At a time when Iraqi expats all over the world are registering to vote in the forthcoming election, here’s a related situation, explored by James Bowen in the Irish Times, to ponder:
The elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about is the disenfranchisement of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora outside the borders of pre-1948 Palestine. These people, who constitute the majority of the Palestinians, were not allowed to vote in Sunday’s election.
According to PASSIA, a well-respected independent Palestinian research institution in East Jerusalem, the worldwide Palestinian population in mid-2001 was 8.8 million. Of these, one million werePalestinian citizens of Israel, 3.3 million were living in the WestBank and Gaza and 4.5 million were refugees in the diaspora.
Since the Palestinian population has one of the highest growth rates in the world, 4.5 per cent per annum, the corresponding figures inJanuary 2005 are higher but it is reasonable to assume that therelative proportions are similar.
Of the millions of Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens, 58 percent are in the diaspora and only 42 per cent live in the West Bank and Gaza. However, only the latter were allowed to vote on Sunday. While nobody should complain about these people electing someone whowill administer their local taxes and services, the problem is that the Palestinian Authority is actually expected to negotiate a treaty which will determine the future of the disenfranchised refugees.
The Israelis want the PA to sign an agreement abdicating the right of the refugees to return to the homes from which they were ethnically cleansed by Israeli troops in 1948.
Posted by Howard Lenow (guest blogging for Andrew Schamess) Read the rest here.
What reason is there for facilitating the participation of the Iraqi diaspora in the Iraqi elections that doesn’t apply to the displaced Palestinians voting in the Palestinian election as well?