Dear Buharry,
The articles are very informative. Thanks a zillion times for the time you
have devoted in sharing it with the L-community.

Enjoy your Eid

BMK




>From: MOMODOU BUHARRY GASSAMA <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Palestine,              Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict -
>Part 5 - The Palestinian              Arab Refugees
>Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 23:26:12 +0100
>
>Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
>
>By Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar
>
>
>The Palestinian Arab Refugees
>
>As a consequence of the fighting in Palestine/Israel between 1947 and 1949,
>over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees. The precise number of
>refugees, and questions of responsibility for their exodus are sharply
>disputed. Many Palestinians have claimed that most were expelled in
>accordance with a Zionist plan to rid the country of its non-Jewish
>inhabitants. The official Israeli position holds that the refugees fled on
>orders from Arab political and military leaders. One Israeli military
>intelligence document indicates that at least 75 percent of the refugees
>left due to Zionist or Israeli military actions, psychological campaigns
>aimed at frightening Arabs into leaving, and direct expulsions. Only about
>5 percent left on orders from Arab authorities. There are several
>well-documented cases of mass expulsions during and after the military
>operations of 1948-49 and massacres and atrocities that led to large-scale
>Arab flight. The best-known instance of mass expulsion is that of the
>50,000 Arabs of the towns of Lydda and Ramle. The most infamous atrocity
>occurred at Deir Yasin, a village near Jerusalem, where estimates of the
>number of Arab residents killed in cold blood by Israeli fighters range
>from about 125 to over 250.
>
>Palestinians
>
>Today this term refers to the Arabs -- Christian, Muslim and Druze -- whose
>historical roots can be traced to the territory of Palestine as defined by
>the British mandate borders. About 3 million Palestinians now live within
>this area, which is divided between the state of Israel, and the West Bank
>and Gaza; these latter areas were captured and occupied by Israel in 1967.
>Today, over 700,000 Palestinians are citizens of Israel, living inside the
>country's 1949 armistice borders. About 1.2 million live in the West Bank
>(including 200,000 in East Jerusalem) and about one million in the Gaza
>Strip. The remainder of the Palestinian people, perhaps another 3 million,
>lives in diaspora, outside the country they claim as their national
>homeland.
>The largest Palestinian diaspora community, approximately 1.3 million, is
>in Jordan. Many of them still live in the refugee camps that were
>established in 1949, although others live in cities and towns. Lebanon and
>Syria also have large Palestinian populations, many of whom still live in
>refugee camps. Many Palestinians have moved to Saudi Arabia and other Arab
>Gulf countries to work, and some have moved to other parts of the Middle
>East or other parts of the world. Jordan is the only Arab state to grant
>citizenship to the Palestinians who live there. Palestinians in Arab states
>generally do not enjoy the same rights as the citizens of those states. The
>situation of the refugees in Lebanon is especially dire; many Lebanese
>blame Palestinians for the civil war that wracked that country from
>1975-91, and demand that they be resettled elsewhere in order for the
>Lebanese to maintain peace in their country. The Christian population of
>Lebanon is particularly anxious to rid the country of the mainly Muslim
>Palestinians because of a fear that they threaten the delicate balance
>among the country's religious groups.
>Although many Palestinians still live in refugee camps and slums, others
>have become economically successful. Palestinians now have the highest per
>capita rate of university graduates in the Arab world. Their diaspora
>experience has contributed to a high level of politicization of all sectors
>of the Palestinian people.
>
>The Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel
>
>In 1948, only about 150,000 Palestinian Arabs remained in the area that
>became the state of Israel. They were granted Israeli citizenship and the
>right to vote. But in many respects they were and remain second-class
>citizens, since Israel defines itself as the state of the Jewish people and
>Palestinians are non-Jews. Until 1966 most of them were subject to a
>military government that restricted their movement and other rights (to
>speech, association and so on). Arabs were not permitted to become full
>members of the Israeli trade union federation, the Histadrut, until 1965.
>About 40 percent of their lands were confiscated by the state and used for
>development projects that benefited Jews primarily or exclusively. All of
>Israel's governments have discriminated against the Arab population by
>allocating far fewer resources for education, health care, public works,
>municipal government and economic development to the Arab sector.
>
>Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel have had a difficult struggle to
>maintain their cultural and political identity in a state that officially
>regards expression of Palestinian or Arab national sentiment as subversive.
>Until 1967, they were entirely isolated from the Arab world and were often
>regarded by other Arabs as traitors for living in Israel. Since 1967, many
>have become more aware of their identity as Palestinians. One important
>expression of this identity was the organization of a general strike on
>March 30, 1976, designated as Land Day, to protest the continuing
>confiscation of Arab lands. The Israeli security forces killed six Arab
>citizens on that day. All Palestinians now commemorate it as a national
>day.
>Many Palestinian Arabs have also come to understand that their political
>status as Israeli citizens and their protracted contact with Israeli
>society has differentiated them from other Palestinians. Although most of
>them support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and
>the Gaza Strip, few would pursue the possibility of relocating there if
>such a state comes into existence.
>
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