By Dr. Richard Booker

When Israel became a nation, 800,000 Jewish refugees fled from the Arab states to Israel. While it took tremendous sacrifice on the part of the new nation, these refugees, whose land and money was confiscated by the Arabs, were assimilated in the fledgling new state and became productive citizens of Israel. The growing Arab Palestinian population was not as fortunate.

Arab leaders from the neighboring countries declared war against Israel. They then instructed the Arab Palestinians to flee the Jewish state until the Jews were annihilated. They then could return and possess the land. While there is no doubt that Jewish fighters drove some Arabs away, the Jewish leaders encouraged the Arabs to stay.

The great majority of Arabs were not expelled but left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

The hated “Jewish-Zionists” did not force the Arab Palestinians to leave. Their own leaders forced them to leave the land. This created the Arab Palestinian refugee problem. The Arab countries have refused to assimilate the Arab Palestinians and care for their needs. Instead, they continue to use them as political pawns in their struggle against Israel.

Promising them glory, money, and paradise, and I might add CNN cameras, the PLO and other terrorist organizations have no problem recruiting young Arab Palestinians to fight the “Zionist” enemy. In fact, Yasser Arafat conducts youth camps where he teaches young people how to fight the Jews. He dresses up small children in uniforms and teaches them how to blow themselves up as martyrs. And as the whole world now knows, he sends children out to fight his battles for him.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was given the responsibility of administrating the refugee problem. The billions of dollars given by the UNRWA to assist the “refugees” comes primarily from the American taxpayer. This has become a big business with thousands profiting from it. No one connected with it has any interest in ending the plight of the displaced Arab Palestinians. The real legitimate right of these people is to be assimilated by the Arab countries from which they initially came.