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If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans?

(Wall Street Journal) Sadanand Dhume - Many population transfers have taken place over the past century. In the 1920s, Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey moved to Greece, while Muslims in Greece moved to Turkey. After World War II, millions of Indians and Pakistanis were forced to find new homes, as were ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, Uganda expelled Indians. Only in the Palestinian case has the refugee question festered endlessly. The Egyptians, Jordanians and Saudis all appear less than enthusiastic at the prospect of an influx of Palestinians. Nonetheless, the discussion highlights a double standard. Following the creation of Israel in 1948 and the first Arab-Israeli war, 600,000 to 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes. Contrast this with 800,000 Jews who fled or were expelled from their homes in North Africa and the Middle East. Today the descendants of these Mizrahi Jews make up half of Israel's population. In 1947 the departing British carved out Pakistan from Muslim-majority areas of India. The bloodshed that followed - between Hindus and Sikhs on one side and Muslims on the other - led to two million deaths and uprooted 18 million people. No one expects Pakistan to transform its religious demography by offering a "right of return" to descendants of Hindu and Sikh refugees. Why should it be any different for Israel? Across the Middle East, Palestinians in most Arab states face discrimination in access to employment, government services and property ownership. The Census Bureau estimates that the U.S. houses 172,000 Palestinians. That's more than the Palestinian population in many Arab countries. Former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said, "In the last 100 years, populations have moved repeatedly. Sometimes it's not fair. Sometimes it's justified from a humanitarian perspective. But whatever happens, when it's over, it's over. This [Israel] is the only place where it's weaponized." We wouldn't even be having this conversation if Arab states had welcomed Palestinian Arabs the way many other countries around the world have welcomed refugees. The writer, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is former New Delhi bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review.
2025-02-13 00:00:00
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