By Iqbal Tamimi

Since the first minute the Zionists arrived in Palestine during the
first half of the 1900s their policy was clear, it was to empty the
land of its indigenous people and house immigrant Jews in their place.
Almost 6 million Palestinians are now scattered all over the world as
refugees since then, and hundreds of thousands were massacred and
housed under the soil for resisting to abandon their home land.

The Telegraph published an article 5 Feb 2009 by Damien McElroy titled
Britain offers to accept Palestinians who fled Iraq (30 widows with
children!).

The article is about efforts to resettle Palestinians who have been
forced into squalid desert refugee camps on the Iraqi border in the
hardest conditions including facing hazards of fires and floods that
have claimed many lives such as the story of Ahmed Mohammad who lost
his pregnant wife when a fire engulfed his tent last month.

"The fire took seconds to burn and I could only rescue my son." said
Ahmad. There are more than 800,000 Palestinian refugees still living in
Syria and 224,000 are registered with the UN as refugees.

Many Palestinians were never granted citizenship in the countries they
fled to, they and their offspring are scattered now all over the world
from Europe to Chile.

Governments like that of the UK have a moral obligation towards those
Palestinian refugees for two reasons: the first is due to the British
government?s role and policies since the Balfour Declaration which was
a direct contributor to the Palestinians? misery, and the second is its
role in the Iraqi war that ended up with forcing the refugee
Palestinians of Iraq to become refugees again. But still a solution
like accepting 30 widows is not going to be the perfect solution.

These Palestinian widows from the Tanf refugee camp in the desert must
be grateful for this kind gesture, but this action solves the problem
of 30 widows only, thus discriminating against male refugees who are as
much victims as women.

Men like 81-year-old Mahmoud Abdul who fled Haifa in 1948 from
Palestine to Baghdad, then Amman, Damascus and now again he is with
many other Palestinian refugees are in the no-man?s land holding tight
to one dream only, they want to be citizens where they can set up homes
and feel no one can take that home away from them. Saving the lives of
30 widows is a drop in the ocean regarding solving the problem of 6
million refugees. And we should not brag about accepting to rescue 30
widows after causing 6 million people become exiled and refugees.

Solving the problem of 30 widows or ?spearheading? this attempt as the
Telegraph has called it, is not good enough, year after year Israel has
been forcing more Palestinians to become refugees by enforcing
different methods of pressure and expulsion.

Even though Palestinians are grateful for such generous gestures they
would rather be home in their own properties, taking care of their
lands and feeling dignified instead of feeling like a heavy guest.

The new effort to resettle Palestinian refugees outside Palestine is
another attempt to patch another hole Israel punctured while being sure
that other countries should find a way to mend.

Since 1948 Israel has been expelling Palestinians from their country,
thus entering the circle of displacement over and over again. The only
suggestion Israel keeps coming with is why don?t other Arab countries
accommodate them? This is the most ridiculous statement made to escape
the blame and dumb problems created by its policies of expanding
occupation on other people?s steps. I

srael?s continuous suggestion that the Palestinians should be absorbed
by other Arab speaking countries is the most ridiculous statement ever,
sharing a language does not in any way give a valid reason to accept
such responsibility.

The Telegraph was fishing in muddy waters when it said in its report
"After turning a blind eye for years, Syria feels it has done enough.
There has to be a resettlement solution that allows these people to
resettle in a third country." Why should Syria or any other Arab
country solve a problem created by Israel with the blessing of U.S. and
UK? Syria itself is suffering the Israeli aggression and occupation of
its Golan Heights and the stealing of its water resources by Israel.

Israel is still refusing to declare its borders, and was and still is
expanding illegally on Palestinian land, Israel is still turning a
blind eye to the international community and a long list of UN
resolutions demanding its withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian
territories and to stop building more settlements on Palestinian land,
Israel is still stealing the resources and lands and properties in the
Occupied Territories and still gets away with it.

The media shows every day Israel being defended by the U.S. and UK
governments, and shows the friendly visits of top politicians visiting
Israel on the Palestinian occupied land, yet emphasising Israel?s
RIGHTS to live in peace, what a load of ridiculous heap of pathetic
policies, they are visiting an occupied territory and yet demanding
safety of the occupier not the victims.

But one knows well that such visits are not returned because most
Israeli politicians are wanted for war crimes, and the people in the U.
S. and UK have a different stand from that of their governments and
sympathise with the oppressed Palestinians. Should any Israeli official
visit the UK, I am sure he will be met with hales of shoes by the
citizens who have great support and sympathy towards people of Gaza
living in misery.


-- Iqbal Tamimi is a Palestinian journalist and poet from Hebron. She
is the creator of the vibrant activists' network Palestinian Mothers.

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