Tweet
NO CITIZENSHIP FOR YOU!
By Mark Krikorian
National Review Online
Sept 22 2011
I remember an Armenian acquaintance from Syria telling me once how
unjust it was that the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (and
their descendants) were not given citizenship and allowed to integrate
into the Arab states where they lived: "They even gave us citizenship,
for heaven's sake," meaning Armenian survivors of the Turk genocide,
who were neither Arabs nor Muslims.
That came to mind again when I read that even those Palestinians
classified as refugees who are living on the West Bank and Gaza would
not receive citizenship in the phony Palestinian state, if it ever
comes to fruition. The point is that these people (and their children,
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, et al.) must remain forever pawns
in the eternal drive to exterminate Israel.
Judith Levy, an American immigrant to Israel who wrote the Ricochet
post I linked to, is frustrated, commenting on the admirable qualities
of the Palestinian workers building her house and blaming the
political problem on "a pathologically weak-minded leadership" among
the Palestinians. I'm afraid that's naive. Palestinian individuals
have the same range of good and bad characteristics as any other
large group of people. But the collective Palestinian identity (which
has developed into a real national identity, despite claims to the
contrary) necessarily entails the goal of exterminating Israel. After
all, the Arabs living there had no national identity until Israel
gave them a reason to have one - to destroy Israel. This is why,
for instance, the logo of the Palestinian mission to the UN shows
all the land between the Jordan and the sea as Palestine.
In fact, I wonder if the Arab public would stand for any effort to give
citizenship to Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Let's say
we sprinkle unicorn dust over Syria and Assad is ousted and liberal
democracy blooms there and the new regime wants to give extend
Syrian citizenship to long-resident Palestinians, integrating them
politically - would the Syrian public even stand for that? I think
Jew-hatred is so deeply rooted in the Arab and broader Islamic world
that even governments that would want to help end the citizenship
limbo of Palestinian refugees and their descendants would hesitate,
fearing popular uprisings and Islamist attack.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/278010/no-citizenship-you-mark-krikorian
By Mark Krikorian
National Review Online
Sept 22 2011
I remember an Armenian acquaintance from Syria telling me once how
unjust it was that the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (and
their descendants) were not given citizenship and allowed to integrate
into the Arab states where they lived: "They even gave us citizenship,
for heaven's sake," meaning Armenian survivors of the Turk genocide,
who were neither Arabs nor Muslims.
That came to mind again when I read that even those Palestinians
classified as refugees who are living on the West Bank and Gaza would
not receive citizenship in the phony Palestinian state, if it ever
comes to fruition. The point is that these people (and their children,
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, et al.) must remain forever pawns
in the eternal drive to exterminate Israel.
Judith Levy, an American immigrant to Israel who wrote the Ricochet
post I linked to, is frustrated, commenting on the admirable qualities
of the Palestinian workers building her house and blaming the
political problem on "a pathologically weak-minded leadership" among
the Palestinians. I'm afraid that's naive. Palestinian individuals
have the same range of good and bad characteristics as any other
large group of people. But the collective Palestinian identity (which
has developed into a real national identity, despite claims to the
contrary) necessarily entails the goal of exterminating Israel. After
all, the Arabs living there had no national identity until Israel
gave them a reason to have one - to destroy Israel. This is why,
for instance, the logo of the Palestinian mission to the UN shows
all the land between the Jordan and the sea as Palestine.
In fact, I wonder if the Arab public would stand for any effort to give
citizenship to Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Let's say
we sprinkle unicorn dust over Syria and Assad is ousted and liberal
democracy blooms there and the new regime wants to give extend
Syrian citizenship to long-resident Palestinians, integrating them
politically - would the Syrian public even stand for that? I think
Jew-hatred is so deeply rooted in the Arab and broader Islamic world
that even governments that would want to help end the citizenship
limbo of Palestinian refugees and their descendants would hesitate,
fearing popular uprisings and Islamist attack.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/278010/no-citizenship-you-mark-krikorian