‹ Flight and expulsion of Palestinians, 1948

Why did the flight and expulsion of Palestinians, 1948 happen?

Also known as Nakba, Palestinian exodus of 1948, Flight and expulsion of Arab residents, 1948

Shows causes on the record, then each account's causes side by side.

Not a single settled cause.

11 links · 5 accounts · 1947–1949

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A connection is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Each account

A to Z, none ranked above another.

Named in 3 of the 5 accounts recorded here: Arab orders to move dependents, and leaders' decisions, 1948, Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948

Named in 2 of the 5 accounts recorded here: "Transfer" in Zionist political thought

According to Avi Shlaim

Arab orders to move dependents, and leaders' decisions, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 1 The official Israeli version maintains that the Palestinians left the country on orders from their leaders and in the expectation of a triumphal return
The older Israeli account: Arab leaders ordered Palestinians to leave. Shlaim says Morris's 1988 research found no such calls. Walid Khalidi calls the claim a lie.
Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 1 there were many different reasons for the Palestinian exodus but the single most important reason was Israeli political, military, and psychological pressure.

According to Benny Morris

Arab orders to move dependents, and leaders' decisions, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 2 it turns out that there was a series of orders issued by the Arab Higher Committee and by the Palestinian intermediate levels to remove children, women and the elderly from the villages.
Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 2 on October 31, 1948, the commander of the Northern Front, Moshe Carmel, issued an order in writing to his units to expedite the removal of the Arab population.
Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 2 how many acts of Israeli massacre were perpetrated in 1948? Twenty-four.
Morris counts 24 massacres, "about a dozen" cases of rape, and about 800 killed in massacres and executions, from IDF archives; he also says that in his view the expulsions were not war crimes.
Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 2 In the months of April-May 1948, units of the Haganah [the pre-state defense force that was the precursor of the IDF] were given operational orders that stated explicitly that they were to uproot the villagers, expel them and destroy the villages themselves.
"Transfer" in Zionist political thought caused Scholarship & press 2 From April 1948, Ben-Gurion is projecting a message of transfer. There is no explicit order of his in writing, there is no orderly comprehensive policy, but there is an atmosphere of [population] transfer.
Morris, in a 2004 interview: no written order from Ben-Gurion himself, but "an atmosphere of [population] transfer".

According to Efraim Karsh

Arab orders to move dependents, and leaders' decisions, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 3 the collapse and dispersion of Palestinian society was largely the responsibility of Palestinian and other Arab leaders, not of the Zionists.
Arab orders to move dependents, and leaders' decisions, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 3 the collapse and dispersion of Palestinian society was largely the responsibility of Palestinian and other Arab leaders, not of the Zionists.

According to Nur Masalha

"Transfer" in Zionist political thought caused Scholarship & press 4 The expulsion of more than half of the Palestinian population in 1948 and the capture of 78 percent of Mandatory Palestine by and large ensured

According to Walid Khalidi

Israeli military orders and pressure, 1948 caused Scholarship & press 5 Zionism's responsibility for the Palestinian exodus and diaspora is an integral part of the genesis of the State of Israel.
Walid Khalidi reads the military operations of Plan D (April 1948) as one expulsion plan; Morris, in his words, sees no link between "transfer" talk and Plan Dalet.

Proof 5 sources

Israel's "new history" and the Palestinians (openDemocracy, via History News Network), History News Network. Scholarship & press
The official Israeli version maintains that the Palestinians left the country on orders from their leaders and in the expectation of a triumphal return
He found no evidence of Arab calls on the Palestinians to leave their homes
there were many different reasons for the Palestinian exodus but the single most important reason was Israeli political, military, and psychological pressure.
Survival of the Fittest? An interview with Benny Morris, by Ari Shavit (Haaretz, 9 January 2004), Haaretz, reprinted by Logos Journal, 9 Jan 2004. Scholarship & press
it turns out that there was a series of orders issued by the Arab Higher Committee and by the Palestinian intermediate levels to remove children, women and the elderly from the villages.
on October 31, 1948, the commander of the Northern Front, Moshe Carmel, issued an order in writing to his units to expedite the removal of the Arab population.
the expulsion order for the city of Lod, which was signed by Yitzhak Rabin
how many acts of Israeli massacre were perpetrated in 1948? Twenty-four.
if we take all the massacres and all the executions of 1948, we come to about 800 who were killed.
In the months of April-May 1948, units of the Haganah [the pre-state defense force that was the precursor of the IDF] were given operational orders that stated explicitly that they were to uproot the villagers, expel them and destroy the villages themselves.
There is no explicit order of his in writing, there is no orderly comprehensive policy
From April 1948, Ben-Gurion is projecting a message of transfer. There is no explicit order of his in writing, there is no orderly comprehensive policy, but there is an atmosphere of [population] transfer.
Efraim Karsh takes Israel's "new historians" to task (History News Network), History News Network. Scholarship & press
the collapse and dispersion of Palestinian society was largely the responsibility of Palestinian and other Arab leaders, not of the Zionists.
More land, fewer Arabs (interview with Nur Masalha), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Diwan, Oct 2019. Scholarship & press
The expulsion of more than half of the Palestinian population in 1948 and the capture of 78 percent of Mandatory Palestine by and large ensured
Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine (Journal of Palestine Studies 18:1, with a 1988 introduction), Institute for Palestine Studies, Journal of Palestine Studies, 1988. Scholarship & press Archived copy
Zionism's responsibility for the Palestinian exodus and diaspora is an integral part of the genesis of the State of Israel.

How this answer is built

Lines on the record come first: sourced links that no one presents as their own account, each with its strongest source. Then every account recorded here gets its own column, A to Z, none ranked above another. A column quotes only that account's own words and shows the strength of its own sources. Disputed lines are listed apart, with the reason, and lines still being verified come last. Neither is counted. Withdrawn lines are never shown.

When a list is longer than the page shows, the links the public methodology ranks strongest stay (methodology 0.3), and the rest open in the explorer.

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