Fredrik Segerfeldt claims in his article that Israel is a stolen country, founded on land where others have lived for hundreds of years. Segerfeldt ignores historical facts, context, and Jews' deep historical and cultural ties to Israel as its original people for over 3,000 years.
At the end of the 19th century, approximately one million people lived in the British Mandate of Palestine. It included present-day Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. The population already consisted of a mix of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. At the same time, Jewish immigration from Europe increased due to persecution. This immigration stimulated the economy and created jobs. As a result, Arabs were attracted from neighboring countries, which also increased the Arab population in the area.
Segerfeldt ignores the legitimacy that the global community gave Israel's creation. The UN Partition Plan of 1947 proposed two states. One Jewish and one Arab. The Jews accepted the plan. The Arab leaders rejected it and attacked Israel. Israel has since tried to achieve coexistence through a two-state solution, as in the Oslo process in 1993. However, the Palestinian side has consistently rejected these attempts.
It is true, as Segerfeldt writes, that about 700,000 Palestinians fled after the Arab states attacked the newly formed state of Israel in 1948. Many, at the urging of Arab leaders who promised to return after the promised victory and destruction of the Jewish state. There are now over five million registered Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA. Palestinians are the only refugees who inherit their refugee status through generations, even after settling in other countries.
At the same time, over 800,000 Jews were expelled from Muslim countries where they had roots for centuries. They received protection in Israel and contributed to the building of the country. The Israeli population is therefore diversified, with a significant minority of Arabs, including Muslims, Christians, and Druze. The Jewish population includes Mizrachi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe, Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean, and Jews from Ethiopia.
Allowing mass immigration of Palestinian descendants who left Israel after 1948, as Segerfeldt indirectly suggests, is a death blow to the world's only Jewish state, next to 57 Muslim countries. Currently, Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel's population. With five million returning Palestinians, they would quickly become a majority.
It would be as if Sweden overnight received five million immigrants with a different cultural and political background, which would create enormous demographic and social changes. An immigration of five million Palestinians who do not recognize Israel's 3,000-year Jewish affiliation turns Jews into a minority and exposes them to the risk of oppression and violence.
In addition, the majority of Palestinians support Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist and works for its destruction. A survey from March shows that about 70 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank justified Hamas' attacks on October 7. This makes it, to put it mildly, very difficult for Israel to integrate them as citizens.
Segerfeldt gives no concrete solutions; he only demands "a mental change in Israeli society" without an explanation of what that means. He says that Israel should have the right to exist. But only with Jews as a minority among a majority population that wants to destroy them.
This editorial was originally published in Swedish in Expressen.
