Were Palestinians expelled or fled?

[luckytxn 2,263]

Myths and FactsMitchell G. Bard

MYTH

"One million Palestinians were expelled by Israel from 1947-49."

FACT

The Palestinians left their homes in 1947-48 for a variety of reasons. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war, thousands more responded to Arab leaders' calls to get out of the way of the advancing armies, a handful were expelled, but most simply fled to avoid being caught in the cross fire of a battle.

Many Arabs claim that 800,000 to 1,000,000 Palestinians became refugees in 1947-49. The last census was taken by the British in 1945. It found approximately 1.2 million permanent Arab residents in all of Palestine.

On November 30, 1947, the date the UN voted for partition, the total within the boundaries of the State of Israel (as fixed by the Armistice Agreements of 1949) was 809,100. A 1949 Government of Israel census counted 160,000 Arabs living in the country after the war.(1) This meant no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. A report by the UN Mediator on Palestine arrived at an even lower figure — 472,000.(2)

Although much is heard about the plight of the Palestinian refugees, little is said about the Jews who fled from Arab states. Their situation had long been precarious. During the 1947 UN debates, Arab leaders threatened them.

For example, Egypt's delegate told the General Assembly: "The lives of one million Jews in Muslim countries would be jeopardized by partition."(3)

The number of Jews fleeing Arab countries for Israel in the years following Israel's independence was roughly equal to the number of Arabs leaving Palestine. Many Jews were allowed to take little more than the shirts on their backs. These refugees had no desire to be repatriated. Little is heard about them because they did not remain refugees for long. Of the 820,000 Jewish refugees, 586,000 were resettled in Israel at great expense, and without any offer of compensation from the Arab governments who confiscated their possessions. Israel has consequently maintained that any agreement to compensate the Palestinian refugees must also include Arab compensation for Jewish refugees. To this day, the Arab states have refused to pay any compensation to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced to abandon their property before fleeing those countries. The contrast between the reception of Jewish refugees in Israel with the reception of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries is even more stark when one considers the difference in cultural and geographic dislocation experienced by the two groups. Most Jewish refugees traveled hundreds —and some traveled thousands — of miles to a tiny country whose inhabitants spoke a different language. Most Arab refugees never left Palestine at all; they traveled a few miles to the other side of the truce line, remaining inside the vast Arab nation that they were part of linguistically, culturally and ethnically.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Doubt this will end well but was wondering which is true. I have read some on this and the truth seems to be on which side is heard. Was wondering if maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I personally think the problem is the partition of Palestine itself was wrong. Why did we have to have a Jewish homeland in the first place?

[luckytxn 2,263]

Here a Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Doubt this will end well but was wondering which is true. I have read some on this and the truth seems to be on which side is heard. Was wondering if maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I personally think the problem is the partition of Palestine itself was wrong. Why did we have to have a Jewish homeland in the first place?

Even the Israeli government has now conceded the fact that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled in 1948. Please seek out reputable sources. Wikipedia can sometimes be helpful, but anyone can edit it at any moment, so it's not really definitive.

Edited September 6, 2011 by wife_of_mahmoud

[luckytxn 2,263]

Even the Israeli government has now conceded the fact that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled in 1948. Please seek out reputable sources. Wikipedia can sometimes be helpful, but anyone can edit it at any moment, so it's not really definitive.

I never said that the Wiki was a reputable source. I am also sure there are two sides to every story. In fact sometimes there are many more sides.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Here is one site that has both sides. Read the article and then after under it has both pros and cons.

Were Palestinian refugees forcibly expelled from Israel during the 1948 war?

General Reference (not clearly pro or con)

Ian J. Bickerton, PhD, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and United States History at the University of New South Wales-Australia, and Carla L. Klausner, PhD, Professor of Modern Middle East, Medieval Europe and Judaic Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, in their 2002 book A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, offered the following:

"Israelis long contended that during the Israeli War of Independence the Palestinian Arabs abandoned their homes and villages of their own free will. Not only that, they did so at the urging of the Arab leadership, who, the argument goes, told the Palestinians to leave until the Jewish state was destroyed and then they could return. The evidence, however, is inconclusive. According to some sources, the Arab League and the mufti ordered the Palestinians to remain where they were.

Israeli revisionist historians now maintain that as part of the campaign to evacuate Arabs from the Jewish state, the [Jewish] Haganah deliberately destroyed Arab houses and villages, broadcast false stories in Arabic of the spread of cholera and typhus epidemics, and urged the population to escape the bloodbath while there was still time. On the other hand, some [israeli] efforts were made to reassure the Arabs, and in some instances Arabs were encouraged by the Jews to stay put, but by the first truce in mid-June 1948, over 250,000 Palestinians had fled, and this exodus had reached 300,000 by July [1948]. Arab Palestinians fled in some cases of their own free will, in some cases through fear; in other cases they were expelled.

There were several additional reasons for the Arab exodus. Among the more important was the damage done to the Palestinian political and economic infrastructure by the British during their suppression of the <a href="

http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=506"

target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 143); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 10pt; ">Arab revolt of 1936-1939. Thus, Palestinian leadership was absent just at the time when it was needed most. Further collapse occurred during 1947-1949, as many of the local mayors, judges, communal and religious officials fled."

http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000481

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I never said that the Wiki was a reputable source. I am also sure there are two sides to every story. In fact sometimes there are many more sides.

Sorry I was not clear - I was referring to your OP. You didn't include the link, but the author, Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, is the executive Director of AICE (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,) the director of the Jewish Virtual Library, and the former editor of AIPAC's newsletter.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Sorry I was not clear - I was referring to your OP. You didn't include the link, but the author, Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, is the executive Director of AICE (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,) the director of the Jewish Virtual Library, and the former editor of AIPAC's newsletter.

And yes that would make him potentially biased as also if a Palestinian were to be so on the other side. We all know and understand the concept of bias. Please educate us on what is the true story. Is it that they were expelled? Was it that they fled? Was it a combination of the two? Is there other reasons? I Keep reading but all I get is the versions that each side wants us to believe.

Or is the Arab world in a uproar that even Israel exists?

[TBoneTX 43,435]

Why did we have to have a Jewish homeland in the first place?

Two words: The Holocaust.

[mawilson 2,133]

Or is the Arab world in a uproar that even Israel exists?

The Arab world calls the creation of Israel "Al-Nakba" which means "The Catastrophe".

Nuff said.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

And yes that would make him potentially biased as also if a Palestinian were to be so on the other side. We all know and understand the concept of bias. Please educate us on what is the true story. Is it that they were expelled? Was it that they fled? Was it a combination of the two? Is there other reasons? I Keep reading but all I get is the versions that each side wants us to believe.

Or is the Arab world in a uproar that even Israel exists?

Many of the Palestinians were expelled - by this, I mean forcibly marched out of their villages at the point of a gun by soldiers or terror groups. Others fled in fear as reports of attacks spread through the community (as civilians often do during times of armed conflict.) There were a number of massacres by Israeli soldiers and terror groups, and many villages were destroyed.

There has indeed been much written about it, too lengthy to quote all of it here. Benny Morris (a Zionist, BTW) did extensive research and published several books about what happened in 1947-1948 - these debunked what had been the standard Israeli narrative.

Today, the general consensus of most scholars is that approximately 750,000 Palestinians were either expelled or fled the fighting, and were subsequently refused the right to return to their homes and property after the war.

Just eleven weeks after the State of Israel had been proclaimed - after publicly stating to the UN that it was calling on the Palestinians Arabs to “play their part in the development of the State” - the government of Israel formally announced that it would deny the refugees their right to return to their properties. And this had nothing to do with “security,” but, as Israel itself stated to the UN:

“On the economic side, the reintegration of the returning Arabs into normal life, and even their mere sustenance, would present an insuperable problem. The difficulties of accommodation, employment and ordinary livelihood would be insuperable.”

The problem is not about Jews or a State of Israel existing. The problem is hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being told "Your house is ours now. You go live somewhere else."

The Arab world calls the creation of Israel "Al-Nakba" which means "The Catastrophe".

Nuff said.

The Nakba is the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinans from their homes.

Gotta step out for a bit... talk to y'all laterz

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Two words: The Holocaust.

Yes. History has been witness to many genocides, and they continue today in this "enlightened" world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history

[luckytxn 2,263]

Two words: The Holocaust.

I personally one word would explain it: Guilt

[TBoneTX 43,435]

I personally one word would explain it: Guilt

Actually, it was two words: Never again.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Many of the Palestinians were expelled - by this, I mean forcibly marched out of their villages at the point of a gun by soldiers or terror groups. Others fled in fear as reports of attacks spread through the community (as civilians often do during times of armed conflict.) There were a number of massacres by Israeli soldiers and terror groups, and many villages were destroyed.

There has indeed been much written about it, too lengthy to quote all of it here. Benny Morris (a Zionist, BTW) did extensive research and published several books about what happened in 1947-1948 - these debunked what had been the standard Israeli narrative.

Today, the general consensus of most scholars is that approximately 750,000 Palestinians were either expelled or fled the fighting, and were subsequently refused the right to return to their homes and property after the war.

Just eleven weeks after the State of Israel had been proclaimed - after publicly stating to the UN that it was calling on the Palestinians Arabs to "play their part in the development of the State" - the government of Israel formally announced that it would deny the refugees their right to return to their properties. And this had nothing to do with "security," but, as Israel itself stated to the UN:

The problem is not about Jews or a State of Israel existing. The problem is hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being told "Your house is ours now. You go live somewhere else."

The Nakba is the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinans from their homes.

Gotta step out for a bit... talk to y'all laterz

So both happened according to you. Expulsion and fleeing. Was the expulsion solely due to the Jews or from what I read also done by Arabs to "clear the way"? Of course I and anyone can understand leaving ones home and land and fleeing to avoid dying in a battle. I also read both that the Israelis asked the people to stay and/or come back and also that the Arabs didn't say to leave to "clear the way" but asked them to stay.

It seems that you are saying that the sole Palestinian problem is that they were denied the right of return. Is this true?