(Middle East Quarterly) Efraim Karsh - No sooner had the Palestinian Arabs fled their homes during the 1948-49 war than they were taken under the protective wing of the international community and protected like no other group in similar circumstances. This special treatment ranged from their recognition as refugees despite the failure of many to satisfy the basic criteria for such status, to the unprecedented creation of a relief agency committed exclusively for their welfare. Moreover, the UN blindly registered countless false claimants as refugees despite its keen awareness of the pervasiveness of this fraud, then let their falsely obtained status be passed on to future generations. The writer, emeritus professor of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at King's College London, is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2018-05-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive