The Hamas-leaning Felesteen newspaper reports that hundreds of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza are trying to go through their family histories to prove that they are really Egyptian, not Palestinian, in order to gain citizenship in Egypt.
Not only residents of Rafah, a town divided between the Gaza and Egyptian side, but even Gazans from Khan Younis and other areas are trying to become Egyptian citizens.
One man is interviewed, saying that he went through months of painstaking research, hiring an Egyptian lawyer to help him, before he could prove to Egypt's satisfaction that his grandfather was Egyptian.
Another man said that many members of his family proved their Egyptian origins by finding proof of family assets in Egypt. A third was trying to become an Egyptian citizen because he married an Egyptian woman and crossing the border to visit relatives would be easier if he had Egyptian citizenship.
I would love to see a poll of how many Palestinian Arabs, in the territories and in other Arab countries, would voluntarily become citizens of other Arab countries if given the choice. I'd bet it would be over 75%.
