Why do the Palestinians oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state

Why do the Palestinians oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state? By Yakov Faitelson (An article published in Russian in the anthology "The Middle East and Modern Times", pp. 229-245, Publication No. 39 of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of the Middle East, Moscow, 2009) 1 Table of Contents 1. "Do Palestinians really want a Two-State Solution?" ................................................... 3 2. Benefiting from the Status Quo ................................................................................... 5 3. Arab offers for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict ................................... 7 3.1. Prof. Sari Nusseibeh solution ............................................................................ 7 3.2. Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid Arab infiltration plan............................................... 8 3.3. Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta's population transfer plan ............................................... 8 4. How many people can the Land of Israel support? ................................................... 10 5. The Natural and Inevitable solution .......................................................................... 12 2 1. " Do Palestinians really want a Two-State Solution?" "Do Palestinians really want a Two-State Solution?" – asked the headline of an article by Joseph Joffe i and published on January 27, 2009 1. The answer to this question was given in the article's subtitle: "Judging by their words and actions, the answer is no." Palestinians did not agree to establish a state alongside Israel whenever it was offered to them, not only because of religious motives and/or nationalistic reasons. No doubt, these motives are indeed essential for Arabs. They use them as the ideological basis, and even in statements made by the representatives of Arab nationalist (or rather, the national-socialist) wing intended for the Euro- AmericanJewish ear, when they seemed to recognize the State of Israel, they refused to acknowledge it as the Jewish State. It is no accident - for, starting with Arafat and continuing to the present leader Mahmud Abbas, the Arabs persist in demanding the right of return for Arab refugees and their descendants to Israel's territory. Clearly, if this demand is to be granted, the State of Israel will cease to be a State of the Jewish people even if it kept its name. The Palestinians are fully aware of the fact that by demanding their claim for the Right of Return to the territory of the State of Israel, they are thereby closing the door to the establishment of their own State. After all, the vast majority of the Jewish population of Israel will never agree to abandon the status of the Jewish National Home. This status was first recognized by a decision of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922, and approved by the UN resolution on November 29, 1947. It is not just that the Palestinians are counting on the implementation of Arafat's phased plan for the extermination of the Jewish State. Following this plan, as is clearly being stated recently by Mahmud Abbas, along with the ongoing peace negotiations, which should lead to gradual Israeli territorial concessions, the Palestinians did not reject using of force when they would have such an opportunity. However, the main cause of the Palestinians' refusal to accept the territorial division of the country lies in an objective and realistic assessment of its geographical, territorial, and economic opportunities. In particular, this applies to the existing shortage of water resources that are already at a critical level. The country's water resources would collapse if 4.5 million descendants of Arab refugees moved into the limited area of the Palestinian State. In fact, for the same reasons, this sharp increase in the population will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe, even if the descendants of Arab refugees would be allowed to return to the entire territory of the State of Israel. Indeed, the entire area of the Land of Israel - Eretz Yisrael, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is about 26 thousand square kilometers. Only about 17 thousand square kilometers are suitable for the settlement since a large part of the Negev - is an uninhabitable desert and mountains. The most populous country in the world is Bangladesh, besides the so-called i Mr. Joffe is publisher-editor of Die Zeit and a fellow at the Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University. 3 dwarf states. The population density in Bangladesh reaches 1,001 people per square kilometer. (1,033.5 people per sq. km, as for 2013.-YF) Therefore, if the population density in Eretz Yisrael would equal the density of Bangladesh, its territory could accommodate about seventeen million people, 70% more than the total population in 2009. However, even considering that Bangladesh, unlike Israel, has considerable water resources, there is already a water supply problem for the existing population. (Actually, until 2013, Israel had already solved its water resources problem by constructing several desalination plants, the largest of their kind in the World. -YF). Lack of water is only one of the problems. The attempt to create an artificial state from two territorial shreds virtually separated from one another is doomed to complete failure. It would be useful to remind here that same Bangladesh once was a part of Greater Pakistan constructed from two artificially connected territories separated by the territory of India. The result of this experiment to keep it as united statehood was disastrous. Professor Justin McCarthy notes in his article 2 that: "It is difficult to see how the agricultural or industrial base of Palestine can cope with the increased numbers that will result from high Palestinian fertility... Palestine can expect a demographic crisis because of neither the agricultural potential nor the economic base of either the Netherlands or England". This is also the opinion of the Palestinians themselves. It was expressed not once, in particular, by Professor Sari Nusseibeh, the president of the Jerusalem Al-Quds University. In his view, the Palestinian State established on a small, scrappy territory, even just taking into consideration only the existing already population, would be unable to support itself economically, will be unstable politically, and would be a danger not only to Israel, Jordan, and other countries of the Middle East but also for itself. Creating a Palestinian state on the limited territory of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, will be accompanied by the massive expulsion of millions of Palestinians from Lebanon, Syria, and other Arab countries. Such an attempt could quickly turn into a humanitarian catastrophe, as Professor Nusseibeh hints. Therefore, the Palestinians prefer to continue their struggle hoping that the Jews, for one or another reason, will break down and give them the whole country. At best, they are willing to tolerate the Jews as a national minority, which, as it would be logical to assume, will rapidly decrease due to growing emigration. Based on his analysis of the existing situation, Professor Nusseibeh concluded that the right solution for the Palestinian problem would be the annexation of territories by Israel while granting Israeli citizenship to the Arab population. Thus, said Professor Nusseibeh, there will be a natural de-Judaization of Israel, and the Arabs will achieve their goals peacefully. The article published on the "Asia Times Online" Website on August 18, 2009, makes possible other practical explanations of why the Palestinians do not want to establish their State only in the part of the Land of Israel 3. Let us examine this article and other information found in Israeli, Palestinian, and UN sources. 4 2. Benefiting from the Status Quo The UN is very proud of the work that its Agency – the UNHCR ii - does by conducting a Refugee resettlement to third country program. Only in 2008, UNHCR proposed 121,000 individuals for resettlement to third countries, and more than 67,000 departed to their new homelands with the Agency's help 4. No such program has ever been offered for Palestinian refugees. They are not under UNHCR but under the responsibility of another UN Agency - the UNRWA iii. The UNRWA was established in 1949 with a temporary, three-year mandate to provide help solely for Palestinian refugees. Instead of initially allocated three years, UNRWA has been expanding its budget and activities continuously for the last 60 years by extending refugee status to descendants of its beneficiaries. Thus, if in 1950 the Agency was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestinian refugees, today 4.6 million Arabs are eligible for UNRWA services 5. (According to the updated UNRWA data, as of 2012, there are 4,950,000 Arabs eligible for UNRWA services. However, the number of Palestinians alive who were personally displaced during Israel’s War of Independence is estimated to be around 30,000. 6 - YF). Its budget was $1.1 Billion for the biennium 2008-2009, or about $120 per capita annually. 7 (The total 2012 UNRWA budget was $907,907,371- YF). UNRWA employs about 30,000 staffers, more than 99% of them are local Palestinians, with only about 100 international UN professionals. It makes one UNRWA employee per 153 people. The UNRWA employment policy contradicts the policy common to other UN Agencies, which avoid employing the recipients of agency services, considering it a conflict of interest. 8 The UNHCR’s 2009 Grand Total revised budget was $1.81 Billion 9, about $72 per capita, 40% less than UNRWA's. UNHCR employs only 6,300 staffers, but it is responsible for more than eleven million refugees and more than 14 million internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide. 10 Thus, one UNHCR employee takes to care of 4,000 people - 26 times more than one UNRWA employee does. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Palestinian refugee's socioeconomic status is much better compared to other refugees. It is even better in many cases compared to the status of almost all permanent residents in most Arab and Muslim countries. Since 1967, when a large share of the Palestinians found themselves under Israeli rule, they have become more educated, wealthier, and healthier than the residents of most other Arab countries. In less than one generation, the share of the illiterate in the Arab population of Judea and Samaria dropped from 47.5% in 1970 to only 15.8% in 1995. It declined in Gaza Strip from 51.1% in 1970 to 21.3% in 1990. 11 12 The total share of educated people among Palestinians reaches today 92.4% of all population living in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, the same as in Singapore, compared with 80.8% in Syria and 71.4% in Egypt. ii iii UNHCR - UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNRWA - United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 5 The average annual GDP in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, as of 2009, 13 reaches 2,900 dollars per capita (PPP iv) and in addition to the financial assistance from the international community - 3,380 dollars per capita. Just to compare: the GDP per capita in India is $2,800, Pakistan - $2,600, Yemen - $2,400, Nigeria – $2,300, Sudan - $2,200, Mauritania – $2,100, Kenya – $1600, Bangladesh and Ghana – $1,500, Ethiopia and Afghanistan – $800, Somalia - 600 dollars, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - $300 per year. The life expectancy of Arabs in Judea and Samaria is 74.5 (75.5 in 2012 14.-Y.F.) and 73.4 years in Gaza Strip (74.4 in 2012.-Y.F.) versus 73.7 in Lebanon, 73.4 years in China, 72 – in Turkey, Brazil, and Egypt, 71.8 – in Morocco, 71 years in Syria and Iran, 70.7 in Indonesia, 69.9 in India, 68.3 in Ukraine, 66 in Russia, 64.5 – in Pakistan, 60.3 in Bangladesh, 51.4 - in Sudan, 49.6 in Somalia and only 38.2 years in Angola 15. All this is, of course, thanks to the help of the UN and the Western countries... and under Israel's control and supervision directly for at least the past 30 years. Therefore, it is obviously not surprising at all that the Palestinians do not want to change this situation, concludes the author of the article published on the website "Asia Times Online." The Palestinians simply do not want to take their fate into their own hands, risking facing the reduction of external assistance and deterioration of their standard of living to the average level in other Arab and Muslim countries. The Arab citizens of Israel are enjoying a much higher standard of living. Only 5% are illiterate, and their Life expectancy (77.7 years) is almost the same as in the USA (78.1 years). They have a strong representation of thirteen members in the Israeli Knesset and enjoy full municipal, religious, and cultural autonomy within the borders of the Jewish State. The Arab language is the second official language in the State of Israel, besides the Hebrew language. Therefore, it is not surprising that they vehemently oppose any idea of some Israelis transferring a part of the Israeli territory, where most of the population is Arabic, to the future Palestinian State. The vast majority of the Israeli Arabs definitely prefer to live in the Jewish than in the Arab State. Add to this that the experience of self-rule under a corrupt dictatorship of the PLO's Palestinian Authority and the growing trend of violent Islamic rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip demonstrated to the Arabs what they could expect next. For the same reason, thousands of the Arabs who have their ID registered in Jerusalem and, therefore, have the status of permanent residents in Israel recently left behind their comfortable apartments in Ramallah, El-Bireh, and other Palestinian Authority cities and moved to live in the basements in the East Jerusalem. They are aware of what happened in 2008 to 4,577 East Jerusalemites whose residency rights were revoked by the Israeli Interior Ministry after it was found that they were actually living in other countries for the last seven years. 16 They are afraid to lose the benefits iv Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) - the GDP per capita index adjusted to compare the level of economic development of nations based on the theory that, in the long run, identical products and services should cost the same in different countries. 6 of the Israeli standard of living if the Palestinian State would be established after all. All this explains why the pragmatic and realistic Palestinians do not want to settle in the dwarf country v within the borders of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, despite loud public statements made by their leadership. After all, as long as the ArabJewish conflict continues, they live at the expense of Israel and the international community. However, the political process that began with implementing the Oslo Accords resumed previous Arab expectations and launched their old aspirations once again. The Palestinians have chosen not to reach a final agreement with Israel on Palestinian statehood in the hope that Jews will break down and voluntarily give away their country. Yet, since the path of armed struggle led Arabs only to repeated defeats, the secular part of the leadership of the PLO thought about other - this time peaceful options to solve the Palestinian problem in favor of the Arabs. Even so, following Arafat's Phased plan, along with the peace talks aimed at Israel's territorial concessions, the Palestinians, as Mahmud Abbas clearly stated recently, are not resigning from using force to achieve their goal when such an opportunity arises. 3. Arab offers for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict 3.1. Prof. Sari Nusseibeh vi solution In an article published in the Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz" in the early '90s of the last century, Prof. Sari Nusseibeh pointed out three options for the purpose of reducing the density of the population in the Gaza Strip to a more reasonable level. According to the first scenario, five hundred thousand Arab refugees will return from Gaza to Ashkelon, Be'er Sheva, Lod, Ramle, Jaffa, etc. Another scenario implied demand for adding a portion of Israel's Negev territory to the Gaza Strip. In this case, the size of the area available for the Arabs in Gaza would rise ten folds, and the size of Israel's territory would be reduced to only 17 thousand square kilometers. The third scenario - is to settle the Arab refugees elsewhere. It is interesting to notice that the first and second scenarios partially adopted the so-called "Geneva Initiative" plan prepared by the Israeli ultra-left-wing politicians. According to it, the Gaza Strip area would be enlarged by ninety sq km taken from Israel. 17 Some number of the Arab "Refugees will be given a choice to… move to Israel (those numbers would be based on the sovereign decision of Israel). In determining its numbers, Israel will consider the average of the numbers submitted by other countries." 18 Contrary to the authors of "Geneva Initiative," Professor Nusseibeh concluded that the preferred solution for the Palestinian problem is… the annexation of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip by Israel and giving citizenship to all Arab residents. v A Dwarf state is a state having a tiny population or a very small land area. Among such states are, for example, Cabo Verde (4,033 sq km), Polynésie française (4,167 sq km), Luxemburg (2,586 sq km) and Independent State of Samoa (2,935 sq km). vi Prof. Sari Nusseibeh is the president of the Jerusalem Al-Quds University 7 That, noted Prof. Nusseibeh, would begin the natural process of transforming the State of Israel into a country with an Arab majority, and the Arabs will be able to achieve their goals in a peaceful way. 19 3.2. Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid Arab infiltration plan Similar thoughts led Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid vii to offer a planned and coordinated infiltration tactic of the residents of the Arab states into Israel. Dr. AlMagid pointed to the phenomenon that was prevalent in the late '90s of the XX century when tens of thousands of Arabs took advantage of the liberal attitude of the Israeli Interior Ministry to the question of the Family unification and – by arranging real or sham marriages with citizens of Israel - were given permanent residency status in the Jewish State. Dr. Al-Magid wrote the following in his article published in the London-based daily "Al-Hayat": "...The Arabs of 1948 [i.e., Israeli Arabs] may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will undoubtedly be the majority in 2048, a century after their Nakbah and first defeat… We must support the connections [between Israeli Arabs and Arab countries] so that better opportunities develop for Arab action whose purpose is to make use of and increase the demographic threat that faces Israel… The demographic threat does not derive solely from the 1948 Palestinians' natural increase, but also from the infiltration of thousands of Palestinians into Israel. These stay in Israel and create facts on the ground through marriage with citizens of the 1948 population... A third goal, which can be shouldered by the civil economic non-governmental institutions in the Arab world and especially in Jordan and Egypt, is to support the movement of Palestinians from PA territories and from elsewhere into Israeli 'Green Line' borders. Such a movement exists, but it is random and requires organizing, especially since the Israeli authorities have increased their countermeasures." 20 It is reasonable to assume that such a scenario, if implemented, could be followed by rapidly increasing Jewish emigration. An analogous situation that had already happened in Lebanon (a country with a Christian majority became a country with a Muslim majority) apparently reinforces Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid's approach. 3.3. Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta's population transfer plan The idea of resolving the Jewish-Arab conflict peacefully in Arab favor was developed in another plan, published in June 1997 under the title "The Feasibility of the Right of Return." Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta prepared this plan based on the principle of the bi-national shared existence of Jews and Arabs in one country. viii It included the return of 4.6 million descendants of the Arab refugees to Israeli territory and transferring part of the Jewish population from their previous locations for resettlement into Jewish concentration areas within the country. 21 vii Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, the editor of Al-Ahram's "Arab Strategic Report" yearbook Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta - Founder and President of the Palestine Land Society (PLS) and General Coordinator of al-Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition viii 8 According to this plan, 76% of the total Jewish population in Israel would be concentrated eventually in Zone A` comprised of three enclaves: - the Haifa Sub-District in the North; - Tel-Aviv District, Petah Tikva and Rehovot Sub-districts, and the Western Sharon Natural region in the Center; - a part of the Jerusalem District - the "Judean Mountains" Natural region in the East. The size of Zone A' is 1,682 sq km, less than 8% of the total size of the State of Israel. 22 According to the ICBS data for the end 2008, 23 and following the Dr. AbuSitta plan, the total population of Zone A' would include 4,808,788 Jews and Arabs. The population density would then reach 2,859 people per square kilometer. Such density is 2.85 times higher than in Bangladesh, the country with the world's highest population density, or about seven times higher than in the Netherlands - the most densely populated European country. The remaining 24% of the Jews would be permitted to continue living as a national minority in Zone B' (total area of 1,465 square kilometers), where the population has already been mixed, and partly in Zone C' (covering an area of 17,178 square kilometers). Dr. Abu-Sitta plans Zone C' to absorb most of the 4.6 million descendants of the Arab refugees transferred from abroad. The Jewish minority allowed to remain there should not pass the threshold of 18% of the total population of Zone C '. Dr. Abu-Sitta argues that Jews remain in their natural condition as city dwellers, accustomed to living in compact and densely populated areas. The purpose of "resettlement" of the rural residents of the kibbutzim and moshavim is to release the vast areas used by them to settle in their place, Arab farmers. Dr. Abu-Sitta claims that millions of Arab villagers will be able to return to "engage in traditional agriculture" and live comfortably on the limited land plot and poor water sources. 24 The attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict suggested by Dr. Abu-Sitta could, at best, re-create the notorious Jewish Pale of Settlement that existed in Czarist Russia - a modern Middle Eastern version. In the less pleasant case, it is about creating several Jewish ghettos in the Land of Israel, re-creating the Nazi "invention" 9 several large Terezinshtads. It is doubtful that even the most compliant Israeli Government would agree to such a solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict. On the other hand, the reason for the Palestinian refusal to divide the Land of Israel is that Arabs, unlike Jews, are well aware of pragmatic, objective, and realistic assessment of its geographical, territorial, and economic limitations. It cannot be overcome without complete control over the entire territory from the Jordan River in the East and up to the Mediterranean Sea in the West. Here, in addition to the existing Arab-Israeli conflict of national aspirations, it joins the real and difficult demographic problem in the Land of Israel. But this Demographic problem is very different from the one people usually speak about in Israel and abroad. It is not related to the national or religious affiliation of the various parts of the population. This problem stems from the laws of nature and ecology. It could be defined by one question: how many people may reside in the Land of Israel while maintaining a high quality of life without destroying the environment and its natural resources? 4. How many people can the Land of Israel support? As Prof. Sari Nusseibeh expressed repeatedly, the small, scrappy territory of a Palestinian state limited to the territory inside the 1967 borders will be unable to support even the existing population. The size of this territory, which includes Judea and Samaria (5,600 sq km) and the Gaza Strip (360 sq km), is just a little bigger than the dimensions of a dwarf state. In Prof. Nusseibeh's opinion, it will be unstable politically, economically, and in terms of security and would be dangerous not only for Israel, Jordan, and other neighboring Middle Eastern countries but even for itself. The reality created by the Hamas democratic victory in Gaza demonstrated that Prof. Nusseibeh was entirely right. As Professor Justin McCarthy ix stated in 2001: "It is difficult to see how the agricultural or industrial base of Palestine can cope with the increased numbers that will result from high Palestinian fertility … Possessing neither the agricultural potential nor the economic base of either the Netherlands or England, Palestine can expect a demographic crisis". 25 It would be even worse if this country had to absorb, inside its limited territory 4.6 million of the descendants of the Arab refugees. They will definitely be driven out from the neighboring Arab states. For the same reasons, if the millions of the descendants of the Arab refugees were allowed to return to the entire territory of Israel, this would cause a humanitarian disaster. There is a natural limit to the population size that such a limited area could carry at a reasonable level of life quality. ix Justin McCarthy, Distinguished Professor of History, University of Louisville, Scholar of the Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey, and the Middle East 10 So far, this issue was not rising and was not discussed in Israel. Usually, the demographers prepare purely mathematical Demographic forecasts for 20, 30, and 50 years ahead. They do not consider the possible effects of population growth and the complex relationships between the natural environment and the demographic processes. For example, according to the medium scenario of the forecast made by UN demographers, the population of the Land of Israel may reach more than 22 million people by the middle of the XXI century. 26 The population density, in this case, considering the nominal area of all Land of Israel West to the Jordan River x would reach 846 people per square kilometer, more than twice that in the Netherlands. If Dr. Abu-Sitta's plan, contrary to common sense, would be materialized, then about five million Arabs would be added to the base of the forecast calculation. Then the population in the Land of Israel would be likely to reach more than thirty million people by 2050. In this case, the population density in the Land of Israel would be much higher than in the world's most densely populated "non-dwarf state" – Bangladesh (1,002 people per square kilometer). 27 Considering the ecological conditions in the Land of Israel, it means the collapse of all systems of life due to the consequences of Overpopulation, which is well known to the biologists from the other natural causes. On the other hand, if we will take, for example, the population density of the Netherlands as a basis for accounting for the optimal size of the population for the Land of Israel, it would be equal to 11 million people, i.e., only 1 million more than the total current population. Such an initial and very rough estimate indicates the complexity of the problems of the national conflict in the Land of Israel. The country is on the verge of Overpopulation, and those who do not see it and do not consider this when drawing up certain plans for a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Jewish conflict make a big mistake. The solution to this conflict must not be different from the proven and successful solutions found for other similar national conflicts that have existed in many countries throughout the history of Mankind. The Jews have only one land - the Land of Israel - Eretz Yisrael and their roots are deeply rooted in its ancient land - historical, national, religious, cultural, and emotional. During the last hundred years, the Jews restored the land that was neglected and desolated for centuries and rebuilt their nation while defending themselves against Arab neighbors' attacks. The Jews have nowhere to go from their State revived on the soil of their ancient Homeland, and they will not do it. On the other side, the increasing urbanization process is ongoing among the Arab population in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, and, respectively, a growing pressure of population density brings to the natural solution - emigration. x The total size of the Land of Israel - from the Jordan River and up to the Mediterranean - is around 26 thousand square kilometers 11 5. The Natural and Inevitable solution As Professor Janet Abu-Lughod xi noted in December 1986: "Nor will the Arab population within Palestine be able to grow indefinitely. Some outmigration, even in the absence of forced expulsion, is inevitable. The tiny Gaza Strip is now one of the most densely settled areas of the world, and there is a limit to its ability to contain more people, even at the appalling levels of subsistence that now prevail." 28 Professor Fred M. Gottheil xii wrote: "Hundreds of thousands left the Middle East entirely. Why should anyone suspect that Arab Palestinians would behave any differently than Egyptians, Mexicans, Ghanaians, or Moroccans, Indonesians, or any other population facing regional inequalities in technology, productivity, income, and employment?" 29 In August 2007, Dr. Luay Shabaneh, the President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, announced during a press conference on the occasion of World Youth Day that a third of young people in Palestine (45% men and 18% women) are considering emigrating. 30 Keeping this fact in mind, one could ask: how is it possible to think realistically about transferring millions of Arab refugees' descendants to a place that is already almost overpopulated? As the Saudi journalist, Yousef Nasser Al-Sweidan wrote: "It is patently obvious that uprooting the descendants of the refugees from their current homes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and other countries, and returning them to Israel, to the West Bank, and to Gaza is a utopian ideal and [a recipe for] anarchy. More than that - it is an idea that cannot be implemented, not only because it will upset the demographic [balance] in a dangerous and destructive manner, and will have [far-reaching] political, economic and social ramifications in such a small and constrained geographical area, but [mainly] because the return [of the refugees] stands in blatant contradiction to Israel's right as a sovereign [State], while the Palestinian Authority lacks the infrastructure to absorb such a large number of immigrants." 31 "Palestinian refugees must be spread and re-settled in all Arab states… The only solution that makes sense is to re-settle them in the 21 Arab states." - wrote Dr. Joseph Hitti. xiii – "A quota system may be adopted such that the largest and wealthiest countries re-settle larger numbers of refugees than smaller and poorer countries." 32 In Dr. Hitti's opinion: "The traditional countries of emigration - US, Canada, Mexico, Central and Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand as well as those European countries who were directly responsible for the genesis of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict (e. g. Germany, the UK, etc.) – should offer to permanently settle on a quota basis those of the refugees who elect to do so. This solution would finally give xi Janet Abu-Lughod, Professor Emerita, Department of Sociology, New School University, an American sociologist with significant contributions to World-systems theory. xii Fred M. Gottheil, Professor of Economics, Director of the Center for Economic Education, University of Illinois, USA xiii Dr. Joseph Hitti, the expert on Lebanese politics and President of The New England Americans for Lebanon (NEAL), is a democracy activist who writes for the Global Politician about issues relating to Lebanon. 12 the refugees a chance for a better life, it would allow Lebanon to finally be on the track of recovery and would contribute to the final resolution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict". Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have already emigrated from the Land of Israel and found their new home in other countries worldwide. They established flourishing communities in Jordan, Chile, Germany, Honduras, Sweden, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Continuation of the increasing Arab emigration will exercise a powerful influence on the demographic balance between Jews and Arabs and the demographic situation in the Land of Israel as a whole. It may also diminish the tensions between Jews and Arabs and lead to a natural and peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It just needs a realistic approach of the World public opinion to this problem and a carefully organized international resettlement plan for those Arabs who had expressed their will to find their future and a better life in other countries. 1 Josef Joffe, "Do Palestinians really want a Two-State Solution?" The Wall Street Journal. Opinion Europe. January 27, 2009. WSJ.com 2 Justin McCarthy, Palestine's Population During The Ottoman And The British Mandate Periods. Palestinians in the World. Posted on SEPTEMBER-8-2001 http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story559.html 3 Palestine problem hopeless, but not serious. By Spengler. Middle East, August 18, 2009, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KH18Ak01.html 4 UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide. Press Releases, 16 June 2009 http://www.unhcr.org/4a2fd52412d.html 5 Who is a Palestine Refugee? http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/whois.html 6 US Senate dramatically scales down definition of Palestinian ‘refugees,’ by Ari Ben Goldberg, The Times of Israel, May 25, 2012 http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-senate-dramatically-redefines-definition-of-palestinian-refugees/ 7 UNRWA and the European Union inaugurate a new secondary school in Taalabaya. February 13, 2009. http://www.unrwa-lebanon.org/nle/ 8 Defund UNRWA. by Asaf Romirowsky. Washington Times. May 19, 2008, http://www.meforum.org/1896/defund-unrwa 9 Model of UNHCR’s 2009 revised budget. in the new budget structure. (Document EC/59/SC/INF.3 refers) http://www.unhcr.org/48d226d32.html 10 Gaza Bedfellows UNRWA And Hamas. By Claudia Rosett, 01.08.09. Forbes.com http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/07/gaza-hamas-unrwa-oped-cx_cr_0108rosett.html 11 Israeli Statistical Yearbook 1991, #42, st. 27.49 12 Israeli Statistical Yearbook 1996, #47, Education. st. 27.35 13 Source: CIA World Factbook 2009. GDP - per capita (PPP) 2009 Country Ranks http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/gdp_per_capita_2009_1.html 14 The CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/we.html 15 Index Mundi. Country Comparison . Life expectancy at birth. Source: CIA World Factbook Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of January 1, 2009 http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=30&l=en 16 Israel stripped thousands of Jerusalem Arabs of residency in 2008, by Nir Hasson, 02/12/2009 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132170.html 17 The Geneva Initiative - Summary and Key Points, Article 4 - Borders & Settlements, by Gidon D. Remba, President, Chicago Peace Now and Marc Swetlitz. http://www.chicagopeacenow.org/Geneva-Summary.html 13 18 The Geneva Initiative - Summary and Key Points, Article 7 - Palestinian Refugees, by Gidon D. Remba, President, Chicago Peace Now and Marc Swetlitz. 19 Published in the Israeli journal "Koteret Rashit", November 13, 1985 20 La Presse Palestinienne, An Egyptian Intellectual: Arabs must use the Demographic factor against Israel: quoted from Al-Hayat (London-Beirut). July 29, 2001 Retour Accueil, Version en Anglais, http://www.crif-grenoble.org/revue%20de%20presse/presse%20palestinienne/pp0014.htm 21 The Feasibility of the Right of Return, by Dr Salman Abu Sitta, ICJ and CIMEL paper, June 1997. http://prrn.mcgill.ca/research/papers/abusitta.htm 22 Israeli Statistical Yearbook #59, 2008, Area of Districts, Sub-Districts, Natural Regions, and Lakes, st01-01 23 Israeli Statistical Yearbook #60, 2009, Locality and Population, by Population Group, District, Sub- District and Natural Region, st. 2-8. 24 The Feasibility of the Right of Return, by Dr Salman Abu Sitta, The Return Plan, ICJ and CIMEL paper, June 1997. Palestine Land Society 25 Justin McCarthy, "Palestine's Population During The Ottoman And The British Mandate Periods, Total Population: Palestinians in the World." Posted on September-8-2001 http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story559.html 26 Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision, http://esa.un.org/unpp, July 15, 2002 27 WorldAtlas.com. Data Sources: CIA World Factbook and other public domain resources (February 2006). Countries of the World (by highest population density) http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctydensityh.htm 28 The Demographic War For Palestine, The Bottom Line, by Janet Abu-Lughod, The Link, Vol. 19, No. 5, December 1986 29 “The Smoking Gun: Arab Immigration into Palestine, 1922-1931”, by Fred M. Gottheil. Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2003, on the Middle East Forum website, http://www.meforum.org/article/522 30 "A third of the Palestinian young people are considering to emigrate", by Ran Farhi. 15/8/2007. Quoted from the newspaper "Al-Hayat Al-Jadida", 13/8/2007. http://www.pmw.org.il/Heb/News/i210622.html 31 "On the Impossible [Idea] of the Right of Return", by Yousef Nasser Al-Sweidan, Kuwaiti daily "Al-Siyassa", March 5, 2007. Quoted in the article "Saudi Columnist: ‘The Right of Return Is an Illusion", "The Right of Return - An Idea that Cannot Be Implemented". MEMRI – The Middle East Media Research Institute, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Special Dispatch - No. 1540 April 12, 2007 No. 1540, http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=conflict&ID=SP154007 32 Palestinian Refugees Must Be Spread And Re-Settled In All Arab States. By Dr. Joseph Hitti. Global Politician Magazine 5/25/2007. http://www.globalpolitician.com/22866-palestinians 14