Israel's Moslem neighbors are unable to absorb the (initially) few thousand Moslems who either voluntarily left Israel in 1948, making way the "glorious Arab armies that would drive the Jews to the sea" or were chased out by Jews who, in many cases, correctly perceived them to be Fifth Columnists (enemies inside the borders).
It's interesting to note that many Moslems stayed in Israel, became Israeli citizens, and enjoy 99% of all the county's benefits.
Many of the Moslems who left Israel received compensation from Israel for their claims.
So why are they still in refugee camps in Gaza, in Lebanon, and elsewhere?
Because no one wants them.
To its credit, Jordan has absorbed a number of refugees sufficient that a few hold positions in the Jordanian government. (Perhaps the current king has forgotten about the Palestinian attempt on his father's life and Black September - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_(group).) Or, perhaps, the Jordanians realize that Jordan IS the Palestinian state.
Since they won't absorb the refugees, the Moslem states let their brothers-in-religion sit in the camps, blaming Israel for the refugees' woes. To be honest, these states DO allow residents of Occupied Israel (Gaza and the so called "West Bank") entry to work at low level pay. And, these imported workers know that they can be expelled at the whim of the leadership.
Compare this
to the plight of Jews forced out or "encouraged" to leave their homes and property in Arab lands.
Compensation? None.
Yet the so-called Palestinians want compensation from Israel.
Seems to me that the maybe a swap could be arranged: The Moslems in the camps could be resettled in the countries the Jews vacated. The Jewish Agency funded most of the travel for indigent Jews; surely the Arab League could foot the bill to move Moslems into new host countries.
Absorption costs? Israel and the Jewish Agency - at one time practically one and the same - paid, and continues to pay - costs to absorb new immigrants from "wherever." Let the Arab League pay the integration costs for the relocated Moslems.
At least they don't have to learn the (basic) language.
The "Jewish Virtual Library" has an interesting page titled "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries" by Jacqueline Shields at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jewref.html. It includes a chart near the end of the file showing the declining number of Jews in Arab states over the years since 1948.
In 1948, there was an estimated 856,000 Jews in 10 Moslem countries; as of 2004, the number was a little more than 7,600.
The only two of 10 Moslem countries listed that has a population of more than 1000 Jews are Morocco with an estimated 5,500 and Tunisia with 1,500 (figures as of 2004). Interestingly, Morocco is considered a "vacation" spot by some Israelis who still have relatives in the country.
Why "Palestinians" are not wanted
With the unrest in the Arab League's world, the so-called Palestinians in their brothers' lands are being threatened with expulsion. According to a posting by Khaled Abu Toameh on the Hudson New York blog (http://www.hudson-ny.org/2007/palestinians-deported-from-syria, "Buthaina Shaaban, an advisor to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, surprised many reporters last week when she announced that Palestinian refugees living in her country took part in attacks on government installations in the cities of Deraa and Latakia."
According to Toameh, "Palestinians fear that the latest charges against them are aimed at paving the way for their deportation from Syria, the same way many Gulf countries expelled tens of thousands of Palestinian families after the liberation of Kuwait by US-led coalition forces in the early 1990s."
Many of the 700,000 so-called Palestinians thought to be in Syria are kept in refugee camps, although, the blog notes, the "Syrians are believed to be holding hundreds of Palestinians in various prisons."
