The hills have eyes, or an eye for an eye.

One of my very closest friends is a Palestinian American. He and I have known each other for almost 20 years. He travels to the Middle East for business and pleasure, and to see his family a few times a year. His opinion of the Palestinian refugee crisis is that the refugees left in the camps are a village people and many are hill people. Of course among ethnologists it is known that the people that live in the hills of any country are different than the lowland peoples. Often the hill people are fierce fighters. Think the Scottish Highlanders, a la Brave Heart. Think the Montanyards in Vietnam and the hillbillies in the US, like the Hatfields and the McCoys. Village people are slow to change their ways. Often isolated from the more citified lowlanders, they stick to the folk beliefs and are distrustful of outsiders, they have intermarried for hundreds of years. An eye for an eye is one of their most deeply held beliefs. They are quick to take offense and carry grudges forever, often through generations. It is a cultural trait. So, the Palestinian refugees in the camps cling to their old ways, isolated from the rest of the modern world, clinging to the hope of return to their land. The are perpetuationg their close minded village mentality.