In ’48 War, the Jews “Didn’t Want These People to Leave the Village”
Israeli-Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa
Alexander Galloway, a former UNRWA director in Jordan, famously said that the Arab world was not interested in solving the Palestinian refugee problem, but instead preferred to “keep it as an open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel.”
Today, ironically, it is UNRWA, the United Nations body responsible for Palestinian refugees, that’s often charged with perpetuating the refugee status of Palestinians. And if the refugee problem is still used as a weapon against Israel, it is largely as a key component of the simplistic, hostile narrative that holds Israel as uniformly guilty and the Palestinian as fundamentally victims.
An example of this narrative: The claim in a The New York TImes Op-Ed a few years back that, in 1948, “a people had been expelled from their land in a comprehensive ethnic cleansing operation.”
But from those not enlisted in the war-of-words against Israel — from those who speak casually, as citizens and not as warriors — that narrative is often undermined. In today’s Chicago Tribune (and in the LA Times last week) there is a story about the Arab-Israeli coastal town of Jisr az-Zarqa. One older resident is quoted talking about that allegedly “comprehensive ethnic cleansing operation”:
In 1948, amid fighting between Arabs and Jews surrounding the creation of Israel, there was no fighting in Jisr.
Arabs living in nearby villages fled, but “we didn’t even think about it, never even thought about leaving our lands,” said Gamil Jarban, 72, a retired fisherman, who said his father built the first house in Jisr. He said the people of Jisr were left alone because they were peaceful.
“Even when the Jews came here, they didn’t want these people to leave the village,” he said.
To those most dedicated to talking points drawn up by Palestinian rejectionists, Jarban’s frank remembrance might be viewed as a betrayal. But even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas can’t be angry. He’s been known to contradict his own narrative now and again.
More from SNAPSHOTS
USA Today Cartoon Notes Palestinian Calls to Destroy Israel
December 8, 2017
A USA Today cartoon, published on Dec. 8, 2017, detailed the response by many Palestinians to the United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. As the cartoon, entitled “Same old Palestinian response,” highlighted, not much [...]
The Hill Omits Turkey’s Support for Hamas
December 5, 2017
Recep Tayyip Erdogan A Hill dispatch about Turkey threatening to cut ties with Israel, omitted key information about Ankara’s support for Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group committed to the Jewish state’s destruction ("Turkey: Recognizing Jerusalem [...]
Palestinian Textbooks Are ‘Significantly More Radical’ Than Before
December 4, 2017
The hatred taught in Palestinian schools is only increasing, according to an Algemeiner article by correspondent Shiri Moshe (“Report: New Palestinian Curriculum Praises ‘Martyrdom,’ Significantly ‘More Radical’ Than Before,” Dec. 3, 2017). Moshe highlighted a [...]
Fatah Official: Iran is Hindering Palestinian Reconciliation
December 4, 2017
Top Hamas operatives Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh The man tasked with leading efforts to reconcile Fatah and Hamas has accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of working to prevent reconciliation between the two Palestinian [...]
Israeli Peace Offers Go Missing in Politico
December 1, 2017
A Politico report about the Trump administration possibly moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, omitted the numerous instances of Palestinian leadership rejecting a Palestinian state if it meant peacefully co-existing [...]
International Business Times Peddles Fake News About Mossad’s Gal Gadot
November 28, 2017
A screen shot from Lebanon's Al Liwaa, which had erroneously used Gal Gadot's photograph to illustrate a story on alleged Mossad agent Collette Vianfi. Al Liwaa apologized, but The International Business Times lags far behind [...]
Official Palestinian Media: U.S. and Israel Are Responsible for ISIS Attack
November 27, 2017
PA President Mahmoud Abbas An Op-Ed in Al-Hayat al-Jadida, an official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily newspaper, blamed the United States and Israel for a Nov. 24, 2017 terrorist attack in which 305 Muslim worshippers were [...]
The Washington Post’s Hollywood Approach to History
November 27, 2017
A Nov. 22, 2017 Washington Post article, “How the Netflix action series ‘Fauda’ shows the human side to the Israeli conflict,” gave a distorted look at the Arab-Israeli conflict. Tellingly, the headline omits the party—Palestinian [...]
Duke University Press Criticized for Publication of Jasbir Puar’s “Right to Maim”
November 22, 2017
Jasbir Puar is the Rutgers University professor who first coined the term “pinkwashing” to denigrate Israel’s progressive record on LGBTQ rights, and who made the baseless claim at a 2016 lecture at Vassar College that [...]