Tom Copeland
Hospitality has been a sacred duty in Arab culture for over a millennium. One must always welcome strangers into your home, providing them with food and protection.
Roughly 75% of the population of Gaza is now internally displaced by war. Why won’t their Arab neighbors show hospitality and take them in?
Immediately after the horrendous October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Egypt’s President Al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II insisted publicly that Palestinian refugees would not be allowed into their countries, ostensibly because they do not want to give in to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza. They are right to worry that the displacement of millions of Gazans across their borders would become permanent.
Massive out-migration also would reduce pressure on Israel for a two-state solution – a solution only pitched by the United States and Israeli doves.
If Israel was committing ethnic cleansing, they would forcibly be expelling Gazans across Israeli borders. Certainly, the Israelis do not want to allow Hamas terrorists to escape amidst a refugee flow. But if neighboring Arab countries were pressing the Israelis to allow Gazans to flee into their countries, it would be difficult for Israel to refuse.
Former US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who spent four decades in the Middle East, says that other Arab states look on the Palestinians with “fear and loathing.” There are many reasons why these neighbors refuse to welcome Palestinian refugees.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has little desire to accept refugees. There are already nearly 60 designated Palestinian refugee camps across the Middle East, including ten in Jordan with more than two million residents. Most of these camps were established in the 1950’s and 60’s and are now more like concrete slums than tent camps. Establishing massive new camps would be a financial and logistical nightmare.
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