The Palestinian Arab Refugees
As a consequence of the
fighting in Palestine/Israel
between 1947 and 1949, over
700,000 Palestinian Arabs
became refugees. The precise
number of refugees, and
questions of responsibility for
their exodus are sharply
disputed. Many Palestinians
have claimed that most were
expelled in accordance with a
Zionist plan to rid the country
of its non-Jewish inhabitants.
The official Israeli position
holds that the refugees fled on
orders from Arab political and
military leaders. One Israeli
military intelligence document
indicates that at least 75
percent of the refugees left due
to Zionist or Israeli military actions,
psychological campaigns aimed at frightening Arabs
into
leaving, and direct expulsions. Only about 5
percent left on orders from Arab authorities.
There are several well-documented cases of mass
expulsions during and after the military
operations of 1948-49 and massacres and atrocities
that led to large-scale Arab flight. The
best-known instance of mass expulsion is that of
the 50,000 Arabs of the towns of Lydda
and Ramle. The most infamous atrocity occurred at
Deir Yasin, a village near Jerusalem,
where estimates of the number of Arab residents
killed in cold blood by Israeli fighters range
from about 125 to over 250.
Palestinians
Today this term refers to the Arabs -- Christian,
Muslim and Druze -- whose historical roots
can be traced to the territory of Palestine as
defined by the British mandate borders. About 3
million Palestinians now live within this area,
which is divided between the state of Israel, and
the West Bank and Gaza; these latter areas were
captured and occupied by Israel in 1967.
Today, over 700,000 Palestinians are citizens of
Israel, living inside the country's 1949
armistice borders. About 1.2 million live in the
West Bank (including 200,000 in East
Jerusalem) and about one million in the Gaza Strip.
The remainder of the Palestinian people,
perhaps another 3 million, lives in diaspora,
outside the country they claim as their national
homeland.
The largest Palestinian
diaspora community,
approximately 1.3 million, is in
Jordan. Many of them still live
in the refugee camps that were
established in 1949, although
others live in cities and towns.
Lebanon and Syria also have
large Palestinian populations,
many of whom still live in
refugee camps. Many
Palestinians have moved to
Saudi Arabia and other Arab
Gulf countries to work, and
some have moved to other
parts of the Middle East or
other parts of the world.
Jordan is the only Arab state
to grant citizenship to the
Palestinians who live there.
Palestinians in Arab states
generally do not enjoy the
same rights as the citizens of those states. The
situation of the refugees in Lebanon is
especially dire; many Lebanese blame Palestinians
for the civil war that wracked that country
from 1975-91, and demand that they be resettled
elsewhere in order for the Lebanese to
maintain peace in their country. The Christian
population of Lebanon is particularly anxious to
rid the country of the mainly Muslim Palestinians
because of a fear that they threaten the
delicate balance among the country's religious
groups.
Although many Palestinians still live in refugee
camps and slums, others have become
economically successful. Palestinians now have the
highest per capita rate of university
graduates in the Arab world. Their diaspora
experience has contributed to a high level of
politicization of all sectors of the Palestinian
people.
The Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel
In 1948, only about 150,000 Palestinian Arabs
remained in the area that became the state of
Israel. They were granted Israeli citizenship and
the right to vote. But in many respects they
were and remain second-class citizens, since Israel
defines itself as the state of the Jewish
people and Palestinians are non-Jews. Until 1966
most of them were subject to a military
government that restricted their movement and other
rights (to speech, association and so on).
Arabs were not permitted to become full members of
the Israeli trade union federation, the
Histadrut, until 1965. About 40 percent of their
lands were confiscated by the state and used
for development projects that benefited Jews
primarily or exclusively. All of Israel's
governments have discriminated against the Arab
population by allocating far fewer resources
for education, health care, public works, municipal
government and economic development to
the Arab sector.
Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel
have had a difficult struggle to
maintain their cultural and political
identity in a state that officially
regards expression of Palestinian or
Arab national sentiment as
subversive. Until 1967, they were
entirely isolated from the Arab world
and were often regarded by other
Arabs as traitors for living in Israel.
Since 1967, many have become
more aware of their identity as
Palestinians. One important
expression of this identity was the
organization of a general strike on
March 30, 1976, designated as Land
Day, to protest the continuing
confiscation of Arab lands. The
Israeli security forces killed six Arab
citizens on that day. All Palestinians
now commemorate it as a national day.
Many Palestinian Arabs have also come to understand
that their political status as Israeli
citizens and their protracted contact with Israeli
society has differentiated them from other
Palestinians. Although most of them support the
establishment of a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip, few would pursue the
possibility of relocating there if such a
state comes into existence.
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