Nearly one million Arab refugees from Palestine are used as pawns by the Arab countries in continuing a state of war with Israel, according to an article in the October issue of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. The article emphasizes that the leaders of the Arab nations have used the plight of these refugees as the central theme in a hate campaign against Israel.
Martha Gellhorn, novelist. journalist, former war correspondent, and the author of The Atlantic’s article, “The Arabs of Palestine,” say that of the thirty-nine million war refugees since World War II few have been exploited. “The unique misfortune of the Palestine refugees is that they are a weapon in what seems to be a permanent war,” she says. She refers to the fact that “Mein Kampf” was ignored in its day and says that “we ought to have learned never to ignore dictators or their books. Egypt’s Liberation.’ by Camel Abdul Nasser, deserves careful notice.”
Miss Gellhorn visited eight of the 58 refugee camps which the United Nations relief organization has operated for the past 11 years at a cost of nearly $360 million. After talking with the Arab families in these camps, she says: “The Palestinian refugees are unfortunate victims of a brief moment in history. If we can keep the peace, however troubled, the children of Palestinian refugees will make themselves at home among their own kind, in their ancestral lands.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
