The Scheme to Define Away Palestinian Refugees
In May 2012, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) made an outstanding discovery, which had escaped scores of politicians, diplomats and experts for six decades. He discovered that the number of Palestinian refugees is not five million as United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) records show, but merely 30,000. The credit for this discovery goes to AIPAC and Israel as they had advanced this “discovery” for the last four months. Kirk “took the signal” and proposed a motion to the Congress which was passed after a mild amendment. Within a week, dozens of pro-Israel and Jewish sites in the USA, Canada and Australia reported the “discovery.” For them, defining away refugees is akin to an end-run on conflict and war. Dispossessed Palestinians will remain dispossessed Palestinians with no recourse. This interpretation is nothing more than a gimmick, which, if anything, will prolong the conflict and increase the suffering of millions of refugees.