BY RICHARD BOOKER, PART 5 of MYTHOMANIACS—
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.
Myths and Facts gives the following information:
“The Palestinians left their homes in 1947-1948 for a variety of reasons. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war, thousands more responded to Arab leaders’ calls to get out of the way of the advancing armies, a handful were expelled, but most simply fled to avoid being caught in the cross fire of a battle.
“Many Arabs claim that 800,000 to 1,000,000 Palestinians became refugees in 1947-1949. The last census was taken by the British in 1945. It found approximately 1.2 million permanent Arab residents in all of Palestine. On November 30, 1947, the date the UN voted for partition, the total within the boundaries of the State of Israel was 809,100. A 1949 Government of Israel census 160,000 Arabs living in the country after the war. This meant no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. A report by the UN Mediator on Palestine arrived at even lower figure – 472,000.
“Although much is heard about the plight of the Palestinian refugees, little is said about the Jews who fled from Arab states. Their situation had long been precarious. During the 1947 UN debates, Arab leaders threatened them. Fore example, Egypt’s delegate told the General Assembly: ‘the lives on one million Jews in Muslim countries would be jeopardized by partition.’
“The number of Jews fleeing Arab countries for Israel in the years following Israel’s independence was roughly equal to the number of Arabs leaving Palestine. Many Jews were allowed to take little more than the shirts on their backs. These refugees had no desire to be repatriated. Little is heard about them because they did not remain refugees for long. Of the 820,000 Jewish refugees, 586,000 were resettled in Israel at great expense, and without any offer of compensation from the Arab governments who confiscated their possessions.
“Israel has consequently maintained that any agreement to compensate the Palestinian refugees must also include Arab compensation for Jewish refugees. To this day, the Arab states have refused to pay any compensation to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced toabandon their property before fleeing those countries.”
We see that the hated “Jewish-Zionists” did not force the Arab Palestinians to leave. Their own leaders forced them to leave the land or they left of their own accord. 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 conducted youth camps where he taught young people how to fight the Jews. Now that he has died, those who have taken his place continue the camps. They dress up small children in uniforms and teach them how to blow themselves up as martyrs. And as the whole world now knows, they send children out to fight their battles for them. Truly, we are in the middle of the “Battle for Truth.” Will you join in this great battle?
Dr. Richard Booker is a pioneering Christian Zionist and the author of 40 books and numerous courses many of which are on Israel and Jewish-Christian relationships. He is considered a spiritual father to many. To learn more about his ministry and teaching resources, see his web site and online bookstore at: www.rbooker.com.