The Arab States, the Palestinian Question, and the Politics of Refusal

The Palestinian people have become orphans of the Arab world, abandoned by neighbors who invoke their name but fear their presence. History—Jordan’s bloodshed, Lebanon’s destruction—has taught Arab rulers that welcoming Palestinians risks national survival. And so they remain in limbo, pawns in a regional game where elites guard their thrones, Western powers guard their interests, and Israel guards its supremacy.

As long as this architecture of fear and calculation persists, Gaza and the refugee camps will remain prisons without walls, while Arab leaders continue to deliver speeches of solidarity that mask their complicity in the perpetuation of the tragedy.