Born of War, or Design?
Debating the Palestinian Exodus of 1948
In 1948 the Palestinians became a
disinherited people…. The reality was
that of an Arab community in a state
of terror facing a ruthless Israeli
army whose path to victory was
paved not only by its exploits,… but
also by the intimidation and at times
atrocities it perpetrated against the
civilian Arab community. A panic
stricken Arab community was
uprooted under the impact of
massacres that would be carved into
the Arabs’ monument of grief and
hatred,…the less [sic] Arabs
remained, the better; this principle is
the political motor for the expulsions
and atrocities.
Shlomo Ben-Ami
pp. 42-43
The New Historians
Challenging the Seven Myths of Israeli Historiography on 1948
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Zionists accepted Partition / hoped for peace
Palestinians rejected Partition / planned for war
Arab states united to expel Jews from Palestine
War erupted because of the Arab invasion
A defenseless Israel faced an Arab Goliath
Israel sought peace, Arabs rejected it
Palestinians fled voluntarily planning to return as conquerors
What is the Relationship between Transfer
Thinking and Transfer?
“There is no room for
both peoples in this
country. After the Arabs
are transferred, the
country will be wide
open for us…not a single
village or a single tribe
must be left…there is no
other solution”
Yosef Weitz (1940)
Born of War, Or Design?
Is there a relationship
between expressions of
support for transfer prior to
1947-48, and actual transfer
in 1947-48 and after?
Zionist Dilemma
How do you construct a
Jewish state in a territory
overwhelmingly Arab /
Palestinian?
Benny Morris / 4 Options
1) Further immigration
2) Apartheid, that is a Zionist
minority lording it over the
Palestinian majority
3) Partition (Create a Jewish
state and an Arab State)
4) “Transfer” the Arab
Palestinians from Palestine
Benny Morris
“Revisiting,” pp. 39-40
Herzl and Transfer
“We must expropriate gently…We
shall try and spirit the penniless
population across the
border…Both the process of
expropriation and the removal of
the poor must be carried out
discreetly and circumspectly”
Theodor Herzl
Diaries (1895)
Arthur Ruppin / Jewish National Fund
“Land is the most necessary
thing for establishing roots in
Palestine. Since there are
hardly any more arable
unsettled lands in Palestine,
we are bound in each case
[of land purchase] to remove
the peasants who cultivate
the land, both owners and
tenants."
1913
Berl Katznelson
“The matter of population transfer has
provoked a debate among us: Is it
permitted or forbidden? My conscience is
absolutely clear in this respect. A remote
neighbor is better than a close
enemy. They will not lose from being
transferred and we most certainly will not
lose from it…. But it never crossed my
mind that transfer to outside the Land of
Israel would mean merely to the vicinity of
Nablus, I have always believed and still
believe that they were destined to be
transferred to Syria or Iraq.”
1938
Menachem Ussishkin / Transfer?
• “We must continually raise
the demand that our land be
returned to our possession....
If there are other inhabitants
there, they must be
transferred to some other
place…
• We cannot start the Jewish
state with...half the
population being Arab…Such a
state cannot survive even half
an hour... It [transfer] is most
moral... I am ready to come
and defend ... it before the
Almighty.
Menachem Ussishkin
1930 / 1938
Ben-Gurion a ‘Transferist’?
“The compulsory transfer of
the Arabs from the proposed
Jewish state could give us
something which we never
had….Any doubt on our part
about the necessity of this
transfer…may lose us an
historic opportunity ….I
support compulsory transfer. I
don’t see in it anything
immoral.”
David Ben-Gurion
Diaries (1937)
Speech (1938)
Transfer – Yosef Weitz
“There is no room for both
peoples in this country.
After the Arabs are
transferred, the country will
be wide open for us…not a
single village or a single tribe
must be left…there is no
other solution”
Yosef Weitz (1940)
Bi-National State?
“Palestine should be neither
Jewish nor Arab. It should
be a bi-national state in
which Jews and Arabs share
full equality….
the inhabitants of this
country, both Arabs and Jews
have not only the right but
the duty to participate…in
the government of their
common homeland.”
Judah Magnes
Testimony (1946)
Speech (1930)
Plan Dalet
(April, 1948)
“The objective of this plan is to gain control of the areas
of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims
at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlements and
concentrations which are located outside the borders (of
the Hebrew state) against regular, semi-regular, and small
forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.”
Opening to Plan Dalet (1948)
Where Did Refugees Go?
Place
# (est)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jordan/W. Bank
Gaza
Lebanon
Syria
400,000
200,000
120,000
75,000
“There are circumstances that
justify ethnic cleansing. A Jewish
state would not have come into
being without the uprooting of
700,000 Palestinians. Therefore
it was necessary to uproot
them…. It was necessary to
cleanse the border areas and
main roads…to cleanse the
villages…I know it doesn’t sound
nice, but that’s the term we used
at the time.”
Benny Morris
Ha’aretz Interview (2004)