A convenient peg on which to hang one's hat
Reader comment on item: [Antonius, Arafat, Said Become Palestinian:] A Good Career Move

Submitted by David Tachauer (United Kingdom), Nov 11, 2004 at 06:03

Muhammad 'Abd ar-Ra'uf 'Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husayni, like so many of his so called Palestinan people was no more nor less than an Arab migrant looking to further his aspirations on the back of Israel's hard won prosperity. Reputedly up to 500,000 Egyptians migrated to Turkish Palestine during the 19th century only to miraculously aquire generations of 'Palestinian' ancestry and subsequent 'refugee status'thanks to the hopeless census records of the Ottoman colonial masters.
How many of the world's left wing pro Palestinan intellectuals appreciate that unlike the self proclaimed Ra'is, four of the last five Israeli prime ministers including Ariel Sharon himself were born in what the world chooses to refer to as Palestine? Since Golda Meir's time only Shimon Peres has held premiership as an immigrant.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

And this fits into a larger pattern, as explained by Fred M. Gottheil in "The Smoking Gun: Arab Immigration into Palestine, 1922-1931."

DP