The Arabs who abandoned their homes and properties back during the 1947-1949 Israel's War of Independence that was initiated by the Arabs, consisted of some 300,000 to 700,000 people. Most of those who fled remained within the country, between the Jordan River and the Med. Sea, thus, by definition can't be referred to as "refugees" but rather to "displaced persons". These people fled to areas such as Gaza, Samaria, Judea and the Jordan Valley. The rest of the Arabs who fled crossed into enemy territory and remained behind them, in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and even Iraq. As a result of the same war, some 840,000 Jews were expelled from the Muslim-Arab countries that surround Israel, as far back as Morocco in North Africa and Iraq and Yemen in the Middle East. These refugees were absorbed by Israel and integrated into Israeli society, thus we don't hear about them. It is high time the Arabs took care of their refugees and displaced persons, as the Jews have taken care of theirs; as the Indians and Pakistanis of theirs; as the Poles and German of theirs; as the Bulgarian and Turks, the Greek and Turks of theirs. After all, all of these refugees and displaced persons are the result of all the wars and conflicts of the first part of the 20th century.

Thomas Nides
The “refugees” will be counted like all refugees, without the [fake] political distinction of including descendents who were not born there as “refugees”. It will help to know the numbers being dealt with. As far as Deputy Secretary Thomas Nides’ comment that “This proposed amendment would be viewed around the world as the United States acting to prejudge and determine the outcome of this sensitive issue.”, it would actually cancel the original act of prejudgment by the UN [counting refugees as including those not born there] that has hindered “the outcome of this sensitive issue.” Kol ha’kavod.

such information a long time ago. But, Mr. Obama, true to the thrust of his conduct as the US president, is more loyal to the mentor, the Rev. J. Wright, than to the US public and its public coffers. And, as for the US's allies abroad, they can go to hell as far as the President is concerned, if they refuse to see the world as he sees it, through the viewing glasses of his associates of many years, such as Min. Farakhan and Profs. Said and Khalidi.

Unintended consequences of of such action will only result in encouraging the far right to continue a strategy of making life so unbearable for the occupied in hopes of them departing. Then waiting many decades to remove them from the refugee counts. A perpetual sort of cleansing. Unfortunately, revisionists repeat that tired propaganda that the Arab's attacked first. Even in the face of Israeli historians who contradict it. First, Arabic is a language not a race (Many Jews speak arabic, including some of the greatest jewish works are written in arabic by Jews.) Second, the Palestinians never had an Army, the only had a local police force. Jerusalem was defended in 1948 by the Police. Third, the so called "Arab" armies came in after the Israeli forces already started their actions and after the results were already a fate accompli. The battle then was over the West bank, and again, it was mainly the local police force that defended Jerusalem and allowed time for support to come in.

Kirk receives the highest level of funding from AIPAC of all senators and congressman. The US is in the crapper and Kirk is counting Palestinians. A sick joke.

First Arabs represent a people. This includes a race and a language. Yes there is an Arab race. Otherwise, how can you explain the very similar facial features of Arabs. Just like Scandinavians have similar features and Jews who have not mingled with westerners have similar features. Second, the "facts" you are bringing regarding the 1948 events are ALL made up either by yourself or other revisionists who try to change the facts to suit their purpose. If Israelis wanted really to get rid of the Arabs there would not be today over a million and a half Arabs in Israel enjoying more rights than the Arabs living in any other Arab country! Your arguments convince only Israel and Jew haters. Looking at your name, you sound like a self-hating Jew anyway

If the US Senate reads the heavily documented & widely accepted book by leaders of the Free World, "From Time Immemorial," they will clearly see that most of the so-called refugees are Arabs from Desert lands who sneaked into Israel for a better life between 1920 onwards. They run away from their oppressive regimes, much as they do today from Darfur, seeking a better life. The evidence is overwhelming: There were no more than "a few hundred" . The quotes are live proof from Arabs, Ottomans, Mark Twain, Churchill, etc that there were only a few hundred Arabs living in Israel. There were 850,000 Jewish refugees who were ethnically cleansed from Arab lands. Islam forbids infidels living in their midst.

f the US Senate reads the heavily documented & accepted book by leaders of the Free World, "From Time Immemorial," they will clearly see that most of the so-called refugees are Arabs from Desert lands who sneaked into Israel for a better life. They run away from their oppressive regimes, much as they do today from Darfur, seeking a better life. The evidence is overwhelming: There were no more than "a few hundred" . The quotes are live proof from Arabs, Ottomans, Mark Twain, Churchill, etc. There were 850,000 Jews in Arab lands who were ethnically cleansed & had to flee for their lies. Arabs hates infidels.

There is a unique definition for refugees for UNWRA purposes, reflecting the historical fact that probably half of the Palestinian refugees did not qualify as refugees under the standard definition because they were recent immigrants. The British, it will be remembered turned a blind eye to massive Arab immigration, which is why Hagannah/Palmach launched the night of the Bridges. There is another possible explanation for the massive increase in Arab population, but that involves 8 years old girls and 80 year old womwn giving birth.. The other problem is of documentation, which is lacking in many cases - and consider this - in the chaotic conditons after the war, if you were a poor Lebanese, Trans Jordanian or Syrian and had the opportuinity of a meal ticket for life, would'nt you claim to be a Palestinian as well?

Gaza is my homeland where I was born and grew up .. I don't say that my forefathers' town inside israel is my real town .. Only refugees living in Lebanon and Jordan really need a solution .. they live in bad conditions

It's not half - more like 80% according to the British that were not native to the Mandate. If they used the definition from international law (Geneva Convention) to be a refugee one would have had to live in that place since "time immemorial". Over 80% of the Arabs had been there for only 2 years - hence the special definition. There are actually less than 1,000 refugees and they get more aid than all other real refugees in the world combined.

Other than the UNRWA - which only deals with Arabs, no other UN agency defines the descendents of refugees as refugees. Outside of the Arab world it's unheard of that a person would not be granted citizenship or at permanent residency status in the country they were born in. The Arabs continue to perpetrate this inhumane injustice because they have deluded themselves into thinking they can erase Israel.

No one is going to take on a stateless existence just to get breadcrumbs of a subsidy from UNWRA. They can't get jobs. They have no rights. What a heartless attitude. Were it done to Jews, you would scream. These people will remain refugees until the Arab states naturalize them, which the Arab states refuse to do. Curtailing US funding will not change that. What the US should have done is change schoolbooks. The only result will be starving refugees more prone to violence and radicalism.

NO SUCH PLACE AS PALIWHATEVER! arabs that left Israel during the war of indepence Did So On there own Valition, as well as what they were told by Six arab Nations that After we Kill All the Jews you can have All the land!!! Six arab countries Attacked Israel AND LOST they Because their Actions were to finish what hitler Couldn't And these same arabs will Never be able to!!! The u.s. Should Round up all the Illegals who are in American cities through out Most states, Especially dearborn Mi, brooklyn,bronx N.Y. , NewJersey, California,southern cali from L.A. South to San Diego. As well as All student visa's who ran out and Never reapplied. Start By Cleaning up your own Backyard FIRST, I'm sure the u.s. Tax payer's would appreciate the relief Of This Financial Burden During these TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excuse me where are you getting your information from? Arabs are those people who lived in the The Arab-Land between Red Sea and Arab Gulf, and they were a groups of people lived with a certain life style that managed to make them survive in deserts. Now there is no such thing as Palestinians ( they are Arabs) most of whom come from Syria and Egypt and Jordan. Palestine is now a country nor was it ever a country. Now as far the the 1948 war, 1967 war and the 1973 war it was fought with the Jordanian Army, The Syrian Army and Egyptian Army. Not Palestinian Army or Palestinian police in as much as there is no such thing a a Palestinian. The Arabs (who now call themselves Palestinian) cannot even say the letter "P" how can they call themselves a name that cannot even say correctly. Get your facts correctly

Jack Singer, with all due respect, you have no clue what are you talking. You are either an ignorant person who never studied history or one of the unfortunate self-hating Jews. Here are some historical facts Mr. Singer: "On the eve of the war, the number of Arab troops likely to be committed to the war was about 23,000 (10,000 Egyptians, 4,500 Jordanians, 3,000 Iraqis, 3,000 Syrians, 2,000 ALA volunteers, 1,000 Lebanese and some Saudi Arabians), in addition to the irregular Palestinians already present. The Yishuv had 35,000 troops of the Haganah, 3,000 of Stern and Irgun and a few thousand armed settlers". However, it is also a fact that despite that the newly independent Israel was attacked, an arm embargo was imposed and only thanks to ingenuity, the arms were smuggled into Israel that helped to repel the Arab invaders. Most of Palestinian Arabs choose to flee their home, with some exception. At the same time, hundred of thousand Jews were fleeing their ancestral homes in the Arab countries. Therefore, according to your twisted logic, they should be also counted as refugees.

Just call yourselves "exiles" living amongst "host nations" in the "diaspora", and you and your descendants will have an eternal, non-expiring right to return to your ancient homeland, no matter who is squatting there at the particular moment.

this is why the un and anrwa passed legislation that says; AN ORIGINAL PALESTINIAN REFUGEE IS ONE THAT HAVE RESIDED IN WHAT IS NOW ISRAEL FOR ONLY TWO YEARS. TWO YEARS!!! IMAGINE THAT! so all these arabs flooding palestinian mandate territory would hvae had to only reside there for two years to be considered refugees. amazing! only two years...which debases the pals' claim that most of them have lived there for millenia, which is a complete lie.

I can understand your extreme bias in your post but to claim something that contradicts so much history, especially by the Arabs, is downright retarded. You're not a revisionist, you're a delusional moron. Using the term "even Israeli historians" doesn't buy you any credibility. It makes you look desperate because it's the same logic Iran uses when inviting Nutrei Karta, who would sell 99% of Jews into death because of their myopic interpretations of Judaism. Arabs did indeed attack Israel, after 28 years of massacres against Jews, and after the Arab League stated "Jewish blood will run through the streets like a river". Arabs admit it and are proud of it, and that comes from Arab historians as well. Yet you claim an ethnic cleansing by Jews that somehow resulted in 20% of Israel being Arab. Even in Chomsky's world, yours is a difficult claim to defend. Pappe said the same thing which is why he was never granted tenure at Haifa U cause he sucked as a researcher. Now he's a rabid anti-Israeli. These same historians cite Arab army irregulars who were in the region illegally since the early 1940s and the lies of Deir Yassin. Finally, if "Arab" is not a race, you just pissed off millions of Arabs who insist it is, especially those who live in the ARABIAN Peninsula. But, in your world, you can easily dismiss me as a Mossad agent, the facts as "hasbara", and go back to a life of blind hatred as usual. Good luck with that, Jake.

Fact: UNRWA has three times the budget of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. That's right, the so-called Palestinian refugees are budgeted three times as much per annum as all the refugees from the rest of the world! Fact: On paper, the amount of money spent on relief works by UNRWA per capita is higher than the per capita income of almost 1/3 of the woorld's sovereign nations (that doesn't take the corruption and thievery of the PLO and Hamas into account). By UNRWA's own admission, the number of registered refugees includes people who lived in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip prior to the 1948 war-- people who did not lose anything, did not move one single centiumeter and who have no earthly reason to be considered refugees, yet they and their descendants have been receiving refugee aid for more than 60 years! UNRWA itself is nothing but an agent charged with perpetuating the "Palestinian refugee problem", and, after the so-called Palestinian government, is the largest single employer in the territories. Why would UNRWA employees even think of solving the refugee problem, knowing that a solution will leave them unemployed? Get real and understand this: the greatest obstacle to peace after Arab rejectionism is not "the occupation", it is not "the settlements", it is not "the Zionist regime" and it is not "the Jews"... it is UNRWA. The UN should dismantle UNRWA and transfer the responsibility for the Palestinian refugees to where it belongs-- to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Palestinian population has increased tenfold the Jews deserve compensation because the Jewish return was blocked

#5 is a blatant propagandist parrot. The weight of the true facts would crush his fragile leftist ego, which is why he obviously has done no research.

Yawn. Talk about tired propaganda! Have you forgotten that Jordan attacked Israel in 1967? Don't you know that under international law, land acquired in the course of fighting a defensive war is the victor's to keep? Just ask the Germans, Italians and Japanese. For that matter, ask the Spanish. Judea and Samaria are non-sovereign territories. Under all precepts of international law, Israel is free to settle, retain and even annex the West Bank. Which inevitably will happen, because there is no making "peace" with terrorist scum who wish to destroy Israel. And when that happens, the illegal Arab squatters in Judea and Samaria will be repatriated to Jordan, country of their citizenship.

You totally left an imprint on his butt.

I'm all for that! The homeland (not at all ancient, either) of the ersatz "Palestinians" is the Hejaz in the Western Arabian desert. I guess you didn't know that. Then again, you don't seem to know very much about anything.

When it comes down to it, food is more important than not being stateless. And if you threw your lot in with the "refugees" in 1948 you gambled that the situation would be solved quickly. You also would have lost your bet. In gaza, many people, but not all, work. Some are doing very well (eg smugglers) but are not helping their own people. People in camps in other countries are forbidden to work by those countries. Yet no arab countries are screaming about that. Changing school books is an excellent idea, literally. Peace will be at least approcheable when the arabs stop teaching their children that Jews are pigs and apes and it is ok to kill them.

I realize I am lucky to be alive I recieved far less than any Palisteinian refugee in the middle east in welfare support after my brain was tortured by what you call school as well as parents Synagogue so on any way I just hope for a miracle accounting for money support is a nice idea of course I realize these people live equally any refugee camp is no different than any Arab Bedoin settlement any where may be no palaces like Oil Shieks government leaders so on but neither do they die like the six 6 million Jews did in W W II concentration camps at the hands of a hostile world as hostile today as it was then any way I am 67 68 next month need a miracle to save me from old age I doubt if any Palisteinian has that problem after 67 years of medicial health housing food neglect luckily I turned 62 became a senior qualifyed for senior support before that I was worse off than most refugees any way such is life and so I do not care if you support these people monetarily Israel can handle any Arab military threat not a America German Russian M T but Arab probably Egypt Syria 1973 2012 but I still think another Arab Jew war is needed RIGHT ??? Thank You... M. S.