WASHINGTON

- Speaking at the United Nations on the occasion of the Partition Plan's 64th anniversary, Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said: "The difference between the two distinct populations was – and still is – that Israel absorbed the refugees into our society. Our neighbors did not."

"Refugee camps in Israel gave birth to thriving towns and cities. Refugee camps in Arab Countries gave birth to more Palestinian refugees," he said.

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"We unlocked our new immigrants’ vast potential. The Arab world knowingly and intentionally kept their Palestinian populations in the second class status of permanent refugees," Israel's envoy added.

Prosor stressed that in the overwhelming majority of Arab state, Palestinians have no citizenship rights.

'Has Arab world accepted Israel?'

Addressing the 1947 Partition Plan, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state alongside an Arab state in the area known as Palestinian, Prosor said that "Arab inhabitants rejected the plan and launched a war of annihilation against the new Jewish state, joined by the armies of five Arab members of the United Nations."

"One percent of Israel’s population died in combat during this assault by five armies. Think about that price," the ambassador said. "It would be the equivalent of 850,000 soldiers dying in France today, or 3 million soldiers dying in the United States, or 13 million soldiers dying in China."

Prosor added that the basic question underlying the Arab-Israeli conflict has not changed for 64 years: "Has the Arab World – and particularly the Palestinians – internalized that Israel is here to stay and will remain the nation-state of the Jewish People? It is still unclear whether they are inspired by the promise of building a new state, or the goal of destroying an existing one."

Israel's UN envoy ended his remarks by calling on the UN Assembly to "finally glean truth from this historic day, nourishing the seeds of peace in our region that can blossom into a brighter future."

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