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A recent opinion poll, conducted to gauge the mood among the Palestinian public was presented during a press conference at the 2004 "Jerusalem Summit" Conference. Had the findings of the survey referred to any group of people other than the Palestinians, no-one would have considered them in anyway remarkable. In the poll, the Palestinians expressed a significant level of dissatisfaction with regard to their quality of life, the functioning of their leadership and the chances of any improvement in their situation in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, what could be more natural and more normal than that many Palestinians would seriously consider emigrating in order to seek a better life for themselves and their families?? This is precisely what would be expected from any group living in such dismal circumstances -- except for to the Palestinians. In their case, such findings were received with astonishment and disbelief!
Certain circles, particularly on the political left, tried to cast doubt on the survey's credibility and even to dismiss it. The reason for this reaction is not difficult to understand. For the poll severely undermines their political doctrine which rests, to a large degree, on the myth of obdurate Palestinian resolve to cling to their homeland no matter what. Moreover, the findings refute the prevailing perception – now even adopted by much of the Israeli "right" – that there is no way contend with the demographic threat other than withdrawal from much the territories across the 1967 Green Line. But now, along comes a poll, conducted by a well- know Israeli institute – in cooperation with a reputable Palestinian center – and demonstrates that, according to a representative sample of the adult population in Judea and Samaria, over 40% respondents have considered emigrating permanently to some other country. Furthermore, only 15% (!) stated that that there was no inducement that could prompt them to leave their present place of residence permanently. By contrast, 70% identified some form of material measure, translatable into monetary terms (such as accommodation, education, financial compensation and so on), that could bring them to emigrate permanently.
These findings seem to suggest that the Palestinians do not in fact differ so vastly from other segments of humanity. However, acceptance of this seemingly self-evident statement has surprisingly far-reaching political ramifications. Indeed, much of the stubborn, long-standing persistence of the Palestinian problem can in large measure be attributed to the peculiarly unique status ascribed to them by the international community. The area in which this is arguably the most pronounced is that of refugees. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees is the body charged with responsibility for all the refugees on the face of the globe – except the Palestinians. For the latter a special, separate institution – UNRWA - has been established. The two bodies even have different definition of the term "refugee" – a fact which, as recently underscored by Daniel Pipes, also has immense political implications. For, according to the High Commission's definition, the number of refuges decreases over time, while according to the UNRWA definition, the number increases. The divergence of definitions brings about an astonishing situation: If the High Commission definition was applied to the Palestinians, the number of their refugees would shrink dramatically to 200,000 – i.e. less than five percent (!) of the current number of 4.5 million that exists according to the UNRWA definition. It thus appears that enduring continuation of the Palestinian refugees is to a large degree a consequence of a bureaucratic norm of an organization whose very existence depends on the perpetuation of the problem it was created to solve…
This is not the only incidence of perceived - or ascribed - Palestinian peculiarity and its impact on the intransigence of the Palestinian problem. Throughout the Arab world, the separate status of the Palestinians is imposed on them by naked discrimination by the authorities there. For example, Saudi Arabia recently announced it was introducing measures to ease the acquisition of Saudi citizenship for foreigners resident in the country. These measures would be valid for all nationalities - except Palestinians, half a million of whom live in the kingdom. Similar policies of alienation are prevalent in other Arab states. Indeed, Hisham Youssef, spokesman for the 22-nation Arab League, recently explained the blatant pan-Arab discrimination as a policy designed "to preserve their Palestinian identity". He went on to state that "If every Palestinian who sought refuge in a certain country was integrated and accommodated into that country, there won't be any reason for them to return to Palestine [sic]" It thus appears that non-Palestinian Arabs are more committed to preserve the Palestinian national identity than the Palestinians themselves.
In light of the continuing failure in dealing with the Palestinian question, it seems imperative to challenge the conventional wisdom regarding the manner in which it should be resolved and to initiate a vigorous search for "out-of the box" solutions. In this regard two clear conclusions seem to emerge:
• Firstly, the Palestinian problem is in many respects an artificial construct rooted in the malice of the Arab states (and in the folly and ineptitude of Israel itself).
• Secondly, it appears that by means of a judicious combination of two elements, the "Palestinian problem" could be radically reduced – and perhaps even eliminated:
(a) Diplomatic pressure by the democratic nations on the Arab governments to end their discrimination against Palestinians living in their territory and to absorb those who so desire;
(b) Generous financial aid to those resident in Judea Samaria and Gaza to facilitate their emigration and a start of a new and better life for themselves and their families elsewhere in the world.
After all, what could be more liberal, more humane, than the demand to end to discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, and to facilitate freedom of choice for the private individual in determining his own destiny and that of his family??
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