A series where I use history to debunk common misconceptions about the Middle East conflict.
Israellycool reader Alyssa has made a fascinating discovery at her parent’s house: a pamphlet titled Who Really Created the Middle East Refugee Problems? Arabs Who Should Know Speak Out, put out by the Israel Information Center.
While I am not familiar with the publisher, the quotes included are sourced.
The first article excerpt is from Sabri Jiryis, a palestinian Arab activist who despite working against Israel, is a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty. In it, Jiryis admits that the Arab and Muslim countries drove their Jews out, “shamefully” deporting them and confiscating their property or taking it over at low prices, despite the Jews having lived there for “hundreds of years.”
Next up is an excerpt from an article published in the official PLO journal back in 1976, by none other than Abu Mazen aka Mahmoud Abbas. In it, he admits to some things that Israel-haters refuse to acknowledge:
- The Arab armies forced palestinian Arabs to leave during the Israeli War of Independence
- The Arab states did not recognize the palestinian Arabs as a distinct people until after the world did
- The Arab states broadcast their intention to throw the Jews into the sea
I actually wrote about this quote in a 2018 post, in which I compared it to what Abbas told students in Ramallah in 2014
Someone asked me: How [could we receive] Israeli citizenship? I said: You are returning to the state of Israel. After all, the refugees, numbered at five million, and their children – were all expelled from the 1948 territories. There is no refugee from Nablus or Ramallah. They are all from Tiberius, Acre, Safed, Nazareth, Jaffa or Beersheba. If you want to return to Israel and receive an Israeli citizenship or not – you are free [to decide].”
further proving what a liar he is (he later admitted again that they fled).
Finally, we have an excerpt from the memoirs of one Haled al Azm, who served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1948 and 1949. He admits that the Arab governments called for the palestinian Arabs to evacuate and leave by sowing terror in them. He wishes they had stayed to form a fifth column in Israel!
This narrative accords with what others who would know have told us.
The more one delves into actual history, the more one sees how the so-called ‘palestinian cause’ has pulled the wool over the world’s eyes for so long.
