Nationhood was never sought by the Palestinian Arabs until it was put into their minds by Muslim neighbors, when Israel agreed to the U.N. Partition Resolution of November, 1947. The terms of that Resolution were recommended by an international committee appointed by the U.N. General Assembly, and accepted by the Jews but not by Arabs.

Aware of mounting Arab opposition to the Resolution, the British, embarrassed by their alliances, announced their decision to withdraw from their Mandate, giving May 15th 1948 as the effective date. David Ben Gurion announced the Independence of the State of Israel on 14th of May and the surrounding Arab states immediately stepped up their wordy opposition into open warfare. They launched an invasion against that land granted to the Jews by the U.N. Resolution. 600,000 Arabs previously living peaceably enough with the Jews, left the disputed territory voluntarily. There was no dispossession, there were no enforced refugees. Assuming that the new State of Israel would be throttled at birth by the near-encircling Arab armies, they awaited the time of their return to what would then become, in direct opposition to the U.N. Resolution, an entirely Arab Palestine. Their hopes were dashed however as the Arab armies met with military defeat. The Palestinian Arabs who had left their homes in Israel were stranded in Arab countries.

From that time it apparently has been a ploy of the Arab nations to retain the "refugees" as a separate entity and in conditions of privation, to be used as an object of pity for political reasons against Israel especially in the United Nations. There is no justification for continuance of these privations bearing in mind the colossal wealth now at the disposal of the oil-rich Arab"brethren". So we might well ask, why don't these countries give Palestinians part of their own land? Well, because they would lose a valuable tool in the harassment of Israel."