Bold Bill in Senate to Stop Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Scam

May 30, 2012 By 46 Comments

The US Senate Appropriations Committee has approved an important amendment to a bill. Proposed by Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, the amendment would change the definition of “Palestinian refugee” such that the number of people now given that status would shrink from about five million to about thirty thousand.

The U.S. currently contributes annually about $250 million of the approximately $600 million budget of UNRWA, the UN agency that provides housing, education, and welfare to Palestinian “refugees.” The U.S. has funneled a total of $4.4 billion to UNRWA since it was founded in 1948.

Under the Kirk amendment, the funding to those no longer considered refugees would not necessarily end; they could be defined as poverty cases. But only the thirty thousand, instead of five million, would still be designated as refugees.

What explains the vast differential in numbers? Before and during Israel’s 1948-49 War for Independence, about 650,000 Palestinian Arabs (many of them very recent immigrants from other Arab countries) left the territories that became Israel. About thirty thousand of them are still alive today.

But in 1965 and 1982, UNRWA made decisions—unique in history, never applied to any other refugee population in the world—to define children and grandchildren, too, of displaced Palestinians as “refugees.” Hence the swelled numbers of today, with “refugees” kept in “camps” in Syria,Lebanon, Jordan, and even the Palestinian Authority. Jonathan Schanzer notes that, according to a study, if this situation persists their number will reach fifteen million by 2050.

Why define so many people as “refugees,” and why keep them in “camps” indefinitely? The answer, as Shoshana Bryen notes, was given in an interview to Lebanon’s Daily Star by the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon, Abdullah Abdullah.

Abdullah told the Daily Star “unequivocally” that even if a Palestinian state were to be established in the West Bank and Gaza—that is, the much-vaunted “two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”—the Palestinian refugees “would not become citizens” of it. The reason is that “The state is the 1967 borders, but the refugees are not only from the 1967 borders. The refugees are from all over Palestine.”

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About

P. David Hornik is a freelance writer and translator living in Beersheva and author of the new book Choosing Life in Israel. He blogs at http://pdavidhornik.typepad.com/.

  • Looking4Sanity

    A little humor to lighten the mood. I read this joke during the Carter administration and never forgot it.

    An Arab ambassador and an Israeli ambassador find themselves in adjoining seats on a flight returning from Camp David. Both men take off their shoes to get comfortable on the long flight home. Several hours into the flight, the Israeli gets up and goes to the restroom. While he is gone, the Arab ambassador spits in the Israeli's shoes.

    After a few more hours the Arab ambassador gets up and goes to the restroom. The long flight finally ends. Both men stand, stretch and put on their shoes. A sly smile crosses the face of the Arab ambassador, but the Israeli ambassador doesn't react at all. They exit the plane and are shaking hands before parting ways when the Israeli ambassador says, "If there is ever to be peace in the Middle East, the Arabs must stop spitting in the shoes of the Jews…and the Jews must stop urinating in the orange juice of the Arabs".

  • Larry

    Remember, it was the State Department that convinced George C Marshall to hand China over to the communists at the end of WWII.
    The State Dept and its ilk around the Western world have been betraying the interests of their own countries for decades.

  • guest

    These refugees have already been imported to the US. Obama paid for them to go to dearborn, MI, if anyone wonders how these anti-constitution seditionists got there.

    On your dime!

  • Jimi Belton

    Why in hades is the US paying for all the problems on this planet…..let the rich Arab states feed and clothe their own….we could ask Saudia Arabia to foot the bill for this….will someone pls. tell me why us American taxpayers why we are required to do this….We are beyond broke as a nation…

    • Dr. John

      I ain't arguing with you. This is paying for something that actually makes the situation worse.

  • davarino

    We need to flush out the "State Dept" and start over with patriots. And while your at it, eliminate half the federal gov and flush out the rest also.

    • Obama Fodder

      The US also needs to give the UN the old heave ho!

  • StephenD

    Bravo to Senator Kirk!
    I laugh when I hear the term "Refugee" when it is used for 3 and 4 generations since they VOLUNTARILY left with foreknowledge of an impending attack on Israel. "Accomplice" is a term that comes to mind and they lost the bet. Also, since Jordan is preeminently where these so called "Palestinians" hail from, how is it that they maintain the title of "Refugee" in their own country? This is truly laughable on its face. The only reason to go along with this is to snub Israel and NOT to help the "Palestinians" who, by right, should be partitioning Jordan for their claims and not Israel. What say you United Nations?

    • Nina

      Ignorant

      • stern

        Who?

      • HoR_Emperor

        How?

      • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLNn2YflwNs Roger

        When?

  • Judas

    Thomas Nides: “This proposed amendment would be viewed around the world as the United States acting to prejudge and determine the outcome of this sensitive issue.”

    The State Department objects to this, go figure. So they are willing to recognize non-refugees of a fictitious country called Palestine as refugees, while their spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, is unwilling to recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. The State Department can go pound sand…

    • Nina

      It's Tel Aviv.

      • HoR_Emperor

        Nope.

        But you're clearly a troll.

        • Nina

          I can tell how educated by your response. I'm assuming your in the trash family.

          • Zionista

            it's YOU'RE, not YOUR – surely an educated troll like you should know that

  • Marty

    This is about time. Perhaps the Congress could pass a resolution condemning arab governments for illegally confiscating Jewish owned property in countries Jews had lived in as productive citizens for centuries. Nearly one million Jews were then thrown out of arab states with only the clothes on their backs. But they didn't become refugees. Israel absorbed them and they are half the population of the country and again leading productive (and happier) lives in an economically prosperous democracy. The so-called "palestinian people" is a multi-billion dollar scam that has wasted American taxpayer money for nearly two thirds of a century.

    • Nina

      How about they begin with condemning illegal settlements on Palestinian land that violates international law.

      • HoR_Emperor

        How about you stop being an anti-Semite?

        • Nina

          I am a Semite. Thank you.

      • ziontruth

        Agreed: All Arab settlements on Palestinian land are illegal, and for the sake of a just and viable peace will have to be evacuated for the use of the one and only true Palestinian nation, the Jewish nation.

  • Nina H

    More propaganda for the masses to feed on. This official is racist and should worry more about matters at home. They are refugees. Their homeland was stolen from them and they were chase off (Irgun, Haganah anyone?) and they haven't been able to return since, thus making their descendants refugees as well. No one is saying the other Arab countries aren't at fault. They definitely have a responsibility to assist and have failed miserably. However, to complain about 4.4 billion since the 1940s? That's peanuts compared to what America has provided to Israel to continue committing their war crimes and ethnic cleansing. America exceeds that amount in just over a year to Israel…can we keep affording that??? And you can argue with it all you want, it comes back to us with arms and weapons…whatever, its politics and power, plain and simple. You all would singing a different tune, if an entire people claimed that America was religiously theirs (even though they barely inhabited it in comparison to others) and outsiders determined your fate and chased you out. Would you accept it or would you continue to fight? I somehow think you would fight – but since most of you are ignorant to either religious beliefs or propaganda and especially since you are on the other side of the fence, it's easy to cast judgement on people who have been displaced and spit on from all sides for over 60 years.

    • mrbean

      Remedial instructions are in order for the intellectually challenged like Nina. First of all there is no such people as the Palestinians, and they never ever had any land in Israel. Muslims use the so-called Palestinians as proxy terrorist and have chosen the rules of the game. Let them all know in no uncertain terms what "Never Again" means. As for the Palestinian Muslims, it is a matter of record that Palestinians strap munitions on their own women and children and send them out on homicide-suicide missions to murder other innocent Jewish women and children in markets, restuarants, on school buses, and in their homes. The Palestinians in their own words and by their actions are committed to the genocide of the Jewish people therefore, have foreited their rights to even exist at all let alone be given their own terrorist state sanctioned by the UN and the USA.

      • Nina

        Its unfortunate that you can't stick to the facts. Palestinians as well as Palestine existed under the Ottoman empire for 500+ years. Denying that is like saying Florida doesn't exist because it was part of the United States. It is a matter of record that Jews began that hobby of terrorism that you speak of. Creating doctrines of instilling fear so that the people born of the land would escape. (You do realize the majority of them were Europeans? Right?) The bombs began with the creation of Israel. I believe it was Golda Meir who said the old will die and the young will forget… well, no one has forgotten. I don't agree with anyone's suicide bombings, but let's not forget the atrocities on BOTH sides. How about you mention the Israeli settlers carrying automatic weapons and shooting at farmers and villagers – who are of no threat to anyone… is that not a form of terrorism?? Or is it not the same classification because they are not killing themselves? Or wait a second… because they happen to not be of Arabian descent? Before you make a feeble attempt at defending your baseless point or challenging my intelligence, do your research and read a real history book.

        • PAthena

          The name "Palestine" was given to Judea by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 135 A.D., fter he had defeated the last Jewish uprising under Bar Kochba. He wanted to eradicate all memory of Judea and the Jews, outlawed Judaism, and renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina," "Aelius" being his gens name. As a consequence, the name "Palestine" became synonymous with "land of the Jews," and "Palestinian" with "Jew." That is why after World War I, Great Britain was awarded the "Palestine Mandate" to be the "homeland of the Jews."
          Arabs, non-Jews, became called "Palestinian" as a consequence of the founding of the "Palestine Liberation Organization" (P.L.O.) in Cairo in 1964 by Gamel Nasser , ruler of Egypt, and the Soviet Union.
          The name "Palestine" was never the name of a country. Under the Ottoman Empire, the area was called "Greater Syria" and "Jerusalem." Nina is a Jew-hating ignoramus.

          • Nina

            Wrong. But arguing with you all on this hateful website is obviously a waste of time.

          • Jordan Ariel

            Nina,

            Please tell me why in every other instance that resulted in the creation of refugees, the world defines refugee as the group of people that were displaced, while in the Palestinian context it includes their descendants as well?

            And you state other people are wrong, but you refuse to back up your opinion.

            If you really want to get technical… rome via Hadrian displaced the Jewish population including renaming Judea and Samara to "Syria Palaestina." Which they had no right to do, which before that was done there was no such thing as a Palestinian. And after it was done, "Palestinians" was also another name for Jews who lived in the geographical region of "Palestine."

            But by the mouths of "Palestinian Leaders" any future palestine will be a Jew Free Zone.

            Do you find injustice in that?

        • HoR_Emperor

          And more Jew-Hatred.

          Get lost, troll.

          • Nina

            Your lack of education is baffling. You can't even think of another word other than "Troll". I can see you at your computer, and I imagine you are obese and missing some teeth. You're most likely a shame to anyone who knows you. Your sad.

          • mrbean

            Nina you are a grotesque intellectual incompetent, an uninformed epistemological inept, and non-colleague. Read (if you are willing) and learn (if you can) at theis website:
            http://mytorah.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/there-is-…

    • DEZIDERIO

      WHAT ABOUT THE OCCUPATION…Tthe legal definition of occupation when a Sovereign State invades and occupies anoter Sovereign State!China has occupied,oppressed Tibet.That is occupation.IN 1967,IN A WAR OF SELF-DEFENCE,ISRAEL,TOOK CONTROL OVER JUDEA,SAMARIA,EASTERN PART OF JERUSALEM AND GAZA.THESE TERRITORIES NEVER HAVING BEEN PART OF A SOVEREIGN STATEI Israel has attempted to negotiatea peaceful settlement of this dispute since 1967.THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO LEGAL REASON WHY JEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE FREELY IN THIS AREAS!!!!!!!!!

    • HoR_Emperor

      More Jew-Hatred. Get lost, vile anti-Semite.

    • Zionista

      nobody has spit on them more than their fellow arabs – especially that dead sac of pus arafat who stole millions from them

    • Ghostwriter

      Here's a little comment for you,Nina H. The Palestinians celebrated the 9-11 atrocities. They danced,sang,passed out candies,and other things. Most Israelis did not. The Palestinians hate America. The Israelis don't. Chew on that if you can.

    • ziontruth

      "Their homeland was stolen from them…"

      Nope. They still have the Arabian Peninsula if they want it. They just can't have the homeland of the one and only true Palestinian nation: The Jewish nation.

      "Palestinians as well as Palestine existed under the Ottoman empire for 500+ years."

      Arabs in Palestine didn't construe themselves as a nation in its own right until it became expedient for the purposes of propaganda—after they lost the War of 1947–9. The non-Jewish "Palestinian nation" narrative is still, as it has always been, a fraud, cooked up as a mask over the Arab imperialist ambition to rob the Jews—the only true Palestinians—of their one and only piece of land in the world.

  • Bartimaeus

    A key position of the Arab/Islamist propaganda is “victimhood”. Always keep the finger of responsibility pointed at Israel. Never admit any responsibility for ones own plight. Until the Arab/Islamist world is willing to admit that their intransigence and hatred against the Jews from the beginnings of the conflict is the root of the problem their will never be any real progress toward lasting peace. The whole of the Islamic world would need to be “born again”. Is that likely? Not really. Unfortunately, many in the west are under the influence of this propaganda. The Kirk amendment is a right step to be sure, but how to deal with the Arab/Palestinian irresponsibility problem is another matter altogether.

    • Nina

      There is no one that plays a better victim than the group you are so verily trying to defend. I have never heard of a group other than Israelis and Jews who will continue to market and rehash the Holocaust for their political and financial benefit. Please spare me the victim hood speech – because no one does it better than the ADL on behalf of Jews everywhere. The word anti Semite has been raped and pillaged to conform to the victim hood propaganda you so vehemently hate so much.

      • HoR_Emperor

        As usual, the anti-Semite tries to claim she is improperly labeled.

        Get lost, anti-Semite.

        • Nina

          How can you be anti-Semite – if you are a Semite?

          • Jordan Ariel

            Nina – does the term "Kapo" ring a bell?

      • Zionista

        how about when arab countries kicked out the Jews around the time of Israel's creation – oh yeah – that doesn't count. You're (not your) a real jerk.

      • ziontruth

        "…Israelis and Jews who will continue to market and rehash the Holocaust for their political and financial benefit."

        The Jewish claim on the Land of Israel rests not upon redress of past wrongs, but on the Jews being the only nation with an inherent connection (as opposed to a happenstance one like the Arab colonists) to Palestine. The Jews are the only true Palestinians.

        Arab colonists: For the sake of peace and justice, stop stealing Palestinian land!

    • Boston

      Start claiming that all the Jews expelled from the Arab countries are refugees as well and claim victimhood ? That way they could claim boatloads of money from the hellhole countries they came from. They wouldn't get it, but it would balance the victimhood baloney with the phony Palestinian victims.

  • Dennis Metz

    As an American taxpayer I am really offended that any of my tax money is going to these welfare cases from other nations. We got enough well hoes to support here

  • jacob

    Just to show how stupid the most useless department of the US Govmt. is, how can be fair for it the fact of
    the US govmt. borrowing money at interest to support free loaders that are none of USA concern ???

    Then under Foggy Bottom's stupid optic, I'm entitled to demand back from Vegas casinos what I lost at
    their tables, as these "refugees" gambled on their 7 Nations" brothers" throwing the Jews into the sea
    and as fate had it, the concentration camp graduates with just sticks and stones beat the living hell of
    all of them except for the British traineadesd, maintained and commanded Jordan's Arab Legion….
    They gambled and lost : NASSER kept them in GAZA as a thorn on Israel's side, fed for decades
    by the UN and foolish countries, etc,. ???
    Isn't it time stop it for good and if it means going over OBAMA's head, the State Dept. Arabists and
    the rest of the bunch and shut it off once and for all, so be it….

    To support domestic free loaders is probably an obligation of the US government but foreign free loaders
    and on borrowed money ???

    Somebody is off his rocker and it isn't I