It is absolutely true that many Palestinians currently suffer real hardship and mistreatment in the places they live. It is equally true that this is not primarily Israel’s fault. Rather, it is the fault of the Arab world, to this present day.

According to an AP report from April 6, “Palestinian fighters clashed with Islamic State militants Monday in a heavily contested Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital as a United Nations official described the situation in the embattled camp as ‘beyond inhumane.'”

But why are there Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, an Arab nation? Why haven’t the Palestinians been incorporated into the larger society? Why are they still refugees after almost 70 years of displacement? And why do they live in such squalor side by side with their fellow Arabs?

This is not just happening in Syria, although the suffering there is more acute because of the terrible civil war. There are Palestinian refugee camps in a number of Arab countries, and in every case, their average standard of living is far worse than that of the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank (the latter is known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria).

Where is the world outrage about their wretched treatment?

Where are the U.N. resolutions condemning these countries for their failure to help settle the refugees?

Why is all the rage and criticism focused on Israel?

The story of Israel’s rebirth as a nation is commemorated in the Arab world as Al-Nakba, “the catastrophe,” meaning that there are widely disparate views as to who was initially to blame for the refugee crisis.

But on any historical reading, be it pro-Israel or anti-Israel, the fact that the crisis remains to this day, these many decades later, is an indictment on the Arab world, not on Israel.

After all, one of the tragic consequences of war is that people are often displaced from their ancestral homes, becoming refugees.

This happened in the late 1970s with the fall of Vietnam, as many South Vietnamese fled from the northern armies, resulting in what was known as the Vietnamese Boat People, a term that was ultimately used for those who fled the country (by boat or other means) from 1978 all the way through the mid-1990s.

Nearly a million refugees fled from the war, many of them holed up in refugee camps for years until they received sponsorship from abroad, leading to their resettlement.

My wife and I had the privilege of sponsoring a number of such refugees in those early years, and they stayed with us in our home until they got their feet on the ground, now raising kids and grandkids here in the U.S.

Similar stories can be recounted with war after war, but what is unique about the Palestinian refugee situation is that the refugees have not been incorporated into other countries, and this by the express will of the Arab leadership.

In his book “Palestine Betrayed,” Middle Eastern scholar Efraim Karsh carefully documented how the Arabs living in Palestine in the 1940s were betrayed by their leadership, producing the current refugee crisis, in stark contrast with Israel’s treatment of the Jewish refugees who were forced to flee from their homelands in the wake of the momentous events of 1947-48.

In short, with the U.N.’s recognition of the modern state of Israel, roughly 850,000 Jews had to leave the largely Muslim, surrounding countries in which they had lived for many years (in some cases, many centuries) but in which they were no longer welcome. Some made it to countries like America, but the great majority were incorporated into the fledgling country of Israel, which was in an all-out battle for survival after being attacked by five neighboring Arab nations.

At the same time, roughly 600,000 Arabs living in Palestine either chose to flee (to escape the war), were encouraged to flee (by Arab leaders, who assured them the war would be short, and once the Jews were exterminated they could return home), or were driven out (by the Israeli army in the midst of the war).

Of course, the 200,000 Arabs who chose to to become part of the modern state of Israel now number more than 1.5 million, with full rights as Israeli citizens and more liberties than any other Arabs in the Middle East. That’s an indication of how Israel treats Palestinians who are not bent on the Jewish state’s destruction.

As for the 600,000 who fled, they have become naturalized citizens only in Jordan (where they have also suffered their share of mistreatment since 1948). Elsewhere, they still live as refugees and are treated as second-class citizens, despite sharing the same language and faith and culture of their Arab brethren.

Had they been incorporated into the vast surrounding Arab territories – hundreds of times the size of Israel – we would not be talking about Palestinian refugees today.

Instead, in 1959, the Arab League passed Resolution 1457, which states, “The Arab countries will not grant citizenship to applicants of Palestinian origin in order to prevent their assimilation into the host countries.”

As pointed out by Israeli journalist Ben Dror Yemini, “That is a stunning resolution, which was diametrically opposed to international norms in everything pertaining to refugees in those years, particularly in that decade.”

That’s why Egypt did nothing to better the situation of the Palestinians living in Gaza from 1948-1967, prompting one Gazan to write in 1969, “I would be happy if the Gaza Strip would be conquered by Israel. At least that way we would know that the one violating our honor, hurting us and tormenting us – would be the Zionist oppressor, Ben Gurion, and not an Arab brother whose name is Abdel Nasser [then the president of Egypt].”

This week’s news from Syria, reporting atrocities being carried out by ISIS against the Palestinian refugees living there, reminds us again of the real cause of Palestinian suffering.

While Israel should always do what it can to alleviate Palestinian suffering, only the Arab world can resolve the problem.