The other half of Palestine: Palestinian refugees

A common but misunderstood view in our country is that the persecution of Palestinians started with Jewish refugees brought to Palestine from Europe after the Second World War. However, there was a Jewish population in the Palestinian territories before. The first gang formations and massacres took place under the control of British imperialism.

The map of the Middle East was redrawn with the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Those who held the ruler were the imperialists. Since 1917, the idea of ​​building a Zionist state in the region has been organized. Britain and France lost power in the Middle East with the Second World War. Dominance in the western capitalist bloc passed into the hands of the USA. The USA did not bring peace to the Middle East, nor did it bring freedom to oppressed nations and peoples. Disallowed by American pragmatism, Wilson principles have been used to ignore the national rights of the Palestinian people. The state of Israel, established in 1948, was to become the US military station.

With the expansionist Zionist policy in which Jewish capital, religious fanaticism and racism intertwined, US imperialism was now strategic partners. Jewish refugees fleeing fascism in Europe were tried to be the demographic basis of Zionism. Most of the Palestinians were deported and became refugees. Arab, Jewish, Armenian, Christian etc. peoples were enemies to each other. The aim was to seize the oil, market and military domination areas in the region.

Another misconception known in our country is that "Palestinians are an unreliable people and they sell their land to the Zionists". This is the case because the "divide-tear-rule" policies implemented by imperialism in the region have not been observed. On the one hand, occupation and systematic state terror, on the other hand, the reality of a blockade, exile and an oppressed people displaced from their homeland. When all these facts are not brought together and the issue is reduced to "people forced to sell their house", reality leaves its place to a dangerous lie that rules perception.

The most dangerous argument to be made in supporting the Palestinian cause is the debate as to which people are superior or "inferior". On the contrary, what needs to be done is to ensure that the peoples take a common stance against imperialism and the Zionist bourgeois reaction. We stand by the Palestinian people to the end against the occupying persecution of the Israeli state. But we are also against all kinds of chauvinistic blows, such as insulting the Palestinian or Jewish people.

Another inconsistency is to humiliate the 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey while supporting the Palestinian people. Because the Palestinian cause cannot be handled independently of the 5.2 million Palestinian refugees scattered across various countries. Palestinian tears today are not limited to explosive bombs, fragmented bodies, collapsed buildings. At the same time, it is the tears of the “stateless” that are always bloody, flowing and unfortunately passed down from generation to generation.

When the state of Israel was established in 1948, at least 700 thousand refugees were displaced. In 1967, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were occupied, and 300,000 more Palestinian refugees were added. Resolution 194 passed at the UN General Assembly allowed refugees to return to their homes. Those who did not choose to return were promised compensation. But these rights remained on paper, the UN resolution was used to expropriate the Palestinians.

Today 2 million Palestinians are refugees in their own land! They have to live 100 kilometers from their home. Gaza has been under siege for years. The Egyptian border gate was closed, the crossing tunnels were destroyed. One of the highest unemployment rates in the world is in Palestine. Consequently, labor is cheap. The Zionist regime, which smeared the cities with blood, had to give 130,000 Palestinian workers working in Israel the Covid-19 vaccine.

Let's get to Jordan. The number of Palestinian refugees here exceeded 2 million. 400 thousand refugees live in 10 refugee camps. Of course they are all poor. Most Palestinians live on temporary passports. Access to work, property ownership, health and education is a big challenge.

On the other hand, around 400 thousand Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon. Palestinian refugees born in the country cannot become citizens. There is a new generation born stateless. It does not have the right to acquire property or leave inheritance, and it is forbidden to Palestinians to perform 39 professions.

And Syria… More than 500 thousand Palestinian refugees live here too. All in need of humanitarian aid. The war that broke out in Syria in 2011 hit Palestinian refugees as well. In other words, Syrians who took refuge in Turkey today have lived with Palestinian refugees for years.

Palestinians today live in nearly 60 refugee camps located in different countries. Conditions are not humane. Moreover, refugee camps are targeted in every political crisis. The Sabra and Satilla massacres in 1982 were the most terrifying. "Butcher" Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, along with Christian phalangists, massacred 3,000 Palestinians here. Most recently, 10 refugees were massacred in Sati Refugee Camp.

Palestinian poet Mahmud Dervis expresses the common suffering of Palestinian refugees in his poem "Letter from Exile":

"My mother, father, brothers, my friends,

maybe you are alive

maybe dead.

Maybe it's not clear where you are,

like me.

What value can human be;

homeless,

homeless,

without flag,

what value? "

Remember, wherever you see a refugee, in his portrait you see a country in ruins and a people in captivity. Loving an oppressed people also requires loving their other half, the refugees.

5.2 million Palestinian refugees should not be added to new ones,

And so that not a single Palestinian would not live far from their home,

Now is the time for solidarity with the Palestinian people.