Last week in this space, I talked about the world’s response to this miracle. The United Nations has officially dubbed it a “catastrophe.” On November 30th of last year, the UN passed a resolution to commemorate “Nakba Day” (“the day of catastrophe”). That commemoration will come in part at “a high-level event” to be held in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations building in New York City.
The Nakba specifically refers to Palestinians who became refugees during the Arab war on Israel in 1948. But the new Israeli government did not push them out. Arab nations ordered them to leave. UN resolutions in 1947 laid out a plan for two states — a Jewish one and an Arab one. Israel accepted this arrangement, but the Arab nations rejected it. They chose to defy the United Nations and go to war with Israel instead.
Bear in mind the Arab nations expelled more Jews during that time (over 810,000) than the number of Palestinians who left Israeli lands (710,000). Heeding the false promises made by invading Arab armies, Palestinians chose to leave Israel. But Jews were forced to leave Arab nations.