The hijacking of the Palestinian cause by non-Arab actors has caused jealousy and anxiety in the Arab world. This is due to the Arab world's belief that the Palestinian cause is its flag to wave and the primary mode from which various Arab leaders derive legitimacy. Regrettably, it is rife with hypocrisy when it comes to this issue and has done little to alleviate Palestinian suffering, paying lip service to Palestinian rights but only when those rights are sullied by Israel. When it comes to Palestinian liberty under Hamas — a terrorist organisation who imposes its strict Islamic doctrine on the people of Gaza — or of the rights of Palestinian refugees who are discriminated against in Arab countries, there is silence.

Alas, for the chorus of disapproval emanating from the Arab world, Palestinian refugees are marginalised in their host countries by being confined to refugee camps and refused citizenship despite the fact that many are native born. Additionally, they are the only group to be granted refugee status on the basis of descent alone, explaining why the number of Palestinian refugees continues to increase. Unfortunately, the Arab and Muslim world benefit from exploiting the Palestinians as it ensures that the all-defining ‘cohesion' of the Muslim world — its hatred of Israel — is maintained. Exploiting them also means that Israel's ‘illegitimacy' is constantly on the world's agenda, diverting attention from their own unwholesome regimes.

The Palestinian people have long been sacrificed for a larger purpose but the time has come for the Arab states to regain their rightful position by supporting them politically, rather than allowing them to rely on ‘support' from non-Arab states. This is especially important given the convergence of interests with respect to Iran's nuclear advancement, among the Arab states and Israel.

One of the conditions for Arab recognition of Israel in the Arab Peace Initiative was the attainment of ‘a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194'. Israel regards the naturalisation of millions of Palestinian refugees as demographic suicide and thus, a red line. The absence of the usual term ‘right of return' was hailed as a breakthrough vis-à-vis previous peace negotiations. While this does indeed represent progress, the term ‘just solution' remains ambiguous and therefore problematic.

Saudi King Abdullah, the initiator of this Initiative and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, should take responsibility for the Arabs' role in perpetuating the fate of the refugees and modify the wording to explicitly say that ‘a just solution' does not mean the ‘right of return'. This would increase Israeli public support for the Initiative — a prerequisite for negotiations.

Finally, Abdullah should follow in the footsteps of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, by taking the bold step of personally delivering this modified proposal to Israel to show that for the Arabs, Palestinian self determination is more important than using them as a political pawn.