No Permanent Settlement in Lebanon: Palestinian Refugees Must Redistribute to Other Countries
END THE PLIGHT OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES: RE-DISTRIBUTE THEM TO ARAB COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES OF EMIGRATION

Joseph Hitti – Boston – Massachusetts

June 30, 2007

· Both the Arab world and the West are to blame for the plight of the Palestinian refugees

· The history of western anti-Semitism ultimately led to the creation of Israel and the displacement of the Palestinian people

· All Arab countries have abused their Palestinian refugee populations for political motives

· Lebanon is a small country of 3.5 million people with a sensitive demographic composition. The Lebanese people are unanimous in categorically rejecting the permanent settlement of the 500,000 Palestinian refugees on their soil because they will cause a demographic imbalance in the very delicate mosaic of the Lebanese population.

· Israel has so far refused to grant the refugees the Right of Return because, following the example of Lebanon , it too fears a demographic imbalance.

· The refugee camps in Lebanon never were, are not, and will never be the permanent home of the refugees.

· In order to end the terrible plight that these refugees have lived for the past 60 years, and until their final status is determined between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the refugees should be encouraged to leave the squalid camps of Lebanon and emigrate for re-settlement in the following countries:

- WEST BANK: The Palestinian Authority should re-settle those refugees who wish to return to Palestine . It is, after all, their country! For one, there are upwards of 20 Palestinian refugee camps in Palestine itself, where the refugees live in squalid conditions. Why is Lebanon the only host country to be singled out for "mistreating" its refugees? Second, having the Palestinians in Lebanon , Syria , and Egypt where they still live in refugee camps, return to Palestine will get them even closer to the Palestine they left behind and to the dream of one day returning to Haifa and Jaffa and the hills of the Galilee . They will be in their own country, will have the right to work and travel like all other Palestinians living under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. Third, let the Palestinian Authority embark on its own settlement of the West Bank to compete with Israel’s settlement of Jewish settlers from Brooklyn, New York: With money from the Saudis who love their Palestinian brothers, the Palestinian Authority should expropriate land from Palestinians in the West Bank, build sprawling settlements on the sunny hills of the West Bank and sell them at affordable prices to those refugees from Lebanon who wish to “go home”.

- ISRAEL : Until the Right of Return is finally decided, Israel should at least financially compensate those refugees who agree to waive their Right of Return, thus helping in their re-settlement elsewhere. If the Jews were never able to forget Jerusalem , Judea and Samaria after 2,000 years, why should the Palestinians be expected to forget their Palestine after 60 years?

- ARAB COUNTRIES: The 21 Arab Member States of the Arab League should, each in proportion to its population density, accept the re-settlement of those refugees who wish to do so. A quota system may be adopted such that the largest and wealthiest countries re-settle larger numbers of refugees than smaller and poorer countries. For example, Saudi Arabia is the wealthiest of the Arab countries and with the lowest population density. Also, the Saudis has always had problems accommodating foreign workers whom they badly need because of cultural and religious differences. 95% of Palestinian refugees are Sunni Moslems and they will fit perfectly well in Saudi society and will provide it with integrated and educated labor force that the Palestinian refugee population represents. A win-win situation for everyone.

- THE WEST: The traditional countries of emigration - US, Canada, Mexico, Central and Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand as well as those European countries who were directly responsible for the genesis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (e.g. Germany, the UK, etc.) – should offer to permanently settle on a quota basis those of the refugees who elect to do so. Moreover, those in the West like Robert Fisk and his ilk of the Guardian and the Independent who pontificate to the Lebanese about how to treat their Palestinian refugees, may want to assume the responsibility for the Palestinian problem that their colonial UK itself created by promising the "promised Land" to both Arabs and Jews, in one of the most treacherous acts of colonial England. Perhaps Robert Fisk would like to open a brand new Palestinian Refugee Camp in Leeds , right next to the new Pakistani centers of the future Islamic Kingdom of England. Perhaps one day, Lebanon will open those same refugee centers, now evacuated of Palestinian refugees, to the new refugees like him from Europe !

The Palestinian refugee problem is not Lebanon ’s responsibility.

Lebanon has no legal or moral obligation to the refugees beyond the shelter it gave them for 60 years and the wars and devastation they inflicted on it over the past 40 years through their political and military organizations (PLO, Al-Saika, PFLP, DFLP, Ahmad Jibril, Fatah, Fatah Al-Islam, Fatah this and Fatah that and everything in between).

It is time for the world to unburden Lebanon of the Palestinian refugees:

· Give the refugees a chance for a better life

· Allow Lebanon to finally be on the track of recovery. The Nahr Al-Bared events show that it is time to abrogate the 1969 Cairo Accord because the Palestinians have failed to maintain order inside their camps. The Nahr Al-Bared Camp should not be rebuilt, and the faster the other Palestinian camps are dismantled and the refugees resettled according to the proposal above, the better off Lebanon will be.

· Contribute to the final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.