When you look at the Foreign Ministry's hard-line talking points document, it is hard to believe that Israel has cooperated with the Palestinian refugee lie for so many years or at least ignored it.
The "Palestinian refugee" bluff was called four decades ago at least, and over the years plenty of people have pointed it out. What can explain why, rather than shouting, "Palestinian refugeehood is fake," Israel's security and diplomatic establishments – which included politicians from the Right – played along with the hypocrisy? How is it possible that only U.S. President Donald Trump's gutsiness exposed the truth, while the Israeli leaders were ignoring it?
What internal weakness has led our security establishment to prefer the lies of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency over the Israeli truth, even after Trump changed direction?
The new Foreign Ministry document indicates that at least from now on, the Israeli establishment is doing what is expected of it. Indeed, there are no 5 million Palestinians in the world – there are tens of thousands at most. A "right of return" for Palestinians, which Israeli leaders have been alarmingly willing to discuss, is nothing more than another formula for the destruction of Israel.
But here is another truth about "Palestinian refugees" that Israel still hasn't accepted. Not only will an influx of millions of "refugees" to Israel put our existence in peril; a mass movement of Palestinians into the Palestinian state that many people believe should be established in Judea and Samaria would be a mistake we would live to rue for generations to come.
Seven to 10 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip is an untenable number for Israel. The millions of Palestinians living under autonomy in Judea and Samaria and in Gaza are already a headache we can't get rid of. The pain will turn into a cancer if Judea and Samaria are flooded with even more Arabs. Directly or indirectly, we are responsible for their economy, water and electricity supply, and health.
Imagine what would happen if that population doubled or trebled, and we haven't even touched on the unacceptable security ramifications.
In contrast to the delusions that were once peddled here, there is no real meaning to the slogan "We're here and they're there," even if a Palestinian state were to be established. So if we've already started to tell the truth about the "refugees," we should follow through. The way to solve the issue is by dismantling UNRWA, not by bringing them into Judea and Samaria.
