Definition of a Refugee
According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR,
"Refugees are people who have fled their countries to escape conflict, violence, or persecution and have sought safety in another country".
Jewish Refugeees in the Middle East
During the first half of the 20th century, about 850,000 to 1 million Jews lived in Arab and Middle Eastern countries. The establishment of Israel in 1948, combined with rising Arab nationalism and the attacks of the Arab armies against Israel led to widespread hostility toward Jews in these countries. As a result, nearly ALL the Jews had to flee from Arab countries to avoid persecution and pogroms. Between 1948 and 1972, over 850,000 Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries fled or were expelled. Around 700,000 of them emigrated to Israel.
Iraq: In 1950-1951, almost the entire Jewish population of Iraq (around 120,000 people) emigrated to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.
Yemen: In 1949-1950, about 50,000 Yemenite Jews were airlifted to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet.
Egypt: A large portion of the Jewish community 75,000-80,000 fled Egypt after the Suez Crisis in 1956.
Morocco: About 250,000-300,000 Jews left gradually from the 1950s to the 1960s, with a significant portion going to Israel.
Tunisia: About 100,000 Jews emigrated mostly to Israel.
Libya: About 30,000 Jews emigrated.
Syria and Lebanon: About 40,000 Jews emigrated to Israel.
Most of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries rapidly integrated into the modern society of Israel. This, despite the fact that Israel is a tiny country (about size of New Jersey) without any of the world's richest resources of petroleum in Arab countries. Today, the majority of the people in Israel are the descendants of Jews from Arab countries. (European Jews and their descendants constitute less than half the population of Israel).
The number of Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries is greater than the number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948, estimated as 343,000 (see Peters' book cited below).
• Video: "Arab countries: Where are your Jews?"
Arab population in the region
In Mark Twain's travelogue The Innocents Abroad (1869), he recounts his journey through the Holy Land, including areas that are now part of Israel. He describes the region as desolate, barren, and sparsely populated. His often-quoted depiction of the land includes statements such as:
"Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes... desolate and unlovely."
"A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds."
Twain was struck by the lack of development, the small villages, and the general state of neglect, in contrast to the biblical images many had of the Holy Land.
The development of the Jewish community under British mandate led to economic growth in the region providing job opportunities for Arab workers. Consequently, the Arab population of Palestine swelled by the influx of Arab immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and other Arab countries until 1947. While the British forces limited Jewish immigration, they allowed free entry of Arab migrants. The trend of Arab migration into Israel to find a job continues to the present day.
Mark Twain visited Jerusalem in the 1860s, and while he does not provide precise population numbers, historical estimates provide insight into the demographics of the city at that time:
Jewish Population: Historical estimates suggest that by the mid-19th century, Jews had become a majority in Jerusalem. By 1863, around the time of Twain's visit, the Jewish population of Jerusalem was estimated to be between 7,000 to 8,000.
Arab Population: The Arab population (Muslims and Christians combined) in Jerusalem was estimated to be around 4,000 to 5,000 at that time.
Thus, Jews formed a majority in Jerusalem at the time of Twain's visit.
Arab Refugeees from the British Mandate for Palestine
In 1947, the UN proposed a partition plan for the British Mandate for Palestine that was rejected by all the Arab countries. Arab leadership in Israel and in the countries surrounding Israel, planned a Jihad, holy war, against Israel and encouraged the Arabs to leave Israel promising their return after they purge the land of Jews. The great majority of Arabs left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier (Arab sources that describe what happened during the war of 1948 that caused the Palestinian refugee problem).
Arab refugee problem was created by the seven Arab countries that attacked Israel in 1948. Arab refugees were intentionally not integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the fact total territory of Arab countries is about 700 times greater than that of Israel. Out of about 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has not been absorbed into their own peoples' lands. Arab nations still maintain generations of the descendants of the refugees in so called "refugee camps" under squalid conditions with the hope that someday they will dislodge the Jews in Israel. The money spent by the Arab countries on armaments would be sufficient to build houses for all so called "refugees". Arab countries should be encouraged to care for their poor population instead of spending their richest resources in the world on armaments and development of terrorist groups such as Osama Bin Laden from Saudi Arabia.
The UN agency UNRWA defined a "Palestinian refugee", as any Arab who stayed in the country for two years prior to 1948. Thus, UNRWA included in their statistics migrant workers greatly swelling the ranks of so called "Palestinian refugees" (for best reference on the subject see: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters).
Also see a review of From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Daniel Pipes.
Since 1948, after three generations the descendants of the Arab refugees are still called "refugees" and are supported by UN "refugee" funds! With the highest birth rate in Arab countries this population has now grown to about four million. In negotiations, Arab leadership requests the "right of return" of this mass of millions into the tiny land of Israel. The settlement of millions of Arabs in Israel would immediately eliminate Israel as a Jewish state. This is the real aim of the Arab countries, to achieve by supposedly "peaceful" means what they could not achieve by unceasing violence in whole scale wars and daily terrorism.
The responsibility for keeping the Arab population who are descendants of the Arab refugees, rests only on the shoulders of the Arab countries that created the problem by attacking Israel in 1948.
Quote from Ralph Galloway, a former head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in Amman, capital of Jordan, in August 1958:
"The Arab states do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don't give a damn whether the refugees live or die."
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