'In Ishmael's House' used to rebutt 'right of return'

Bataween
Point of No Return
12 September '10

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Shaath is the latest to reject Israeli prime minister Benjamin Nethanyahu's demand for the Palestinians to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. Shaath fears for the rights of Muslims and Christians in Israel. Besides - and here we come to the kernel of the problem - such recognition would compromise the Palestinian 'right of return' to their original homes. Richard Z. Chesnoff's article in the Huffington Post (a pro-Palestinian leftwing blog), drawing material from Martin Gilbert 's new book In Ishmael's House, shows how the story of Jews forced out of Arab lands can be used to construct a powerful rebuttal to Shaath's arguments.

The Palestinian exodus during the Arab war on nascent Israel is part of history.. Most fled out of fear of war, others because they were urged to make way for "victorious" Arab armies, and some - but certainly not most - because Israeli troops drove them out in the heat of battle.

Other mid-20th century refugee problems were all quickly settled (the millions who simultaneously fled Pakistan and India, for example). But the Arab refugee problem was made to fester with the compliance of the Palestinian leadership. Israel, with millions of Jewish refugees at its gates, understandably refused to allow a hostile Arab refugee mass back onto Israel's sliver of land.

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