Dialogue with Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell

From: Dr. Michael Berenhaus [mailto:mberenhaus@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 8:38 AM
Subject: letter to wash post with response
To: ombudsman
Subject: Correction Sought -Anthony Shadid's Driven by War to a No Man's Land in Jordan 04/04/2007 09:43AM

Dear Editors/ombudsman,

Please correct Anthony Shadid's Driven by War to a No Man's Land in Jordan,April 2, 2007. The "creation of Israel" was not the genesis of thePalestinian refugee problem; it was the war that the Palestinians and fiveArab countries started after its establishment. To prove this, just askyourself how many Palestinians would have been displaced had the Arab war ofaggression against the nascent Jewish state not occurred. Answer:ZERO.
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From: Deborah C Howell On Behalf Of OmbudsmanInternet DropBox
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: Correction Sought - Anthony Shadid's Driven by War to a NoMan's Land in Jordan

There was a war at the creation of the state -- the Israeliscall it the War of Independence -- and the Palestinian refugee problem wascreated. Different people look on it different ways. I don't think it needsa correction.

Deborah Howell
Washington Post Ombudsman
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Ms. Howell,

No doubt Japanese and Americans looked at World War II in different ways, but it nevetheless began for these two countries when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, not when the US bombed Tokyo.

Opinions are what they are, but the facts remain as follows:
1. The Arabs -- Arab states and Pal. Arabs -- rejected the 1947 U.N.partition plan for British Mandatory Palestine. The Jews accepted partition.

2. The Arabs -- five armies from Arab League countries and forces of Palestinian Arabs -- attacked the new Jewish state.

3. During the fighting, which the Arabs eventually lost, many Arabs fled from what became Israel -- estimates at the time ranged from 472,000 (U.N.) to 650,000 (difference between last British and first Israeli census), of whom 50,000 returned under "family reunification" provisions. Many left to escape the fighting, some at the prompting of Arab governments, communications media. Some were expelled by Jewish forces. (Arab "refugees"were anyone who'd lived in what became Israel for a minimum of two years.)

4. In the late '40s and early '50s, the U.N. considered several resolutions proposing to deal with the refugee problem by either compensation or peaceful resettlement when practicable. The Arabs rejected these resolutions. No "right of return" was established.

5. More than 800,000 Jews fled Arab countries, nearly 600,000 settling in Israel. These refugees were, within a few years, absorbed as new citizens.

6. The Arabs insisted that, contrary to international usage for all other refugee groups, Palestinian Arab "refugees" would include descendants (so UNRWA was created).

7. Most Arab states refused to naturalize Pal. Arab refugees, who were largely Sunni Muslims of similar ethnic backgrounds.

So, "the creation of Israel" did not CAUSE the Arab refugee problem. Arab REJECTION of the '47 partition plan's "two-state solution" and insistence on going to war, CAUSED the problem. Arab rejection of either compensation or resettlement perpetuated the problem.
Thank you for your time