As the United Nations continues to bemoan the fate of so-called “Palestinian refugees,” the history of Jewish refugees from the time before and shortly after the creation of the State of Israel has been long forgotten—until now. Regular readers know this is a topic we’ve discussed on several occasions recently and previous posts can be found in our Israel and Refugees category.
Here is another good article on the issue and it’s worth repeating because any future discussion about the Palestinians and “peace” attempts will necessarily include consideration of fairness to former Jewish refugees.
Here is Michael Curtis writing at the Gatestone Institute (Hat tip: Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum):
The status of those Jews as refugees has been found to be in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees. The UNHCR announced on two occasions, in February 1957 and in July 1967, that Jews who fled from Arab countries “may be considered prima facie within the mandate of this office,” thus regarding them, according to international law, as bona fide refugees.
The Palestinian narrative of victimhood, emphasizing the pitiful condition of Palestinian refugees, and portraying them as the world’s major refugee problem, has convinced many in the international community to accept this version of their unfortunate plight and the injustices done to them.
That narrative, however, essentially one of historical revisionism, denies the truth that the Jews who left, fled, or were expelled from Arab countries can really be regarded as refugees, as well.
The story of these Jewish refugees has been much less well known than that of the Palestinian refugees, about whose fate international resolutions have been passed, and on whose behalf thirteen UN agencies and organizations have provided aid. The issue of the legitimate rights of the Jewish refugees, and the individual and collective loss of their assets, have not yet been seriously addressed; nor have there been any real attempts in international forums at the restitution of their rights and assets.
The contrast is startling. Between 1949 and 2009 there were 163 resolutions passed in the UN General Assembly dealing with Palestinian refugees; there was not one on Jewish refugees. Similarly, since 1968, the UN Human Rights Council (formerly Commission) has adopted 132 resolutions dealing with the plight of the Palestinian refugees, but not one directed to the Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
Other specialized agencies of the UN have been specifically established, or charged, to pay attention to the Palestinian refugees. These refugees have benefited from international financial assistance; the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), since 1950, has provided over $13 billion (in 2007 prices). Jewish refugees have received nothing from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international organization dealing with refugees all over the world except Palestinians, who have the UNRWA solely devoted to them.
There is more, read it all here.
Forever a thorn in the side of Israel
It should be stunning to those who don’t know already—Palestinian “refugees” are the only people the UNHCR never tries to resettle in other countries. Indeed they have their own UN agency—UNRWA—to which we in the US send billions of dollars to help maintain them as permanent refugees generation after generation (60 plus years!) while demanding their “right to return” to the land that is now Israel, whereupon Israel would promptly become a Muslim country.
Contrast that to how we quickly did the UN’s bidding and scooped up tens of thousands of Bhutanese/Nepali people expelled from Bhutan (as one reader said because Bhutan feared the ethnic Nepalis would end up out-populating them in their own country—sound familiar!). The UN and the US did not demand a “right of return” for the Bhutanese/Nepali people to either of those countries which we very easily could have done through financial aid sweeteners (if we needed to get involved at all!). Instead we simply moved them out to your cities.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am not promoting the mass resettlement of Palestinians (to western countries, let the Arabs take them in) now that Hamas is running the place, but just pointing out the hypocrisy of the United Nations (and fascist one-worlders) when it comes to Israel and refugees generally.
Did we really help the Bhutanese/Nepali “refugees” by bringing them to America, ripping them out of their Buddhist culture, subjecting them to crime and murders in rotten US slum neighborhoods, and jobs in chicken factories? Really?
LOL! There is a lot of hypocrisy in the refugee industry and pointing it out keeps me going every day!