Arabs Don't Want Palestinians in Their Countries

[Anonymous]

I lived in the region for a lot of frickin years. I know the realities of the region that the BDS movement does not want ignorant Westerners to know. I met some cool Palestinian guest workers in the UAE, Libya, KSA, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and Iraq. But, as permanent residents, they are not welcome in the region.



https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14366/arabs-nightmare-absorbing-palestinians">https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1436 ... lestinians">https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14366/arabs-nightmare-absorbing-palestinians

Lebanon says it fully supports the Palestinians in their fight against Israel -- but would like to see them leave the country as soon as possible.



This is the modern-day version of Arab "solidarity" with their Palestinian brothers: discrimination and apartheid -- no jobs, no citizenship, no health care and no social services.



Nor do Palestinian leaders give a damn about the welfare of their people. If they did, it would be hard to justify their impressive efforts to foil an economic conference whose main goal is to lift their people out of the economic hell these very leaders created and vigorously maintain.



The Lebanese are worried that a new law for the management of Palestinian refugee camps will pave the way for the "resettlement" of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon. The prospect of "resettling" Palestinians is a nightmare that has been haunting the Lebanese for decades.



Like most Arab countries, Lebanon has long treated Palestinians as second-class citizens. It has been depriving them of basic rights, including citizenship, employment, heath care, education, social services and property ownership. The vast majority of the 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon do not have Lebanese citizenship.



In 2001, the Lebanese Parliament passed a law prohibiting Palestinians from owning property, and Lebanese law also restricts their ability to work in as many as 20 professions. Lebanon continues to ignore calls by various human rights groups to the Lebanese authorities to end discrimination against Palestinians.



A 2007 report by Amnesty International noted:



"We urge the Lebanese to take immediate measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against Palestinian refugees in order to enable them to exercise their economic, social and cultural rights on the same basis as the rest of the population of Lebanon. Continuing restrictions which deny Palestinian refugees access to their rights to work, education and adequate housing and health are wholly unjustified and should be lifted without further procrastination or delay."



Instead of improving the living conditions of the Palestinians, the Lebanese seem to be brainstorming on how to rid themselves of their unwelcome Arab brothers.



Some Lebanese are even concerned about a new law which, they believe, could pave the way for the "resettlement" of Palestinians in Lebanon. The reason for their concern: a report in a Lebanese newspaper about a new law to "administer" Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.



The proposed law, drafted by the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, aims to ease tensions between the two sides and improve the living conditions of Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon.



Article One of the law states that its goal is to "regulate the management of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon while preserving their Palestinian national identity and affirming the sovereignty of the Lebanese state as a host country in these camps."



The law will allow a Lebanese "national commission" to determine the geographic scope of each camp, conduct a comprehensive population survey of its residents and manage public services, including water, electricity, sanitation and infrastructure.



The law comes amid continued tensions between the Lebanese authorities and Palestinians, particularly in the aftermath of armed clashes between rival Palestinian factions in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps. The Lebanese security forces do not operate inside the camps, which have long been the scene of armed clashes between Palestinian groups, including Hamas, Fatah and Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.



Last month, the Palestinians reached an agreement with the Lebanese authorities to "demilitarize" the Mieh Mieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, which was the scene of armed clashes between rival Palestinian groups in the past two years. The agreement allows the Lebanese army to operate inside the camp, home to some 5,000 Palestinians.

[Anonymous]

Page 2



Yet not all Lebanese seem to be satisfied with the way their government is handling the issue of the Palestinians in Lebanon. The Lebanese fear that the new law to manage the Palestinian refugee camp is nothing but a disguise to "resettle" the Palestinians in Lebanon, thus tampering with the country's demographics.



Lebanon's Maronite League, a private and apolitical organization of Lebanese Christian notables dedicated mainly to defending the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, expressed concern that the Lebanese authorities were about to replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in managing the affairs of the Palestinians.



Evidently concerned that the proposed law would result in the "resettlement" of Palestinians in Lebanon, the Maronite League said that it "coincides with the talk about [US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced] Deal of the Century, which seeks to deprive the Palestinians of their right to return" to their former homes inside Israel.



In an attempt to refute the charges of "resettlement," the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, which initiated the controversial law, denied any connection to Trump's peace plan.



"The Lebanese and Palestinians are unanimous in rejecting the resettlement [of Palestinians] and confronting the Deal of the Century," the committee said in a statement. "Any discussion that is based on facts rather than assumptions and fragile scenarios, is a sound and welcome debate."



The new law may be a sincere attempt to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon. However, each time a plan is presented to improve the living conditions of Palestinians, whether in any Arab country or the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conspiracy theorists immediately do their best to derail these efforts.



The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership has called on Palestinians and Arabs to boycott the US-led economic conference scheduled to take place in Bahrain later this month. The planned conference, as part of the Deal of the Century, is aimed at achieving economic prosperity for the Palestinians.



Palestinian leaders, however, claim that the Bahrain economic workshop is part of an American-Israeli conspiracy to bribe the Palestinians into surrendering their "national rights".



The Arab states, for their part, hardly seem to care about the Palestinians. Otherwise, they would not have kept them in squalor in refugee camps, decade after decade. Lebanon says it fully supports the Palestinians in their fight against Israel -- but would like to see them leave the country as soon as possible. Here is the message Lebanon and other Arab countries are sending to the Palestinians: "We love you and we support you -- and stay far, far away from us."



This is the modern-day version of Arab "solidarity" with their Palestinian brothers: discrimination and apartheid -- no jobs, no citizenship, no health care and no social services.



Nor do Palestinian leaders give a damn about the welfare of their people. If they did, it would be hard to justify their impressive efforts to foil an economic conference whose main goal is to lift their people out of the economic hell these very leaders created and vigorously maintain.



Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

[Anonymous]

It would seem Palestinians have more rights in Israel than any other country in the region.

[Bricktop]

It should not be forgotten that the King Of Jordan kicked the Palestinians out of his country using lethal force, almost killing Yassar Arafat in the process.



And the Jordanian Arabs are closely related to "Palestinians".



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September">//https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September

[Anonymous]

It should not be forgotten that the King Of Jordan kicked the Palestinians out of his country using lethal force, almost killing Yassar Arafat in the process.



And the Jordanian Arabs are closely related to "Palestinians".



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September">//https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September

Too bad the King of Jordan wasn't successful in his assassination attempt.

[Bricktop]

Apparently they shelled Arafat's location and missed him by THAT much...

[Anonymous]

Christians are the real victims in the Palestine.



https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14358/palestinian-christians-persecution">https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1435 ... ersecution">https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14358/palestinian-christians-persecution

The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians



"Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule.... That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.



Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.



"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Israel Today.



As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region explains, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."





Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth, including Bethlehem (pictured). According to lawyer and scholar Justus Reid Weiner, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving." (Image source: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)



At a time when Christians throughout the Muslim world are suffering from a variety of persecution, the plight of Palestinian Christians is seldom heard.



It exists. Open Doors, a human rights group that follows the persecution of Christians, notes that Palestinian Christians suffer from a "high" level of persecution, the source of which is, in its words, "Islamic Oppression":



"Those who convert to Christianity from Islam, however, face the worst Christian persecution and it is difficult for them to safely participate in existing churches. In the West Bank they are threatened and put under great pressure, in Gaza their situation is so dangerous that they live their Christian faith in utmost secrecy....The influence of radical Islamic ideology is rising, and historical churches have to be diplomatic in their approach towards Muslims."



That said, while reports of the persecution of Christians emanate regularly from other Muslim majority regions around the world — Pakistan, Egypt, and Nigeria as three examples — little is mentioned of those Christians living under the Palestinian Authority.



Why is that? Is it because they experience significantly less persecution than their coreligionists around the Muslim world? Or is it because of their unique situation — living in a hotly contested arena with much political and media wrangling in the balance?



"The Persecution of Christians in the Palestinian Authority," a new report by Dr. Edy Cohen, published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on May 27, goes a long way in answering these questions.



First, it documents three recent anecdotes of persecution of Christians, none of which was reported by the so-called "mainstream media":



"On April 25, the terrified residents of the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah ... were attacked by Muslim gunmen ... after a woman from the village submitted a complaint to the police that the son of a prominent, Fatah-affiliated leader had attacked her family. In response, dozens of Fatah gunmen came to the village, fired hundreds of bullets in the air, threw petrol bombs while shouting curses, and caused severe damage to public property. It was a miracle that there were no dead or wounded...



"The second incident occurred during the night of May 13. Vandals broke into a church of the Maronite community in the center of Bethlehem, desecrated it, and stole expensive equipment belonging to the church, including the security cameras.



"Three days later it was the turn of the Anglican church in the village of Aboud, west of Ramallah. Vandals cut through the fence, broke the windows of the church, and broke in. They desecrated it, looked for valuable items, and stole a great deal of equipment.



"According to its Facebook page, this is the sixth time the Maronite church in Bethlehem has been subjected to acts of vandalism and theft, including an arson attack in 2015 that caused considerable damage and forced the church to close for a lengthy period."



These three attacks, which occurred in the span of three weeks, fit the same pattern of abuse that Christians in other Muslim majority regions habitually experience. While the desecration and plundering of churches is prevalent, so too are Muslim mobs rising against Christian minorities, whenever the latter — perceived as dhimmis, or third-class, tolerated "citizens" who are often expected to be grateful they are tolerated at all — dare speak up for their rights, as occurred the Christian village of Jifna on April 25:



"[T]he rioters called on the [Christian] residents to pay jizya—a head tax that was levied throughout history on non-Muslim minorities under Islamic rule. The most recent victims of the jizya were the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria under ISIS rule."



Moreover, as often happens when Muslims attack Christians in Islamic nations, "Despite the [Christian] residents' cries for help" in Jifna, "the PA police did not intervene during the hours of mayhem. They have not arrested any suspects." Similarly, "no suspects were arrested" in the two church attacks.

[Blurt]

For some reason, I read the title of this thread as "Arabs Don't Want Palestinians in Their Costumes."



I must be tired. And that's the naked truth.

[Anonymous]

For some reason, I read the title of this thread as "Arabs Don't Want Palestinians in Their Costumes."



I must be tired. And that's the naked truth.

 ac_toofunny

[Gaon]

Christians are the real victims in the Palestine.

Along with Jews, women, homosexuals, Bahai, and atheists.

[Gaon]

Israel is the only country in the region that guarantees the rights of Palestinians. And that includes the PA itself.

[Anonymous]

Israel is the only country in the region that guarantees the rights of Palestinians. And that includes the PA itself.

I met Palestinian workers in the rich gulf states. If you asked any of them if they would rather be in Kuwait or Israel, I guarantee their answer would be Israel.