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THE

INCREDIBLE

STORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

MODERN HISTORY OF ISRAEL

ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL AND JEWISH AND PALESTINIAN REFUGEES   

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OVERVIEW - THE JEWISH EXODUS FROM ARAB COUNTRIES (1)    

The Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries or Jewish exodus from Arab countries (Hebrew: יציאת יהודים ממדינות ערב‎, Yetziat yehudim mi-medinot Arav; Arabic: هجرة اليهود من الدول العربية والإسلامية‎ hijrat al-yahūd min ad-duwal al-ʻArabīyah wal-Islāmīyah) was the departure, flight, migration and expulsion of approximately 1,600,000 Jews by Arab countries.  Of these about 600,000  came to Israel. Note: The number of Jews in Arab countries was reduced from 1,600,000 (app) in 1948 to 4,315 (est) in 2012. Christians have and are still suffering - see Expulsion of Jews From Arab Countries)

A small-scale exodus had begun in many countries in the early decades of the 20th century, although the only substantial aliyah (emigration to Israel) came from Yemen and Syria. The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, primarily in Iraq, Yemen and Libya, with up to 90% of these communities leaving within a few years. The peak of the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1956. The exodus in the Maghreb countries peaked in the 1960’s. Lebanon was the only Arab country to see a temporary increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of refugees from other Arab countries, although by the mid-1970’s the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. In the aftermath of the exodus wave from Arab states, an additional migration of Iranian Jews peaked in the 1980’s when around 80% of Iranian Jews left the country.  

ARABS WHO LIVE IN ISRAEL (2)

Today, non-Jewish citizens of Israel constitute about 25% of the population, with 20% being Arabs. Arab Israelis have equal voting rights and their own political parties, serve on the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), Cabinet, and Supreme Court; hold diplomatic positions; actively participate in the Israeli music and arts scene; and represent Israel on the national soccer team, including winning the Israeli national championship. They are granted all fundamental civil liberties, including freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly, and in fact enjoy more civil rights than Arabs living in any other Middle Eastern country. Israel is also the only country in the Middle East where Arab homosexuals can live without fear of prosecution, which is why many Palestinian gays have fled to Israel. Many Arab Israelis have spoken out in favor of Israel, and against allegations of an Israeli apartheid. Such claims have also been refuted by many others, including Richard Goldstone, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, who presided over the UN report concerning the 2009 Gaza war.

Arab Israelis are generally not required to serve in the military, though some volunteer. Members of the Druze and Circassian communities are drafted like Jewish citizens, at the request of their own community leaders.

Discrimination against Arab citizens of  Israel does exist, though on a level comparable to that found in many other Western countries, and certainly far less than the discriminations to which Palestinians living in most Arab countries are subjected. In certain respects, Arab Israelis have more rights than some who live in Europe, such as the rights to wear hijabs. As a general indicator, a recent Harvard study found that 77% of Arab Israelis would rather live in Israel than in any other country. Many Arabs have also stated that they would much rather live in Israel than under Palestinian rule.

(3)  Arab citizens of Israel is the Israeli government's designation for non-Jewish Israeli citizens, the majority of whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab. Many identify as Palestinian and commonly self-designate themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel. The traditional vernacular of most Arab citizens, irrespective of religion, is the Palestinian dialect of Arabic. Most Arab citizens of Israel are functionally bilingual, their second language being Modern Hebrew. By religious affiliation, most are Muslim, particularly of the Sunni branch of Islam. There is a significant Arab Christian minority from various denominations as well as Druze, among other religious communities. Israeli Mizrahi Jews are not usually considered to form part of this population According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab population in 2013 was estimated at 1,658,000, representing 20.7% of the country's population. The majority of these identify themselves as Arab or Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship. Many have family ties to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Negev Bedouins and Druze tend to identify more as Israelis than other Arab citizens of Israel. Most of the Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed, were offered Israeli citizenship, but most have refused, not wanting to recognize Israel's claim to sovereignty. They became permanent residents instead. They have the right to apply for citizenship, are entitled to municipal services, and have municipal voting rights.

PALESTINIAN REFUGEES  

(Editors Note - The UN has two refugee agencies.   The differences between them are shown in the Table below.  UNHCR which had a world-wide role and UNWRA which only deals with the Palestinians and was set up in December 1949.  Each has its own definitions of ‘Refugee’ .  The Palestinian problem only exists because of the existence of UNWRA.  If it had not existed the Palestinians would nave been resettled in Arab countries just as the 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries were resettled in Israel.      (My guess is that it was set up due to pressure from Arab oil producers.  If the Arabs had no oil there would have been no UNWRA)      

See     Jewish vs Palestinian Refugees

One result is that that they have often become political pawns.  An example is Lebanon where 455,000 are registered with UNWRA and live in the country’s 12 refugee camps while at least 1,500,000 Syrian refugees come under UNHCR (see a Tale of Two Organizations in Lebanon by Lucie Mackova) and Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in fear of deportation

Approximately 1,600,000 Jews left Arab countries between 1948 and 2012.  Of these 856,000 left in 1948.  They have been resettled. Today there are very few Jews left in Arab countries see Expulsion of Jews From Arab Countries.

After the 1948 war, around 156,000 Arabs remained in Israel and became full Israeli citizens with representatives in the Israel Knesset (parliament).

The UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees displaced from Israel was 711,000.  The Arab League instructed its members to deny Palestinians citizenship "to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right of return to their homeland."

The United Nations established UNRWA as a relief and human development to provide them with humanitarian assistance.

Refugee status was passed on to their descendants, who were largely denied citizenship in Arab states, except in Jordan.  More than 1.4 million Palestinians still live in 58 recognized refugee camps, while more than 5 million Palestinians live outside Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian refugee problem and debate about the Palestinian right of return are  major issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Palestinians and their supporters have staged annual demonstrations and commemorations on 15 May of each year, which is known to them as "Nakba Day".

The Black September Organization (BSO) (Arabic: منظمة أيلول الأسود‎, Munaẓẓamat Aylūl al-aswad) was a Palestinian terrorist organization founded in 1970. It was responsible for the fatal kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and the fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event. These events led to the creation of permanent, professional, and military-trained counter-terrorism forces of major European countries, like GSG9 and GIGN, and the reorganization and specialization of already standing units like the Special Air Service of the UK.

The Jordanian Civil War (September 1970 to July 1971) was fought between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) under Yasser Arafat, and the Jordanian Armed Forces under King Hussein to determine if Jordan would be ruled by the PLO or the Hashemite Monarchy. The war resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, the vast majority Palestinian. Armed conflict ended with the expulsion of the PLO leadership and thousands of Palestinian fighters to Lebanon.  The 1982 Lebanon War with Israel led to their expulsion from Lebanon.

In 2012, the number of registered patrilineal descendants of the original "Palestine refugees", based on the UNRWA registration requirements, is estimated to be 4,950,000, of which an estimated 1.5 million live in UNRWA camps. The number of original refugees "who meet UNRWA’s Palestine Refugee criteria" has declined from 711,000 in 1950 to approximately 30,000 to 50,000 in 2012.

REFERENCES

 (1)   Wikipedia

(2)    Facts About the Arab-Israeli Conflict

(3)    Wikipedia