Palestinian Refugees

It sounds at first like a familiar Mideast tussle: Israel demands recognition, Arabs refuse to give it. But Israel's recent push to be recognized as a "Jewish" state is actually a new twist on an old struggle, and one that is rapidly turning into the latest stumbling block to faltering peace talks. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its declaration of independence. U.S. Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have embraced the term, which was used in the 1947 U.N. resolution calling for the establishment of two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab.

The often-quoted warning by the late Israeli statesman Abba Eban that "Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" in peacemaking tells only part of the story. All parties have missed opportunities to end the epic Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and if the Obama administration does not act quickly and forcefully, we may lose the only viable option for lasting peace: two states for two peoples. The two-state solution, Israel and Palestine side by side in the Holy Land, has been U.S.

Cheering Chileans raised the Palestinian flag, served national and Arabic fare and played local folk music to welcome 39 Palestinian refugees who will make the South American country their home after fleeing violence in Iraq. "We hope that suffering will be a thing of the past, and Chile the source of your new happiness," Deputy Interior Minister Felipe Harboe said as he welcomed the 16 adults and 23 children who had spent months stranded at a desert camp on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Re "Locked out by peace?" Opinion, Dec. 1 That Ghada Ageel's Palestinian grandparents suffered a tragedy in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 is beyond question. The same fate befell more than half a million Jews compelled to flee Muslim countries in the war's aftermath under no less duress. The right of return is potent rhetoric, proffering a simplistic solution to a hugely complex problem. For anyone seeking a stable peace, it is a complete nonstarter.

Sixty years ago, my grandparents lived in the beautiful village of Beit Daras, a few kilometers north of Gaza. They were farmers and owned hundreds of acres of land. But in 1948, in the first Arab-Israeli war, many people lost their lives defending our village from the Zionist militias. In the end, with their crops and homes burning, the villagers fled. My family eventually made its way to what became the refugee camp of Khan Yunis in Gaza. We were hit hard by poverty, humiliation and disease.

The choice was stark: Protect his aging father amid the fighting or lead his wife and children to safety. Eventually, filial duty trumped marital bonds. Abdel Rahman Khalil watched as his wife and five children walked away from the Nahr el Bared refugee camp with thousands of other Palestinian refugees, carrying white bits of cloth to mark them as noncombatants amid the shooting between Lebanese soldiers and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

Government troops Friday stormed positions occupied by Al Qaeda-linked militants on the outskirts of this refugee camp in northern Lebanon, in some of the fiercest fighting since the standoff began almost two weeks ago. At least 14 people, including two soldiers, were killed in the fighting, according to security officials, who also said that Lebanese forces did not enter the Palestinian camp, and only moved against outlying paramilitary bases used by Fatah al Islam militants.

Over the years, the tents have come down and concrete apartment blocks have gone up on this hillside overlooking the Mediterranean. In the course of six decades, institutions have taken root: kindergartens, schools, medical facilities. Residents bury their dead in graves bearing tiny white headstones framed by pink roses and purple bougainvillea at the small cemetery.

Government soldiers Sunday battled members of an Islamic group at a refugee camp near the Syrian border and in a nearby coastal city, with at least 33 people killed in the worst bloodshed here in almost a year. A bomb went off before midnight in an affluent Christian neighborhood of Beirut, killing one woman and injuring five other people, relief workers said. It was unclear whether the explosion was connected to the earlier fighting in the north.

Nearly 250 Palestinian refugees fleeing violence and death threats in Iraq arrived in Syria on Tuesday, after most had been stranded for weeks in a desert border area because Jordan refused to admit them. The Palestinians said their community in Iraq was being targeted by armed groups -- although some said they were fleeing general instability. "Every Palestinian in Iraq is targeted.