Daily Alert Archives

Why Arabs Don't Want to Receive Palestinian Ex-Prisoners

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - Most of the Arab countries are refusing to receive Palestinians released from Israeli prison as part of the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal. In the past few weeks, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli hostages kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas. Many others were released to Egypt, with the hope that other Arab countries would host them. However, the Egyptians have agreed to allow only a handful to remain, while dozens of others are searching for countries that will agree to receive them. With the exception of Qatar and Turkey, most Arab countries have refused to allow in the released prisoners. The ex-prisoners, many of whom belong to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are in Cairo, staying in hotels and hospitals. It seems the Arab states are not eager to provide shelter to Islamist jihadists who could join forces with other terror groups and pose a threat to the regimes that have taken them in. The Jordanians and Lebanese have not forgotten how Palestinians sparked civil wars in their countries in the '70s and '80s. The refusal of the Arab countries to play host to the ex-prisoners is seen by many Palestinians and Arabs as yet another sign that the Arab heads of state and governments do not really care about the Palestinians, which largely may be true. It also exposes the big difference between the Arabs' public support for the Palestinians and their inaction to help them. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
2025-03-06 00:00:00
Full Article