Palestinians, a Nation of Refugees

Land is at the heart of the Palestinian conflict. Although the conflict has deep historical, emotional roots, dispossession and displacement of Palestinians began in 1948. The UN has been the instrumental actor in the conflict, its actions causing war and suffering in the last seven decades. This Chapter has a specific purpose: to elaborate on the Palestinian land dispute. While the Ottoman waqf land in the Old City of Jerusalem is noted, we do not review the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Palestinian land dispute, the creation of Israel is a geopolitical act, a fulfillment of the Zionist ideal, but at the same time, it is a living ethical disaster. It is the result of a distorted logic whereby land has been given to a people persecuted in Europe by victimizing an innocent Muslim nation. The Zionist dream has been realized “by dislodging or exterminating the nation in possession” (Antonius in The Arab awakening, the story of the Arab National movement. Allegro Editions, 1939). The Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona expressed a large body of worldwide sentiment when he declared in Napoli at the peak of his career: “My heart is Palestinian” (Middle East Monitor in My heart is Palestinian: World mourns death of football legend Maradona, 2020).