Palestinians have long felt the Arab world does not care for their welfare. Now is the time to prove them wrong
There is a story told, perhaps apocryphal, about the late Bob Strauss, the longtime backroom operative and presidential political fixer, who served Jimmy Carter as a cabinet-level representative for international trade negotiations and George H.W. Bush as ambassador in Moscow. Carter appointed the Texan in 1979 as his personal envoy to the followup negotiations after the Egypt-Israel Camp David accords.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Many stories about Strauss are likely apocryphal, and almost all of them exaggerated. But it is said that on an early visit, he was flown over the Gaza Strip to see it for himself. Looking down on a land area smaller than the largest ranches in Texas, Strauss drawled to the effect, “Can’t say as I know why, if you didn’t have it, you would want it; or if you had it, why you’d want to keep it.”
Strauss was not successful in his diplomatic efforts.
Yet there remains truth in that some 40 years later. Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israel took the Sinai and Gaza in 1967. When Egypt and Israel made peace in 1978, Egypt reclaimed Sinai. They didn’t want Gaza back and left Israel with it. In 2005, Israel unilaterally got out of Gaza. In 2006, Hamas was elected the government of Gaza and in 2007 deposed the Palestinian Authority Fatah party in a civil war, expelling them from Gaza. Since then, Israel and Egypt have blockaded Gaza, neither desiring Hamas to extend its influence. What Gaza has, nobody wants.
That may now include Gazans.
It is clear that northern Gaza, and Gaza City, will become an impossible place to live normally. The uprooting of Hamas and degrading of its offensive capabilities may leave much of northern Gaza a rubble heap. So ordinary Gazans have to leave.
There is a strong international consensus that Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas should permit civilians to safely evacuate Gaza City and northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have surrounded the territory where Hamas is dug in — or dug under, better to say, in the tunnels. This is an acknowledgment that Hamas embeds its fighters and weaponry amidst the civilian population, making high civilian casualties inevitable.
Israel has left a corridor open for Gazans to leave the north and move south. The Americans have pressed Israel for a several-day “pause” to allow, more or less, the entire population of the north to get out. Israel has agreed to a four-hour pause each day when Gazans can move without fear of live fire.
Soon Gaza’s population of some 2.2 million will be cramped into half the area, blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, with only a trickle of aid getting in through the Rafah border crossing in the Sinai.
It is not sustainable. Gaza can no longer be home for its population. It is plausible that many of them would prefer to live elsewhere, with more room to breathe and away from the toxic air of Hamas.
Where then shall they go?
The Arab world must step forward with a moderately sized refugee resettlement program. Could Arab countries from Tunisia to the Gulf take in 1.5 million Gazans?
Easily. Indeed, Egypt — population 113 million — could take them all.
Wars — including civil wars — create displaced populations and refugees. They are then accommodated.
Some six million Ukrainians fled westward out of Ukraine in 2022. All of them were accommodated in other European countries without recourse to refugee camps. Polish families were heroic, taking millions into their own homes.
A grim situation has unfolded in Venezuela, where the predatory Maduro regime has pauperized its own people. More than five million have fled, mostly to Colombia and other Latin American countries.
Some six million fled the Syrian civil war. A quarter million migrants have arrived at the American southern border in 2023 alone. And that is to say nothing of the great migrations of refugees in Europe after World War II, or during partition in India.
All of which illustrates that resettling the entire population of Gaza would be unremarkable in historic terms for the Arab world today. That is not to argue that it should be done permanently, but only that accommodating refugees from Gaza in this time of war would be relatively easy to do, absolutely normal in recent world history, and would save the lives of many Gazans and spare them great hardship.
Will the Arab nations do it?
It is unlikely. Egypt has long viewed Hamas-ruled Gaza as a contagion to be kept out, and Egypt would be key to any significant refugee operation. But if other Arab countries — the combined population of the Arab League is 430 million – were to commit to accepting a million Gazans, Egypt might be more favourable.
In the 1990s, some two million Jews left the detritus of the Soviet empire. Half of those settled in Israel, more than 10 per cent of its population. Both Israel and the Jewish diaspora managed the formidable logistics in what was known as Operation Exodus.
It’s time for a reverse exodus, not for Jews but for Palestinians in Gaza. They need, during this time of war, a place of refuge. The Arab countries can provide it, as has been done in other parts of the world.
Palestinians have long felt, with good reason, that the Arab world does not, rhetoric aside, really care for their welfare. Now is an excellent time to prove that wrong.
National Post
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now - it's FREE.
I challenged myself to pack and wear only Canadian brands, and it was easier than anticipated
This unassuming phone stand folds up to credit card size
Montreal-headquartered shoe company Kamik celebrates milestone year.
A new makeup collection from the brand Monat that features skincare ingredients such as vitamin E and niacinamide.
Curtain bangs are a great way to frame the face while adding body and versatility to your hair.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Nikkei Editorial
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
visit website
