... Your evidence for this being a quote from 1952. 15 years before the war this whole mess is because of? And only 5 years after the State of Israel became a thing?
Seriously? You don't see how that's an issue?
I am naturally assuming people who criticize israel at least knows the basic facts of this conflict. this, my friend, is as basic as it gets. seriously, the issue here is not me not bothering to find evidence for you, the issue is people arguing stuff they know surprisingly extremely little of. but so you wont be left hanging, just open wikipedia, its right there.
And none if it matters anyway, since these people have a right to return to the country they were driven from. Israel refusing to let them do so to keep Israel a Jewish State is nothing more than racism. Nazi Germany wanting lebensraum for the Germans is a direct analogy here, which makes it even more tragically ironic.
There are more than enough "liberal" countries that only allow population of certain identity to automatically return to their state. comparing it to germans who executed jewish is a very bad analogy.
The point is, they didn't live in this country. their great grandfather might and fled for various reasons, but that doesn't mean anything. if anyone truly cared about palestines, as in, cared about the people, the human beings, they would have tried to give them a realistic home, a decent life, instead of using them as a political and military leverage. by perpetuating those ridiculous claims, you are only prolonging their actual suffering.
I, and i am pretty confident no one else in israel has any problem to accept back those that are defined as palestine refugees by the UNHCR standards, not the UNRWA standards, but by the other, globally accepted definition. with them, you have a point, but with the 5M who got a special treatment due to arab pressure? nope.
He has a point, though. The Palestinians were driven from their land by force, and have been continuously since the formation of Israel. Even before Israel, the Palestinians were oppressed by the British Empire.
This is a pure fantasy, head in the wall approach. 1) More jews had to flee the arab countries than "palestines" had to flee israel. 2) The arab countries have completely ignored the UN decision and decided to exterminate the jews. forcing some of them out was a defensive move from a population that suffered a holocaust 3 years before that and were about the face a second one. 3) The arab countries themselves never accepted the UN decisions regarding refugees.
What was in the past should remain in the past. no one here try to claim back the riches jews held in the arab countries. (yes, there are european countries that allow jews to get local citizenships based on them being descendants of holocaust survivors who were citizens of said countries. this can not be compared because A) it is not universal. B) They actually want israeli immigrators.) palestinians should live happily in the surrounding countries and in the West bank/Gaza strip, with equal rights and equal opportunities.
About the palestinians numbers: Its not as simple as it sound. the population census at the time were extremely poor and it is already known that there were a lot of them who simply came to israel temporarily as foreign workers. but even if we take them as they are commonly presented, if those people were treated and defined as any other refugee population in the world, there wouldn't be 5M refugees now, which is impossible for israel to accept back, but 30-50K which israel would have happily accepted.
Again, if people care about the palestinian people themselves, they should stop using them as political, anti zionist tool. those are human beings. they have the right for decent lives. they have the right to be granted citizenship in the countries they live in. they have the right to have equal rights. they don't have the right to "return" (A country they never been to) to israel and realistically, they wont. so people should start realize this and start care about the actual people and not about ridiculous claims.
Just to be clear, because its something i find i have to repeat over and over. i am extremely in favour for getting the settlers out and returning to the `67 lines AND recognizing a palestine state, but it is extremely problematic since the muslim populations in this area are highly unstable and when you have a certain agreement with abu-mazen, it doesn't mean ISIS or Hamas will accept it as well once they take over and drive abu-mazen out. just like what happened in gaza.
Btw, there was a very interesting proposal from Sissi, the president of Egypt around a month ago. He offered the Palestines to have a state in sinai, in a land mass larger than what they would ever get, with access to the sea. this could have been the perfect opportunity for the palestines to have a state. to lift the blockade off from gaza. they declined it as quickly as an eye blink. why? because their leadership doesn't want a state. they don't want lands. they want Israel.