One last point, why has not the Muslim community shown more compassion for the Palestinians?
No one has offered them any hospitality in their home countries. Why?
Kuwait expelled 450,000 Palestinians at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Prior to that expulsion, Palestinians made up nearly 30 percent of Kuwait's population.
Jordan continues to refuse citizenship applications from Palestinians -they absolutely will not allow a Palestinian to become a citizen, no way, no how. In fact, in the case of Palestinians who have in the past been able to become citizens, their Jordanian citizenship has been REVOKED.
Lebanon greatly restricts the basic rights of Palestinian refugees. They are denied access to Lebanese healthcare. They are not allowed to own property, and have to have special permission to even leave their camp. They are not alllowed to work in most job categories. Amnesty International has decried their treatment repeatedly.
The Arab League has instructed it's members to deny citizenship rights to Palestinians.
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 13 declares that "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country." Every single Arab League state voted AGAINST this resolution!
The Arab States are no friends to the Palestinians - in part because loosely affiliated people in the Palestine area opposed heavy handed Muslim rule in the 19th century.
In fact, Palestinians have NEVER ruled themselves - they were dominated by the Ottoman Empire, then by the British, then by Jordan and Egypt, and of course Israel.
The "Palestinian Identity" is a fairly new concept, dating back to the early twentieth century. Prior to that time frame, the people living in the Palestine area identified themselves via religious and clan affiliation. In fact, genetically speaking, most Palestinians are descended from Levantine Christians and Jews, though over the centuries many converted to Islam. Before the 1948 war, the term "Palestinian" meant ANYONE from "Palestine," - including Jews living in the area.
The British Census of 1922 registered 752,048 inhabitants in Palestine, consisting of 660,641 Palestinian Arabs (Christian and Muslim Arabs), 83,790 Palestinian Jews, and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. The corresponding percentage breakdown is 87% Christian and Muslim Arab and 11% Jewish. Bedouin were not counted in the census, but a 1930 British study estimated their number at 70,860.
In 1968 the Palestine National Council defined "Palestinian" as "those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father – whether in Palestine or outside it – is also a Palestinian."
(Various Wiki articles as source.)
I just thought this was all pretty interesting.
I firmly believe that the ONLY reason that the Arab states "support" Palestinian rights (and some pretty poor support that is) is because they want to see the complete and total dissolution of the state of Israel. They couldn't care less about the actual human rights of Palestinians.
The Palestinians are a pawn. I feel sorry for them - they are a desperate people who are not wanted by anyone - but in their desperation must allow themselves to be used. Their Arab supporters will no doubt discard them like unneeded trash once their own political motives are fulfilled.
