September 12, 2024
Palestinian Refugees
From present-day Israel, 700,000 Arabs were
expelled, and a similar number of Jews were forced out of Arab countries—a
painful ethnic cleansing. 350,000 Istrians were expelled from their ancestral
lands, perhaps 10 million Germans, with just as many during the partition of
Pakistan and India, millions of Greeks from Anatolia, and more recently, around
a million Azeris and Armenians.
Why is the Palestinian issue still at the center while all the others have faded?
Because for the Arab world, the Palestinian issue is not just a claim to a small
territory; it has taken on an emblematic, ideological value. Initially, it
symbolized the struggle against colonialism (during the PLO era) and now, for
believers, even against Satan. This is a crucial element of the entire issue,
often overlooked.