Page 59 - Why Israel?

WHY ISRAEL 53
today did not exist. During the British Mandate period, both Jews and Arabs living in the land were referred to as Palestinians. The land was sparsely populated, and the Arabs who lived there did not identify themselves as separate from their Arab brothers and sisters throughout the Middle East. Even after 1948, when many Arabs fled their homes during the war and did not return due to the urging of the surrounding Arab nations, the Arab refugees did not identify themselves as Palestinian until the 1960s.13
For more than 70 years, the Arab nations have refused to allow the refugees of the 1948 war to find new homes and be given citizenship in any Arab state. For this reason, there are now millions of Palestinian Arabs living in refugee camps, and they rightly are angry about their situation. However, it is not Israel that has imprisoned them and held them back.
The “Right of Return” has become a stumbling block on the quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as Arab leaders insist that all of the original refugees of the 1948 war plus all of their descendants be given citizenship in Israel. This right of return has never applied to any other displaced people group on earth in history, and it certainly has never applied to the descendants of refugees born after the initial displacement. Because Israel is a democratic country and its Arab citizens have full and equal rights and participation in government, to allow millions of Palestinians to become Israeli citizens would effec- tively destroy Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. It is important to note that the Right of Return is demanded in addition to the cre- ation of a Palestinian state, which would mean both Israel and a newly-created Palestine would be Arab-majority countries.
The “Right of Return” has become a stumbling block on the quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as Arab leaders insist that all of the original refugees of the 1948 war plus all of their descendants be given citizenship in Israel.
13 “When Was the ‘Palestinian People’ Created? Google Has the Answer,” Gatestone Institute, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11401/palestinian-people.