This
policy is reflected in the excerpt (below) from the speech that
Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ron
Prosor delivered to the General Assembly on Nov. 29, 2011,
the 64th anniversary of the UN Partition Resolution:
--
On Nov. 29, 1947, the UN voted to partition then British-Mandate
Palestine into two states: one Jewish, one Arab. Two states
for two
peoples. The Jewish population accepted that plan and declared
a new state
in its ancient homeland….The Arab inhabitants rejected
the plan and
launched a war of annihilation against the new Jewish state,
joined by the
armies of five Arab members of the UN.
--
As a result of the war, there were Arabs who became refugees.
A
similar number of Jews, who lived in Arab countries, were
forced to flee
their homes as well. They, too, became refugees. The difference
between
these two distinct populations was - and still is - that
Israel absorbed
the refugees into our society. Our neighbors did not.
Rights
for Jewish refugees was underscored by Prime Minster Netanyahu
during his May 20, 2011 meeting in the Oval Office with President
Obama when he stated, during a live worldwide press conference,
that:
"…The
third reality is that the Palestinian refugee problem will have
to be resolved in the context of a Palestinian state, but certainly
not in the borders of Israel.
The Arab
attack in 1948 on Israel resulted in two refugee problems -- Palestinian
refugee problem and Jewish refugees, roughly the same numbers,
who were expelled from Arab lands. Now, tiny Israel absorbed the
Jewish refugees, but the vast Arab world refused to absorb the
Palestinian refugees…."
