The UNRWA LIE of the False Narrative: “Right of Return for Refugees”

This blog post presents a strong, polemical argument centered on the demographic origins of the 1948 refugees and a comparison with the Jewish exodus from Arab lands.

"The refusal of the Arab League—specifically Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt—to absorb their fellow Arabs stands in stark contrast to Israel’s absorption of 900,000 Jewish refugees. While the world funds the perpetuation of the 'refugee' status through UNRWA, the historical reality suggests a migration driven by employment under the Mandate, followed by a strategic flight encouraged by Arab broadcasts."

The “former Arabs of the Mandated Areas,” today’s so-called “Palestinians,” claim that there are 5 million descendants of those who fled in 1948. This entry effectively utilizes the "migrant worker" narrative (supported by the Ivor Wilks excerpt) to challenge the definition of what is a "Palestinian". That this is a myth based on the some 750,000 “forefathers” who fled the British Mandated Areas during the 1947-1948 period.

The burning question is: HOW MANY of the original refugees were ACTUALLY land-owning (holders of land titles— “Taboo”) verifiable long-time residents, and NOT those who migrated to the area AFTER the beginnings of the British Mandate for reasons of employment?

The Witness of History: Ivor Wilks

Excerpt from Page 16 of Ivor Wilks’ A Once And Past Love: Palestine 1947, Israel 1948 - A Memoir:

"Balad esh-Sheikh straggled up the lower eastern slopes of Mount Carmel. Not many years before it had been much smaller... the old 'feudal' families still lived in Balad esh-Sheikh, under their mukhtar... but most of the people were recent immigrants, drawn to the area by the petroleum industry. They were 'proletarians'... many of them were not Palestinians but Syrians, particularly from Hawran... There were also immigrants from Lebanon, Iraq, even Egypt."

In Chapter 2, page 20, Wilks notes:

"We should understand, he said, that most of the Arabs who worked at the refineries were not true Balad esh-Sheikh people. They were immigrants, many of them not even Palestinians but Syrians.”

The British Perspective: Sir Ronald Storrs & The Peel Commission (1937)

Even the British authorities recognized this regional dynamic.

 Sir Ronald Storrs, the first British Military Governor of Jerusalem, provided a candid assessment in his memoirs, Orientations (1937). 

Storrs identified a "magnet effect," where the infrastructure built by Zionist investment and British administration drew workers from across the region.

This was officially confirmed in the 1937 Peel Commission Report. 

The Report documented that while Jewish immigration was strictly regulated, Arab immigration from Syria, Transjordan, and Egypt was unrecorded and porous. 

The Commission noted that the "Hourani" influx from Syria alone accounted for thousands of new arrivals annually, drawn by wages that were double or triple those in neighboring countries. 

Storrs famously articulated the British strategic interest in supporting a Jewish National Home, stating it would create:

"...for England a 'little loyal Jewish Ulster' in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism."

This observation identifies the "Arabism" of the time as a broad, regional sentiment rather than a specific "Palestinian" national identity. 

Storrs noted that while Zionism was a "world movement," Arab grievances were "essentially local in character." This confirms that the population was a collection of long-settled families mixed with a constant influx of migrant laborers who were "proletarians" from the surrounding Arab world.

The Gellhorn Testimony: Gaza is Egyptian

The transformation of these migrant workers into a permanent "refugee" class was documented by the legendary war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. In her 1961 Atlantic Monthly report, "The Arabs of Palestine," she exposed the cynical nature of the refugee status.

Gellhorn was remarkably specific regarding the Gaza Strip, identifying its population as essentially Egyptian in character and origin.

She described Gaza as a "closed box" maintained by the Egyptian government, noting that the "refugees" there were ethnically and culturally indistinguishable from the Egyptians of the Sinai and the Nile Delta. Gellhorn concluded:

"The unique misfortune of the Palestinian refugees is that they are a weapon in what seems to be a permanent war... Their function is to hang around and be constantly useful as a goad."

Her report confirmed that the "Great Hate" taught in the camps was a deliberate policy to prevent the integration of these people into their "host" countries—specifically Egypt, which refused to allow "its own people" in Gaza to move into the underpopulated regions of the Nile to work.

The Weaponization of "Dezinformatsiya"

The clear and unapologetic policy of the Palestinian Authority was stated in a New York Times article from 1966. Ahmed Shukairy, then-chairman of the PLO, declared:

“The Arab states will not integrate the Palestine refugees because integration would be a slow process of liquidating the Palestine problem.”

The Palestinians have used dezinformatsiya to place the onus of suffering on Israel. 

In Lebanon, UNRWA claims 479,000 registered refugees, yet only 45% live in camps. If the Lebanese government forbids them from living outside camps, where is the other 55%, and where is that funding going?

The Gaza Reality and the Bedouin Connection

Ever since the "Great Nakba," no Arab country has been willing to absorb their fellow Arabs—many of whom were originally from those same countries. 

As Martha Gelhorn related an outstanding example, that a vast number of residents in the Gaza Strip are originally residents of Egypt. 

The Doghmush clan, for instance, came to Gaza from Turkey via Egypt, while many others are sub-clans of the Tarabin—the largest Bedouin tribe in the Sinai and Egypt, with over 500,000 people.

The Forgotten Jewish Refugees

Israel has consistently failed to raise the issue of nearly 900,000 Jews expelled from Arab lands. On May 16, 1948, The New York Times reported: "Jews in Grave Danger in all Moslem Lands." 

Unlike the Palestinian refugees, these 900,000 Jews of Arab lands were absorbed by Israel and became viable citizens. They ceased being refugees because of Jewish charity and national resolve—as these refugees were not given a status of the perpetual UNRWA receipients.

Conclusion: The Failure of Holocaust Guilt

This Western sense of guilt for the Holocaust, which codified a "perpetual victimhood" for Arab refugees to "balance the scales," has been the major source for the failure to achieve a just and lasting peace. By subsidizing a permanent grievance through UNRWA, the international community incentivized the Arab world to never resolve the refugee issue.

The blame for the current situation—specifically regarding the plight of the "innocent residents of Gaza"—rests entirely with the Arab Muslim nations, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, for their refusal to absorb their fellow Arabs. 

We must return to the historical and legal facts: was Judea and Samaria not explicitly included in the League of Nations Mandate as an area designated for a "future Jewish Homeland"? 

Furthermore, this "disputed territory" was never claimed by a "Palestinian" entity during the decades it was under Ottoman or British control. 

If an Arab can live as a full citizen inside the "Green Line" in Israel, why should a Jew not have the inherent right to live in the heartland of the Jewish people?

The resolution to this conflict lies in finishing what was started with the Abraham Accords. 

By completing these historic agreements and supporting President Trump’s plan to end the war, we move away from the UNRWA-funded cycle of dependency. 

Real peace will only be achieved when the surrounding Arab nations take responsibility for their own, acknowledging that the "Right of Return" is a political fiction designed to prevent the very stability the Abraham Accords seek to build.

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Works Cited 

Ennab, Wael R. Population and Demographic Developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until 1990. UNCTAD, 1994.

Gellhorn, Martha. "The Arabs of Palestine." The Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1961, pp. 45-65.

Great Britain, Palestine Royal Commission. Report (Peel Commission). Cmd. 5479, H.M. Stationery Office, 1937.

"Jews in Grave Danger in all Moslem Lands." The New York Times, 16 May 1948, p. 1.

League of Nations. Mandate for Palestine. 24 July 1922.

Shukairy, Ahmed. Quoted in "The Arab-Israeli Conflict." The New York Times, 1966.

Storrs, Ronald. Orientations. Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1937.

United Nations General Assembly. Resolution 181 (II). Future Government of Palestine. 29 November 1947.

UNRWA. "Palestine Refugees." UNRWA Official Site, 2024.

Wilks, Ivor. A Once And Past Love: Palestine 1947, Israel 1948 - A Memoir. Horizon Books, 1994.