Palestinian leaders are being unrealistic in their outrage over Donald Trump’s plans to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in aid the US has been providing to the UN’s top refugee agency. The move is linked to the administration’s plans to redefine who can be classified as a Palestinian refugee, a shift that would cut the current count from the UN figure of five million to 500,000. The plans go to the heart of the “right of return to Israel” issue for millions of Palestinians and successive generations of descendants, who have lived for decades in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as “refugees”. They have been heavily dependent on US and other Western largesse.
The plans form part of the “deal of the century” Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working on for Middle East peace. The pending deal is likely to ensure most Palestinian “refugees” are not allowed the “right of return” to Israel — which, if it did occur, would eventually mean Jews are outnumbered by Arabs.
Catch the editorial in The Australian.
Also check out Is America wrong to cut aid to Palestinian refugees? in The Economist.