I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this important issue. Madam Speaker. when Israel declared its independence In May. 1948. seven Arab nations immediately attacked the fledgling country and sought to drive Israel into the sea. Simultaneously. many of the same Arab nations forced their own Jewish citizens to leave their ancestral homes. making refugees out of nearly one million people. The issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands speaks to one of the fundamental problems of the ArabIsraeli conflict. Many Arab countries have refused to accept the existence of Israel. while cynically exploiting the Palestinian refugees in their war against Israel. Arab leaders willingly agree to confine the Palestinians to squalid camps where terrorism and extremism and hate are bred instead of resettling them and welcoming their Palestinian brothers to their own oil rich lands. They claim a "right of return" for Palestinian refugees in the hope that they will flood Israel in order to undermine 54. Pt. 4 April 1. 2008 and ultimately destroy the Jewish State of Israel. Madam Speaker. this resolution begins to set the record straight. while setting out a balanced approach to address the refugee issue. all refugees. Any peace plan must look at both sides of the refugee issue in an equal way. We must acknowledge the Jewish refugees from Arab lands. be aware of the hidden agenda behind a Palestinian "right of return" and expose the obstructive role played by both the Arab nations and the United Nations in the refugee issue. We must find just solutions for all refugees in this conflict. redressing the grievances of all sides while retaining Israels integrity as a Jewish state.
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refugee refugees