Israel Matzav

Hamas says they're criminals, not refugees

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's campaign to have the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries treated equally with 'Palestinian refugees' has hit a raw spot. On Saturday, it was Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri's turn to blast the campaign.

Following the special gathering at the UN before Israeli officials, foreign diplomats, activists and journalists, to raise the issue of Jewish refugees, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that “those Jews are criminals rather than refugees."

He added: "Those Jews were not refugees as they claim. They were actually responsible for the displacement of the Palestinian people after they secretly migrated from Arab countries to Palestine before they expelled the Palestinians from their lands to build a Jewish state at their expense.”

Speaking on behalf of the movement, Zuhri commented that it is the fault of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands who "turned the Palestinian people into refugees", Ma'an reported.
Commenting on the conference, he said: "The Hamas movement views this conference as a dangerous, unprecedented move which contributes to the falsification of history and reversing of facts.”

Critics have said the timing of the campaign ahead of the gathering of the General Assembly of the UN next week is not accidental. Palestinian politicians like Hanan Ashrawi have argued that Jews from Arab lands are not refugees at all and that, either way, Israel is using their claims as a counter-balance to those of Palestinian refugees against it.

She explained: “If Israel is their homeland, then they are not ‘refugees;’ they are emigrants who returned either voluntarily or due to a political decision.”

“Arab Jews were part of the Arab region, but they began migrating to Israel after its establishment,” she argued. “They did so in accordance with a forethought plan by the Jewish Agency to bring Jews from all around the world to build the State of Israel.”

Do I detect a note of panic? Heh.

Labels: Hamas, Jewish refugees

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:38 PM