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Why Is the World Not Helping Gazans Flee a War Zone?

(Forward) Josh Feldman - For all its professed care for Palestinians, the world has a funny way of showing it. The international community has essentially trapped Palestinians in Gaza, leaving them no way to escape the horrors of war. Historically speaking, this is quite the anomaly, as war consistently produces refugees. As George Mason University's Eugene Kontorovich has observed, 3.5 million Ukrainians had applied for temporary residence in countries such as Poland and Germany. The Syrian civil war produced five million refugees. The American invasion of Iraq produced two million international refugees. Choosing to flee a war zone is a decision for Palestinians alone to make. For months, countless politicians and human rights groups have decried the civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Yet few, if any, have shown the slightest interest in helping Gazans do what millions in previous conflicts have done: Find refuge in a third country. Inexplicably, the world is denying Palestinians one of the most fundamental human rights, that of being allowed to flee war zones - one that's enshrined in multiple UN conventions - when they need it most. The most logical places of refuge for Gazans are surrounding Arab and Muslim countries, many of which have no shortage of Palestinian inhabitants. The brutal truth is that from Egypt, to Jordan, the Gulf states, Turkey, or Iran, none of these nations care enough to absorb significant numbers of refugees from Gaza. In other words, nobody wants them. In a grotesquely ironic twist, world leaders and human rights advocates have unwittingly united with Hamas in keeping Gazans in harm's way. If in every other major conflict, millions of refugees flee their homes in an attempt to find safety, there is no moral justification for denying this option to Palestinians.
2024-03-27 00:00:00
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