Who are Real ‘Refugees’: Jews from Morocco or Palestinians?
A visit to Morocco shows that the claim of Palestinians to a “right of return” has little historic, moral or legal basis.
By: Alan M. Dershowitz, The Gatestone Institute
Jews lived in Morocco for centuries before Islam came to Casablanca, Fez and Marrakesh. The Jews, along with the Berbers, were the backbone of the economy and culture. Now their historic presence can be seen primarily in the hundreds of Jewish cemeteries and abandoned synagogues that are omnipresent in cities and towns throughout the Maghreb.
I visited Maimonides’s home, now a restaurant. The great Jewish philosopher and medical doctor taught at a university in Fez. Other Jewish intellectuals helped shape the culture of North Africa, from Morocco to Algeria to Tunisia to Egypt. In these countries, Jews were always a minority but their presence was felt in every area of life.
Now they are a remnant in Morocco and gone from the other counties. Some left voluntarily to move to Israel after 1948. Many were forced to flee by threats, pogroms and legal decrees, leaving behind billions of dollars in property and the graves of their ancestors.
Today, Morocco’s Jewish population is less than 5,000, as contrasted with 250,000 at its peak. To his credit, King Mohammad VI has made a point of preserving the Jewish heritage of Morocco, especially its cemeteries. He has better relations with Israel than other Muslim countries but still does not recognize Israel or have diplomatic relations with the nation state of the Jewish People. It is a work in process. His relationship with his small Jewish community, most of whom are avid Zionists, is excellent. Many Moroccans realize that they lost a lot when the Jews of Morocco left. Some Israelis of Moroccan origin maintain close relations with their Moroccan heritage.
Similarities are Striking, but so are the Differences
How does this all relate to the Palestinian claim of a right to return to their homes in what is now Israel? Quite directly. The Arab exodus from Israel in 1948 was the direct result of a genocidal war declared against the newly established Jewish state by all of its Arab neighbors, including the Arabs of Israel. If they had accepted the UN peace plan — two states for two people — there would be no Palestinian refugees. In the course of Israel’s fierce battle for its survival — a battle in which it lost one percent of its population, including many Holocaust survivors and civilians — approximately 700,000 local Arabs were displaced. Many left voluntarily, having been promised a glorious return after the inevitable Arab victory. Others were forced out. Some of these Arabs could trace their homes in what became Israel hundreds of years back. Others were relatively recent arrivals from Arab countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Jordan.
Approximately the same number of Jews were displaced from their Arab homelands during this period. Nearly all of them could trace their heritage back thousands of years, well before the Muslims and Arabs became the dominant population. Like the Palestinian Arabs, some left voluntarily, but many had no realistic choice. The similarities are striking, but so are the differences.
The most significant difference is between how Israel dealt with the Jews who were displaced and how the Arab and Muslim word dealt with the Palestinians who had been displaced by a war they started.
Israel integrated its brothers and sisters from the Arab and Muslim world. The Arab world put its Palestinian brothers and sisters in refugee camps, treating them as political pawns — and festering sores — in its persistent war against the Jewish state.
Stop Treating Palestinians as Refugees
It has now been 70 years since this exchange of populations occurred. It is time to end the deadly charade of calling the displaced Palestinians “refugees.” Almost none of the neatly five million Arabs who now seek to claim the mantle of “Palestinian refugee” was ever actually in Israel. They are the descendants — some quite distant — of those who were actually displaced in 1948. The number of surviving Arabs who were personally forced out of Israel by the war started by their brethren is probably no more a few thousand, probably less. Perhaps they should be compensated, but not by Israel. The compensation should come from Arab countries that illegally seized the assets of their erstwhile Jewish residents whom they forced to leave. These few thousand Palestinians have no greater moral, historic or legal claim than the surviving Jewish individuals who were displaced during the same time period seven decades ago.
In life as in law there are statutes of limitations that recognize that history changes the status quo. The time has come – indeed it is long overdue – for the world to stop treating these Palestinians as refugees. That status ended decades ago. The Jews who came to Israel from Morocco many years ago are no longer refugees. Neither are the relatives of the Palestinians who have lived outside of Israel for nearly three quarters of a century.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of The Case Against BDS.
The New Palestinian Jihad to Obliterate Israel
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- If and when Hamas is ever removed from power in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) will most likely seize control of the coastal enclave, where nearly two million Palestinians live.
- PIJ's new "political document" exposes the Palestinian terror group's plan for "real peace" in the Middle East. This "real peace," according to the jihadi group, can be achieved by eliminating Israel after "liberating Palestine, from the river to the sea, and after the original owners of the land return to their homes."
- This genocidal "peace" plan appears to be shared by other Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and even certain parts of Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group is the second-largest terror group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas. Like Hamas, PIJ does not recognize Israel's right to exist and believes that violence and terrorism are the only way to "liberate all Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River."
Like Hamas, in the past three decades PIJ has carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings.
Recently, the PIJ wished to remind us again of its dangerous and poisonous ideology. This reminder came in the form of a new "political document" published by the Iranian-backed terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The document contains important information about the group's strategy to destroy Israel and provides insight into the role Islam plays in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Some may argue that there is nothing new in the PIJ document. However, PIJ is not just another Palestinian "resistance" faction, as some Middle East experts tend to describe it. Rather, it is one of the most dangerous Palestinian terror groups. It aspires to eliminate Israel and kill as many Jews as possible.
If and when Hamas is ever removed from power in the Gaza Strip, PIJ will most likely seize control of the coastal enclave, where nearly two million Palestinians live.
Western journalists often ignore the power and threat of PIJ, mainly because the representatives of the terror group rarely give interviews to the foreign media.
Besides, it is easier for Western journalists to take the short trip from Jerusalem to Ramallah to interview a Palestinian Authority official, who uses his or her fluent English to lie about the Palestinians' desire for peace and coexistence with Israel.
Western journalists rarely, if ever, present to their readers and viewers what the terrorists preach to their own people.
That is precisely why there is a need to bring the main points of the PIJ document to the attention of the international media and decision-makers around the world. The PIJ is a major player in the Palestinian arena, and its political and military power can be ignored only at great peril.
Here is what the preface to the terror group's document states:
Defining its ultimate mission, PIJ says in its new document:
What is certain, however, is that PIJ is not referring to the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Why? Because PIJ believes that Muslim Brotherhood's ideology and policies are too "moderate" compared with its genocidal agenda. Ironically, the PIJ views the Muslim Brotherhood as being too "pragmatic," largely because of the latter's failure to engage in a worldwide jihad against Jews and all infidels.
The PIJ document, which the Western media is doing a fine job ignoring, states:
For those who do not know, "armed struggle" is the euphemism for all forms terrorism, including rocket attacks and suicide bombings. The "armed struggle" also means that a Palestinian terrorist can storm the home of a Jewish family and murder women and children as they prepare dinner.
The PIJ document, which has been distributed among the group's followers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, also praises suicide bombings against Israel by describing them as the "most noble acts of self-defense."
The document also warns Arabs and Muslims against recognizing Israel's right to exist or establishing any ties with it. "We reject all forms of normalization with the Israeli enemy by any Arab or Muslim," it stresses.
Finally, the document exposes the Palestinian terror group's plan for "real peace" in the Middle East. This "real peace," according to the jihadi group, can be achieved by eliminating Israel after "liberating Palestine, from the river to the sea, and after the original owners of the land return to their homes."
This genocidal "peace" plan appears to be shared by other Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and even certain parts of Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction.
The peace they seek is one that would result in the total destruction of Israel and the expulsion of all Jews from the Middle East. As the remarks of Abbas and PIJ show, Palestinians see Israel only as an alien body that was imposed upon Arabs and Muslims by imperialist Westerners, and not as people who have lived on that land for more than 3,000 years.
The PIJ document, which serves as the group's "national charter," is a valuable text. Every word in the document reflects the true sentiments on the Arab and Islamic street, especially with regards to recognizing Jews' rights and history.
This is a document that is currently being taught in Islamic Jihad training bases, and schools and mosques. It is a document that will help raise another generation of Palestinians on the glorification of terrorism and anti-Semitism.
This is a document that deserves to be placed on the desks of all those Westerners who continue to tell us that peace is possible and that Israel just needs to make more concessions to achieve that goal.
Like Hamas, in the past three decades PIJ has carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings.
Recently, the PIJ wished to remind us again of its dangerous and poisonous ideology. This reminder came in the form of a new "political document" published by the Iranian-backed terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The document contains important information about the group's strategy to destroy Israel and provides insight into the role Islam plays in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Some may argue that there is nothing new in the PIJ document. However, PIJ is not just another Palestinian "resistance" faction, as some Middle East experts tend to describe it. Rather, it is one of the most dangerous Palestinian terror groups. It aspires to eliminate Israel and kill as many Jews as possible.
If and when Hamas is ever removed from power in the Gaza Strip, PIJ will most likely seize control of the coastal enclave, where nearly two million Palestinians live.
Western journalists often ignore the power and threat of PIJ, mainly because the representatives of the terror group rarely give interviews to the foreign media.
Besides, it is easier for Western journalists to take the short trip from Jerusalem to Ramallah to interview a Palestinian Authority official, who uses his or her fluent English to lie about the Palestinians' desire for peace and coexistence with Israel.
Western journalists rarely, if ever, present to their readers and viewers what the terrorists preach to their own people.
That is precisely why there is a need to bring the main points of the PIJ document to the attention of the international media and decision-makers around the world. The PIJ is a major player in the Palestinian arena, and its political and military power can be ignored only at great peril.
Pictured: Members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad hold a parade in Gaza City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Here is what the preface to the terror group's document states:
"Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian people, from the early days of history. Palestine is an integral part of the Arab and Islamic homeland, and it was usurped by the Zionist Jews with the support and encouragement of Western colonialist powers."Explaining the timing of the publication of its document, PIJ said:
"To maintain a clear vision and the unity of our goals, away from intellectual chaos dominating the Palestinian landscape, Palestinian Islamic Jihad saw the need to formulate this document to explain and affirm the intellectual basis and features governing its jihad and policies."Translation: the PIJ fears that it has fallen off the world's radar. It worries that its ideology and plans to destroy Israel may be lost amid the "intellectual chaos" plaguing the Palestinian arena.
Defining its ultimate mission, PIJ says in its new document:
"Our number-one priority and main task is to carry out the duty of jihad and resistance to liberate Palestine. We are an Islamic national liberation movement and part of the Palestinian people's and Muslim's jihad against invaders and colonialists. We see ourselves as being part of the general Islamic trend in the world, which regards Islam as the source of our power and pride."Which "Islamic trend" the Palestinian terror group is talking about is not clear. Does it referring to the Islamic State terror group, ISIS, which has slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent civilians, mostly Muslims, in the past few years? Or perhaps the PIJ is referring to Al Qaeda, the murderous terror group founded by Osama bin Laden?
What is certain, however, is that PIJ is not referring to the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Why? Because PIJ believes that Muslim Brotherhood's ideology and policies are too "moderate" compared with its genocidal agenda. Ironically, the PIJ views the Muslim Brotherhood as being too "pragmatic," largely because of the latter's failure to engage in a worldwide jihad against Jews and all infidels.
The PIJ document, which the Western media is doing a fine job ignoring, states:
"Palestine is an Arab, Islamic land, where the Arabs and Muslims possess natural religious and historic rights. It is forbidden to give it up or compromise it under any pretext."The Jews, the document emphasizes, "have no right in the land of Palestine." It says that the fact that some Arabs and Muslims have recognized Israel does not give the Jews any right to the land.
"The Palestinian people's right to all their lands and homeland, Palestine, is a comprehensive right that can't be fragmented. This includes our right to own the land, our right to resist and liberate it, and our right to return to it and live in it. No one is entitled to give up the right of the Palestinians to return to their homeland. This is a non-negotiable issue."The PIJ document views Israel as a Zionist colonialist project imposed on Arabs and Muslims by Western powers. Revealingly, these are the same words that Israel's secular peace partner and the darling of the West, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, recently used in a speech he delivered in Ramallah, during a conference of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council:
"The Europeans wanted to bring the Jews here to preserve their interests in the region. They asked Holland, which has the world's largest fleet, to move the Jews. Israel is a colonial project that has nothing to do with the Jews."Abbas and PIJ also share more of the same views. In its document, the Palestinian terror group states:
"The Zionist entity is a functional colonialist entity and a tool of the [Western] project to seize control and dominance over Palestine. The source of this entity's power lies with Western parties, especially the US."The PIJ document defines the conflict with Israel as an "existential conflict, and not a border conflict." The Palestinian cause, it says,
"is not about the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, or parts of them. Rather, it is the issue of the occupation of the entire land of Palestine, from the river to the sea. It is the central cause of all Arabs and Muslims, and not the Palestinians alone."In its document, PIJ outlines its plan to achieve its goal through "jihad and resistance against the Zionist enemy, with all means and methods, first and foremost the armed struggle." The armed struggle, it adds, is the "main method and strategy in our struggle."
For those who do not know, "armed struggle" is the euphemism for all forms terrorism, including rocket attacks and suicide bombings. The "armed struggle" also means that a Palestinian terrorist can storm the home of a Jewish family and murder women and children as they prepare dinner.
The PIJ document, which has been distributed among the group's followers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, also praises suicide bombings against Israel by describing them as the "most noble acts of self-defense."
The document also warns Arabs and Muslims against recognizing Israel's right to exist or establishing any ties with it. "We reject all forms of normalization with the Israeli enemy by any Arab or Muslim," it stresses.
Finally, the document exposes the Palestinian terror group's plan for "real peace" in the Middle East. This "real peace," according to the jihadi group, can be achieved by eliminating Israel after "liberating Palestine, from the river to the sea, and after the original owners of the land return to their homes."
This genocidal "peace" plan appears to be shared by other Palestinian terror groups, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and even certain parts of Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction.
The peace they seek is one that would result in the total destruction of Israel and the expulsion of all Jews from the Middle East. As the remarks of Abbas and PIJ show, Palestinians see Israel only as an alien body that was imposed upon Arabs and Muslims by imperialist Westerners, and not as people who have lived on that land for more than 3,000 years.
The PIJ document, which serves as the group's "national charter," is a valuable text. Every word in the document reflects the true sentiments on the Arab and Islamic street, especially with regards to recognizing Jews' rights and history.
This is a document that is currently being taught in Islamic Jihad training bases, and schools and mosques. It is a document that will help raise another generation of Palestinians on the glorification of terrorism and anti-Semitism.
This is a document that deserves to be placed on the desks of all those Westerners who continue to tell us that peace is possible and that Israel just needs to make more concessions to achieve that goal.
It’s been almost seven decades since the establishment of the State of Israel, and yet there are still an estimated 4 million Palestinian refugees and zero Jewish refugees.
With so many nearby Arab allies of the Palestinians, how did this happen? What does it say about Israel? What does it say about its Arab neighbors?
Dumisani Washington, Diversity Outreach Coordinator for Christians United for Israel, explains why. He poses the “hard questions,” challenging anti-Israel propaganda and falsehood.
How is it that the Jewish refugees from Arab lands are not even an afterthought, while the Palestinians are the longest-lasting and most lavishly supported refugee population in the history of the world? Watch and learn the truth.
https://youtu.be/sY0FOPa-j-E
WATCH: Remember the 850,000 ‘Forgotten Jewish Refugees’
On November 30, the State of Israel marks Jewish Refugee Day. Let us remember the stories of the 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands.
They left under the cover of night. They couldn’t even say goodbye.
They left everything behind. Many of them never returned, not even for a short visit…
But now they are truly home, in the Jewish state.
These are the stories of the Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
From Iran to Morocco, here are only nine of the 850,000 stories.
As Israel is under attack by its enemies who attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state by presenting false history and lies about the “occupation of Palestinian land,” it is more important than ever to remember our history, including the stories of the Jews who were forced out of Arab countries, where they had lived for millenia.
https://youtu.be/Dgy2UFuUDNM
Israel must stand its ground and takes back all the Jewish historical territories with no concessions and no capitulation to the biased world pressure. The Oslo Accords are no longer valid.
The real culprits in unjustly discriminating against the Jewish State and its leaders are not only the leftist in Europe, as their hostility to Israel has been self-evident. No the real enemy are the left progressive morons, many of them Jewish, who support such hapless and feckless corrupt leaders.
Just love how the Europeans and others ignore the Arab-Palestinians opposition to a Jewish state for the last 70 years and their commitment to barbarity, terror and violence. Hmm, settlements are the main problem??? Then why were the Arabs attacking Jews in Palestine/Israel in the 1500’s, 1600’s, 1700’s, 1800’s, and after WWI (when the Arabs/Muslims received over 13 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves of which is 70% vacant) in the 1920’s 30’s, 40’s and 50’s or during Ottoman and Jordan occupation? Why did the Arab world reject a second 2 state solution at the outset of Israel's existence? The Arabs should be very happy with Jordan which is also on Jewish territory and was set-up in violation of international treaties and agreements, (including the 1919 Faisal Weizmann Agreement and the Treaty of Sevres Article 95) taking away over three quarters of Jewish allocated territory as the new Arab-Palestinian State in 1922 (the Arabs expelled all the Jews from Jordan which is the new Arab-Palestinian State; they also confiscated all their assets and forbid Jews from living in Jordan). The Arabs also have over 13 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves, they received after WWI. Moreover the Arab countries terrorized and expelled over a million Jewish families (that lived in those countries for over 2,800 years) who now mostly were settled in The Land of Israel, and the Arabs confiscated all the assets of the million Jewish families terrorized and expelled from Arab countries, which included, personal property and valuables, businesses, homes and over 120,000 sq. km. of Jewish owned Real Estate for over 2,600 years (which is 6 times the size of Israel). All of Israel’s concession and compromise have made things worse, it got us a terrorist enclave in Gaza with thousands of rockets landing in Israel and an Arab PA run by murderers and criminals, whose goal is to terrorize and destroy the Jewish State. It is time to stand our ground and take what is ours without any reservations.
Anyone who thinks wants or recommends putting another terrorist Arab State in Judea and Samaria aka West Bank of the Jordan River, needs to have his head examined and his faculties questioned. Any government that wants to put an Arab terrorist state in Judea and Samaria must be replaced.
The Oslo Accord is null and void as stated by Mahmoud Abbas in his speech at the U.N. in the summer of 2015. The U.N. issues a non-binding resolution, which has no legal standing or validity.
It is time to apply Israel’s sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and dismantle the terrorist entity known as the Arab Palestinian authority headed by the terrorist Mahmmoud Abbas.
YJ Draiman
The real culprits in unjustly discriminating against the Jewish State and its leaders are not only the leftist in Europe, as their hostility to Israel has been self-evident. No the real enemy are the left progressive morons, many of them Jewish, who support such hapless and feckless corrupt leaders.
Just love how the Europeans and others ignore the Arab-Palestinians opposition to a Jewish state for the last 70 years and their commitment to barbarity, terror and violence. Hmm, settlements are the main problem??? Then why were the Arabs attacking Jews in Palestine/Israel in the 1500’s, 1600’s, 1700’s, 1800’s, and after WWI (when the Arabs/Muslims received over 13 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves of which is 70% vacant) in the 1920’s 30’s, 40’s and 50’s or during Ottoman and Jordan occupation? Why did the Arab world reject a second 2 state solution at the outset of Israel's existence? The Arabs should be very happy with Jordan which is also on Jewish territory and was set-up in violation of international treaties and agreements, (including the 1919 Faisal Weizmann Agreement and the Treaty of Sevres Article 95) taking away over three quarters of Jewish allocated territory as the new Arab-Palestinian State in 1922 (the Arabs expelled all the Jews from Jordan which is the new Arab-Palestinian State; they also confiscated all their assets and forbid Jews from living in Jordan). The Arabs also have over 13 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves, they received after WWI. Moreover the Arab countries terrorized and expelled over a million Jewish families (that lived in those countries for over 2,800 years) who now mostly were settled in The Land of Israel, and the Arabs confiscated all the assets of the million Jewish families terrorized and expelled from Arab countries, which included, personal property and valuables, businesses, homes and over 120,000 sq. km. of Jewish owned Real Estate for over 2,600 years (which is 6 times the size of Israel). All of Israel’s concession and compromise have made things worse, it got us a terrorist enclave in Gaza with thousands of rockets landing in Israel and an Arab PA run by murderers and criminals, whose goal is to terrorize and destroy the Jewish State. It is time to stand our ground and take what is ours without any reservations.
Anyone who thinks wants or recommends putting another terrorist Arab State in Judea and Samaria aka West Bank of the Jordan River, needs to have his head examined and his faculties questioned. Any government that wants to put an Arab terrorist state in Judea and Samaria must be replaced.
The Oslo Accord is null and void as stated by Mahmoud Abbas in his speech at the U.N. in the summer of 2015. The U.N. issues a non-binding resolution, which has no legal standing or validity.
It is time to apply Israel’s sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and dismantle the terrorist entity known as the Arab Palestinian authority headed by the terrorist Mahmmoud Abbas.
YJ Draiman
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