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Smoke rises in the air above Gaza following Israeli bombings, as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on October 16 2023. Picture: REUTERS
Smoke rises in the air above Gaza following Israeli bombings, as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on October 16 2023. Picture: REUTERS

The Syrian civil war of 2011 created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, resulting in millions of refugees fleeing the devastation, which has killed more than 600,000 people.

The UN estimates that countries such as Lebanon (1.1-million), Jordan (600,000), Iraq (250,000) have all taken in Syrian refugees. Turkey has 3.7-million registered exiles. Even Egypt gave refuge to more than 200,000 displaced Syrians. 

Yet while the world castigates Israel for the “humanitarian disaster” unfolding in Gaza, not a single voice has been raised to pressure Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, or any other Arab country to offer sanctuary to their Arab brothers.

All doors have closed to Palestinians in their hour of need, through their own regime’s purposeful doing. Is the Arab world intentionally sacrificing their own to garner sympathy or to pillorise Israel?

Allan Wolman
Tel Aviv

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