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Why Do Arab States and Europe Refuse to Actually Help the Palestinian People?
Jordan King Abdullah II visits Trump at White House (Source: Reuters)
US President Donald Trump’s February 6 proposal for the Gaza Strip shook the world, causing an earthquake in the international community. And the aftershocks continue to be felt.
Whether his proposals for relocating Palestinians and turning Gaza into a “Riviera” of the Middle East are realistic is almost beside the point. But Trump’s statements have once again highlighted the hypocrisy and triple standards applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Many voices insist that Palestinians must not be displaced or offered voluntary and even temporary departure — and are using terms like “forced displacement” and “ethnic cleansing.” Yet, much of this concern for the plight of Palestinians has very little to do with Palestinians, and everything to do with Israel.
During the Syrian civil war, approximately 6.5 million refugees were forced to flee Syria. About 5.5 million of those went to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, while another 85,0000 went to Germany. These refugees were managed by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) — the United Nations agency responsible for all the world’s refugees, except for Palestinians, who fall under the separate UNRWA agency, the only “refugee” group to receive that distinction.
These refugees fled Syria in the midst of a brutal civil war, and there were certainly no widespread accusations that this exodus must be prevented to stop “ethnic cleansing.” Rather, the exodus was understood as a natural human response to war.
Similarly, in February 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, around 6.8 million Ukrainians were also forced to flee their country. European countries predominantly gave them safe refuge, with Germany and Poland being the main providers of asylum, along with the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Once again, this was understood as necessary from a humanitarian viewpoint, and once again, the organization that looked after them was the UNHCR.
When it comes to Palestinians, however, any suggestion that they should be allowed to leave Gaza — a conflict zone which has been absolutely devastated by 16 months of war (started by the Palestinian leaders of Gaza) — is met with outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing.
Jordan, where the population is predominantly Palestinian, says that it will not budge in its opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposal of relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, including Jordan and Egypt. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Al Jazeera the Palestinians cannot be transferred to Egypt, Jordan, or any Arab state. He talked about the Palestinian “right for freedom” — just not the kind of freedom that allows them to actually leave an active war zone.
This makes sense, since the Arab community has refused to take in or help the Palestinians since 1948 (including when Jordan had control over areas like the West Bank).
Egypt has also refused to allow the Palestinians to leave, despite having an actual border with Gaza, and ample space where it could easily accommodate them.
Europe has also rejected the idea of relocating the Palestinians, even temporarily, during the conflict. The contrast appears staggering: Syrians and Ukrainians are embraced, while Palestinians are denied the same considerations.
What is the difference? Israel is involved, and when it comes to Israel, the rules change. Triple standards come into force — one rule for dictatorial states, one rule for democracies, and an entirely separate category for Israel.
Arab states frequently talk about the rights and freedoms of Palestinians, but their actions promote the complete opposite. They have the means to help needy Palestinians, but they simply refuse to. Instead, since 1948 and before, they have preferred to continually use the Palestinians as a political pawn to attack Israel’s legitimacy, keeping them in often squalid conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, with few rights.
It is simply mind-boggling that more than 20 Arab states with vast resources, encompassing nearly 10% of the world’s total land area, cannot offer refugee status to their fellow Arab Palestinians. Yet the one and only tiny Jewish state is prepared to absorb all Jews worldwide.
This blatant hypocrisy and refusal to help their fellow Arabs should be rejected and condemned by all fair-minded countries. President Trump offered something different. It’s not fully fleshed out, and elements of it will have to change — his suggestion that Palestinians might be moved involuntarily must be a non-starter.
However, perhaps Trump’s plan offers ideas for a way out of this never-ending conflict. Maybe it could even offer hope for a population indoctrinated and historically used as a political tool by their fellow Arabs and the international community. But true to form, the international community seems to be demonstrating that it cares more about vilifying Israel than actually helping Palestinians.
Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post Why Do Arab States and Europe Refuse to Actually Help the Palestinian People? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.