Palestinian Refugees Will Not Be Citizens of the New State

Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon. From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon last week about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.

Let us just remind ourselves that when 700,000 Jews were kicked out of the Arab countries, many with only the clothes they wore, Israel immediately took them in and gave them citizenship.

Sorry, but whether there are left wing or right wing politics at play, this is incredible, this is an Alice in Wonderland scenario.

The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”

This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”

Abdullah said that the new Palestinian state would “absolutely not” be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees.

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