official daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on December 13, 2006:

"...The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the "Catastrophe" in 1948, that the duration of the exile will not be long, and that it will not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees will return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they put their trust in those "Arkuvian" promises made by the leaders and the political elites [source, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 13, 2006]

The writings of these two journalists is supported by numerous Palestinian eyewitness accounts at the time, who confirm that the Palestinian Arabs were told to leave the new Jewish state so that its Arab neighbors could more easily destroy it and that following those orders resulted in today's calamity for the Palestinian Arabs.

Comprehending this realization bears heavily on the prospects for peace between Israel and her neighbors, all of whom - except Egypt - remain technically in a state of war with the diminutive country, because the so-called right of return is a key Arab demand in this process.

Allowing the return of such large numbers of Palestinians, the few remaining original inhabitants swelled now by their immediate descendants would engulf Israel in a hostile, non-Jewish tidal wave, which after all was the point of the demand in the first place.

With Palestinian media proving that rather than being refugees, those who left Israel in 1948 did so willingly and with the understanding that action would hasten the destruction of the Jewish state, the illegitimacy of the demand of a right to return becomes obvious.

As Marcus and Crook conclude:

It is clear from these statements that there is general acknowledgement among Palestinians that Arab leaders bear responsibility for the mass flight of Arabs from Israel in 1948, and were the cause of the "refugee" problem. Furthermore, the fact that this information has been validated by public figures and refugees in the Palestinian Authority media itself confirms that this responsibility is well-known - even though for propaganda purposes its leaders continue to blame Israel publicly for "the expulsion."

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=PArefugee5.20.08%2Ehtm

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3461