THE ENTIRE OTTOMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSED INTO ETHNIC DISPLACEMNT - ONLY THE PALESTINIANS ARE STILL "REFUGEES"

In his new book on post-WWI ethnic displacement and cleansing, Benjamin Lieberman argues that the movement of Arabs out of what would become Israel was a commonplace of post-Ottoman nation building:

Lieberman argues persuasively that an intellectual focus on ethnic cleansing, rather than nation-building, generates a dramatic shift in our understanding of contemporary history. Ethnic cleansing has repeatedly proved a necessary component of twentieth-century nation-building: "The story of the rise of the nation-state, a triumph of self-determination, becomes a story of tragedy for those who were driven out." Among his examples is the Palestinian exodus of 1948, and the creation of the State of Israel. Historians still argue vociferously over how many Palestinians were expelled, evacuated or simply fled in panic. Lieberman sidesteps this, arguing that their exodus was not unique. Quite the opposite, in fact: "The Arab departures from Israel seem mysterious only if viewed in isolation from all comparable examples. Ethnic war in other former Ottoman regions had displaced entire peoples, and ethnic war in Israel and Palestine had much the same effect, though this war left some Arabs in Israel."

He might also have mentioned that (1) an equal number of Jews were forcibly expelled from Arab countries - and that (2) the Arabs' ethnic cleansing of Jews was almost total, leaving only scattered handfuls of Jews left in the Middle East outside of Israel. But let's not dwell on that. Instead, pretend that the Palestinian narrative about their massive trauma at the hands of evil Jews was at least close to the truth. ven if that was true, it would still be totally absurd to have a population of over three million refugees.

Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric...