OPINION:
After former Syrian President Bashar Assad began his rampage, 13 million Syrians were displaced and 6.7 million refugees were forced to flee Syria. Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt took in more than 4 million Syrian refugees and European countries took in the rest.
After Russia started its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, approximately 40 million border crossings from Ukraine to other countries were recorded and, according to data from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the countries with the largest numbers of Ukrainian asylum or other temporary protection applicants were Poland (1.6 million), Germany (1 million) and the Czech Republic (0.54 million).
But no country wants the Palestinians. Why is that? Why is it that even their own brothers, who vociferously claim to be concerned about their fate, their rights, their freedom, etc., are unwilling to take them in, even temporarily?
So far, Israel’s Arab neighbors have rejected President Trump’s plan to relocate the Gazans while the Gaza Strip area is being cleared of rubble and Hamas terrorist infrastructure to make way for a rebuilt community with a vision for economic prosperity these people have never known.
Who knows? Maybe after they experience real freedom, true financial security and that elusive peace, the Palestinians will accept the Jewish state and its people and there will be no more war. Maybe they will finally understand that they will never destroy Israel and claim the area “from the river to the sea” as their Jew-free home. One can only dream.
ARLENE HERSH
Jerusalem, Israel
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