The numbers you're citing come from UNRWA’s very unique definition of Palestinian refugees, which, unlike the UNHCR standard for every other group, extends refugee status indefinitely to descendants. That means we're not just talking about people who fled in 1948 but their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. It’s a historical anomaly. The number has ballooned from 700,000 in 1948 to over 5 million today, despite the fact that most of these people have been born and raised in Arab countries that refuse to integrate them. In any other refugee crisis, the goal is either resettlement or integration—but in this case, Palestinian refugees are kept in legal limbo, stateless for generations. Arab states have deliberately blocked their resettlement, using them as a political cudgel rather than giving them equal rights. Lebanon, where Palestinians have been stuck in makeshift camps that became slums, barred from over 70 professions, and outright denied citizenship. Jordan, which initially granted many Palestinians citizenship after annexing the West Bank, only to revoke that same citizenship from thousands in 1988 when it became clear they weren’t getting the land back. Syria, where Palestinian refugees have been caught in the crossfire of endless conflicts—from Hafez al-Assad’s brutal crackdowns to Bashar’s siege of Yarmouk, where thousands were starved and slaughtered. The Black September massacre in Jordan, the PLO’s involvement in the Lebanese Civil War, the Assad regime’s repeated attacks on Palestinians—it’s been decade after decade of Arab states making the problem worse, not solving it. In 1948, at the Jericho Conference, Arab leaders in the West Bank voted to unite with Transjordan under King Abdullah I, leading to the formal annexation of the West Bank. But after Jordan lost it in 1967, everything changed. The dream of “taking it back” started fading, and by 1988, King Hussein formally disengaged from the West Bank, recognizing the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinians. It wasn’t some grand gesture of support. It was a move to wash his hands of responsibility while keeping Palestinian refugees in Jordan politically distinct. Unlike every other refugee crisis in history, where displacement ends through either integration or resettlement, Palestinians have been uniquely denied both. Kept as permanent refugees by Arab governments and UNRWA’s policies. It’s not about helping them—it’s about preserving their statelessness as a political weapon. If people want to discuss the numbers, fine, but let’s at least be honest about why those numbers keep growing. It’s not because Israel somehow created millions more refugees out of thin air. It’s because Arab states and international bodies have deliberately ensured that Palestinians remain refugees forever.

BREAKING: Egypt reveals first details of its comprehensive proposal for the Gaza Strip, countering U.S. President Trump's plan to displace Gazans. Egyptian sources told Qatari Al-Araby TV that Cairo proposes a plan to rebuild Gaza within 3-5 years without displacing its population. The Egyptian proposal includes two stages to remove the rubble and rebuild residential complexes, starting from Rafah in southern Gaza and gradually advancing to the north of the Strip. This reconstruction plan will be carried out in cooperation between Arab countries, the European Union, and the United Nations. There are arrangements for holding a five-party summit between the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan ahead of the Arab summit in Cairo later this month, to reach a unified position over Gaza. The complete details of Egypt's Gaza reconstruction proposal are expected to be announced next week.