Nakba Denial
Israel in 1948 demonised the Palestinian refugees by claiming that they had the Nazi like intent to exterminate the Jews of Israel. The story propagated then was that the Palestinians fled on the orders of the Arab states or Arab command in order to push the Jews into the sea. This story has remained in vogue still in Israel, the UK, USA and much of the west and is completely contrary to the facts.
Israel’s new historians (1980-now)
Israeli Jewish historians, such as Ilan Pappé, Benny Morris, Zeev Sternhall, Avi Shlaim, Simha Flapan, and Tom Segev, have debunked the established Israeli myths of Israel’s creation. Using Israeli archives and declassified material, they were able to discover much of the hidden history of Zionism and they reveal a factual account of the establishment of Israel.
They all contradict the version of 1948 that has demonised the Palestinian refugees and has helped negate their rights for so long. The historians all arrive at the same conclusions namely:
- Most Palestinians refugees were expelled or fled in terror, many whilst Britain was in control.
- The story that Palestinians fled on the orders of the Arab states or Arab command in order to push the Jews into the sea was false .
- The Zionist army destroyed hundreds of the emptied villages usually by bombing them to rubble.
- The Israeli army shot dead as "infiltrators" any of the Palestinians trying to return.
Whilst there is agreement on all the above among the new historians there is still a variety of observations about the expulsion of the Palestinians.
Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and professor of History at the University of Exeter and is author of 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'
"Imagine that not so long ago, in any given country you are familiar with, half of the entire country had been forcibly expelled within a year, half of its villages and towns wiped out, leaving behind only rubble and stone. Imagine now the possibility that somehow this act will never make it into the history books and that all diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict will totally sideline , if not ignore, this catastrophic event."
Benny Morris
Benny Morris today Benny Morris is still an ardent Zionist, is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and is author of 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'. This book of 639 pages shows in the first few pages maps and lists of villages destroyed and the reasons for villagers fleeing.
Benny Morris established 24 instances of Israeli soldier’s massacres of Palestinian villagers which triggered panic and flight. He also said "There is no evidence to show that the Arab states and the Arab High Command wanted a mass exodus or issued blanket orders or appeals to the Palestinians to flee their homes”.
Writing to Avi Schlaim , Morris stated: “Above all, let me reiterate, the refugee problem was caused by attacks by Jewish forces on Arab villages and towns and by the inhabitants’ fear of such attacks, compounded by expulsions, atrocities, and rumors of atrocities — and by the crucial Israeli Cabinet decision in June 1948 to bar a refugee return.” Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim 2007 p. 38
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Ari Shavit, is a senior correspondent at Haaretz Newspaper and a member of its editorial board, interviewd Benny Morris in January 16, 2004.
.Ari Shavit : I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that Ben-Gurion (Zionist Leader and first Prime Minister of Israel) erred in expelling too few Arabs?
Benny Morris: "If he was already engaged in expulsion, maybe he should have done a complete job. I know that this stuns the Arabs and the liberals and the politically correct types. But my feeling is that this place would be quieter and know less suffering if the matter had been resolved once and for all. If Ben-Gurion had carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country - the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan River. It may yet turn out that this was his fatal mistake. If he had carried out a full expulsion - rather than a partial one - he would have stabilized the State of Israel for generations."
Ari Shavit: I find it hard to believe what I am hearing.
Benny Morris: "If the end of the story turns out to be a gloomy one for the Jews, it will be because Ben-Gurion did not complete the transfer in 1948. Because he left a large and volatile demographic reserve in the West Bank and Gaza and within Israel itself."
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Avi Schlaim
Avi Schlaim is professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy and is author of 'The Iron Wall'.
“Plan D (The Jewish leadership plan for the clearing of Palestinian Villages and towns) was not a blueprint for the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs; it was a military plan with military objectives. However, by ordering the capture of Arab cities and the destruction of villages it both permitted and justified the forcible expulsion of Arab civilians.
By the end of 1948 the number of Palestinians refugees had swollen to about 700,000. But the first and largest wave of refugees occurred before the official outbreak of hostilities on the 15th May ” (Britain left on the 14th May)
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Tanya Reinhart
Tanya Reinhart Was Professor of Linguists and influential academic writer on Israel1/Palestinians
A haunted , persecuted people sought to find a shelter and state for itself and did so at a horrible price to another people. During the war of 1948 , more than half the population at that time were driven off their homeland by the Israeli army. Israel refused to allow the refugees to return , as a UN resolution demanded shortly after the war.Thus the Israeli land was obtained through ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants.
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