Mideast States Turn Their Backs on the Palestinian Arabs
The war that erupted with the attack by Hamas on Israel will not be resolved ‘at the expense of Egypt,’ says President el-Sissi.
With war underway in Gaza, President el-Sissi of Egypt vows to bar the door against any Palestinian Arab refugees. He echoes the refusal of Arab states to welcome the Arabs displaced by the United Nations’ partition of Palestine in 1947 and the wars for survival of Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973. What a contrast with World War II, after which 20 million Europeans displaced by border changes were resettled in what Churchill called a “clean sweep.”
The Israel-Hamas war will not be resolved “at the expense of Egypt,” Mr. el-Sissi says, referring to what the AP calls “fears Israel may try to push Gaza’s population into the Sinai peninsula.” The Hashemite king, Abdullah II, calls this “a red line,” declaring “no refugees to Jordan and also no refugees to Egypt.” One Egyptian official asks, per the Financial Times: “You want us to take a million people? Well, I am going to send them to Europe.”
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