CHAPTER 12

Samson's Foxes and the Refugees

It is to the refugee question that we must now address ourselves. No problem in the Region is more loaded with hatred and bitterness, fear and anxiety, than this one. To the Arabs, the refugees are a tragedy, a constant reminder of failure and humiliation, a living memory of an injustice done and not redressed. To Israel, the refugees are a constant danger, a reservoir of tomorrow's terrorists, and worse, the nightmare of a potential advancing flood which would submerge the State of Israel, set up by so much sacrifice.

There is not much use in analyzing the causes of this tragedy. Yet there seems no way of avoiding it. The propaganda of both sides, based on half-truths and deliberate falsehoods, has poisoned the atmosphere of the Region for too long. How, then, did these Arabs become refugees? Were they driven out by cruel Israeli invaders who took over their country, as Arab propaganda maintains, or did they flee on the advice of their leaders, hoping to return in a few days after the massacre of the Jews by the Arab armies, as Israeli propaganda proclaims?

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On a recent visit to the huge refugee camp near Gaza, I asked an Arab boy, "Where do you come from?'' He answered, "From al-Koubab."

I was struck by this answer for two reasons: first, because he was a boy of seven and, therefore, born at Gaza, twelve years after his family had left Israeli territory, and he has

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