Palestine (disambiguation)

Palestine (Arabic: Falastyn; Hebrew: Eretz Yisrael) is a region of the Middle East along the southeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The term is used to describe both a geographic and a geopolitical region, though in both cases the precise boundaries are far from clear.

It is currently divided into:

the West Bank, an area controlled mostly by Israel, with some sections under partial control of the Palestinian Authority (PA);
Israel;
Jordan.

The term Palestine originates with the Philistines, who inhabited the southern coast of the region in biblical times. It went into disuse with the disappearance of the Philistines c.1000 B.C., but was reintroduced by the Romans following the Second Jewish Revolt of Bar Kochba of 132-135 A.D in the province of Judea. Historically, there was a clear distinction between Philistine and Judean territories, however, the Romans adopted the name for the province in an effort to erase any memories of the Judean rebels they defeated: similarly, Jerusalem, Palestine's historic capital, was renamed Aelia Capitolina.

For nineteen hundred years since that time, the region was subject to successive waves of invaders, each of which left some mark on its people and landscape. This can be attributed to Palestine's strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and its unique religious status as a Holy Land" to the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In 1917, the British captured the region from the Ottoman Empire and called it Palestine, after the longstanding Roman name for the area. This came at a time of renewed interest in the country among the European powers, Arab nationalists, and Jewish Zionists, who sought to reestablish their ancient homeland there. Competition between the latter two groups came to a head immediately after World War II, when Zionist claims gained greater urgency after the murder of almost six million Jews in the Holocaust. The Zionists demanded an independent homeland to absorb the Jewish refugees from Europe; the local Arab population, by now called Palestinians, argued that they played no role in the Holocaust, so the refugee problem should not be resolved at their expense.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition what remained of the British Mandate of Palestine into two states: one Jewish, and one Arab. The proposal was rejected by the Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states but accepted by the Jews. Less than five months later, the Jewish population declared its independence as the state of Israel, and the first of a series of wars rocked the region. Large numbers of Palestinian Arabs fled, while others were expelled from their homes during the fighting in what is called in Arabic the Naqba, or "Tragedy." Israel managed to maintain its independence and even expand its borders, but a new refugee problem, this one of Palestinian Arabs, was created.

What remained of the territories allotted to the Arab state in Palestine was occupied by Jordan (the West Bank) and Egypt (the Gaza Strip) from 1948 to 1967, when Israel occupied those areas in the Six Day War. Since that time, the Palestinians have struggled to assert their own independence, either in all the territories of Palestine or in the West Bank and Gaza. To date, efforts to resolve the conflict have ended in deadlock, and the people of Palestine, Jews and Arabs, are engaged in a bloody conflict.

In current usage, then, the term Palestine describes the geographical area, the geopolitical unit in its colonial boundaries, or, most frequently, the proposed state of the Palestinian people.

Definition of Palestine

Historically the boundaries of the region are not clearly defined. The history of this part of the world, being the subject of a conflict that continues to this day, is heavily disputed; there are indeed few statements concerning its history which would be agreed with by both Israelis and Palestinians. This article attempts, however imperfectly, to present both sides equally and fairly.

The territory was under the control of the Ottoman Empire until the end of World War I. At this time, the area to the west of the Jordan river was made up of the Sanjaks of Acre and Balqa to the North, and the independant Sanjak of Jerusalem to the South. The northern two Sanjaks, together with four others further north, made up the Vilayet of Beirut. The region to the east of the Jordan was a part of the Vilayet of Syria. [1]

For eight months after World War I, the British included territories both east and west of the river in a single administrative section. However, when the time came to create permanent borders, the territories east of the rivers were given to the rule of the Hussein family of Hijaz. This was the beginning of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

By the time the British had been formally given Palestine and Trans-Jordan as League of Nations mandates, they were already separated. Some people consider the brief period of joint administration a legal nullity, and dismiss the "Jordan is Palestine" claim.

Most Jews, many Christians, and some Palestinians argue that despite the British policy of administrating the territories separately, the term "Palestine" should include modern Jordan also. From the 1960s to the 1980s internal and public PLO documents stated that the goal of the PLO was to create a Palestinian state in all of Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, all of which they termed "Palestine". This led to attempts by Palestinians to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy, which led to the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in September 1970. In the recent years, "Palestine" has come to mean only territory west of the Jordan river.

Palestine originally denoted only the sea-coast of the land of Canaan inhabited by the Philistines (Ex. 15:14, Isa. 14:29,31, Joel 4:4). It is exclusively in this sense that Pleshet ("Philistia" in many English translations) occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The Philistines were subjugated by David (1 Sam. 23:1-5, 2 Sam. 5:22-25, etc.) and later ceased to exist.

The Jewish homeland is called "land of the Hebrews" (Gen. 40:15), "land of Canaan" (Gen. 11:31, Ex. 6:4, etc.), "land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. 3:8, Lev. 20:24, etc.), "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you" (Deut. 7:12, Josh. 1:6), "land of Israel" (1 Sam. 13:19, 2 Kings 5:2, etc.), "land of Judah" (1 Sam. 30:16, 2 Kings 23:24, etc.), "holy land" (Zech. 2:16), and "land of the LORD" (Hos. 9:3).

After the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 the city was renamed 'Aleia Capitolina'. In AD 132, bar Kochba led Jews in a rebellion against Roman occupation. When this rebellion was put down in 136, Roman authorities renamed the land of Israel to "Palestine", after a people that no longer existed for centuries. This renaming of the land was done in order to thwart Jewish nationalism.

Status of territories captured in the Six-Day War

The territories captured by Israel since the Six-Day War are three:

the area between Jerusalem and the Jordan River, generally called the West Bank, though some Israelis call the region by its biblical names of Judea and Samaria
the Gaza Strip
the Golan Heights (which however form part of Syria, not Palestine).

Israel captured these territories at the end of the Six Day War. Israel has annexed the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. However, Israeli claims of annexation are not recognized by the United Nations nor by most states, which regard them as territories under Israeli military occupation. Thus far, Israel has not formally annexed the West Bank and the Gaza Strip because doing so would have extremely adverse effect on the demographic balance of Israel.

It should be noted that neither the Gaza Strip, nor the West Bank are formally claimed by any generally recognized state but Israel -- both Egypt and Jordan revoked their demands to them at the signing of peace treaties with Israel. The "State of Palestine", whose independence was declared by the PLO in the 1980s claims these territories, but most countries do not recognize the "State of Palestine" as a state. According to the 1993 Oslo Accords, the final status of West Bank and Gaza is subject to a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, temporary agreements now being in place. The status of the Golan Heights is subject to an agreement with Syria.

UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) and Resolution 338 (1973) state that the status of the territories needs to be resolved by negotiations, and requires Israel to withdraw from at least some of these territories. Some critics say that the wording of these resolutions is extremely abiguous and no longer relevant due to the changing political situation in the region.

Terminology

Today "Palestine" is most often used to refer to the captured territories, and "Palestinians" to refer to the non-Israeli population of these areas. Palestine is recognized as a state by many Arab and Islamic states, and as such Palestine is a member of the League of Arab States.

The area of West Bank has been divided to thee zones:

Zone A - area under full control of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Currently about 20% of the total territories of West Bank and Gaza.
Zone B - Palestinian administrative control, Israeli military control
Zone C - full Israeli control.

In the Camp David Accords of 2000, that would provide a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak proposed the expansion of Zones A and B to almost 95% of the population and over 70% of the area of West Bank. Sections of East Jerusalem would have Palestinian administration but Israeli sovereignty. However, Yasser Arafat did not agree to these proposals. Critics claim that Barak's offer did not give room for a viable state as the territory would not be contigious but fragmented by multiple Israeli security zones, highways and settlements. As a result, Palestinians would not able to move freely within the territory. In addition, the water division issue, the external borders issue and air space issue remained unresolved. Finally, Palestinians point out that the Israeli settlments in the West Bank are considered to be illegal under international law, and Baraks proposal would allow more than 80% to remain in place.

To this, Israel replies that the freedom of movement by the Palestinians would by guaranteed via a series of corridors and passes (although Israel would be able to close them, in the case of an emergency). As to the questions of water division and external borders, Israel holds it that the total division of the land, which is in all places less than 80 kilometers wide, is an impossible fallacy, and the Palestinian refusal to understand that originates in their desire to manoeuver Israel into indefendable borders.

A map of Barak's proposal may be found here: [2]

History of Palestine

The disputes of the last half century in Israel and Palestine have their immediate origins in the Zionist movement of the 19th century in Europe, and the rise of Arab nationalism in the second half of the 20th century, but the roots of the conflict go back millennia because of the religious beliefs related to this land.

Historical population of Palestine

Over the last thousands years the population of Palestine was comprised of various ethnic groups, including Syrian Arabs, Egyptian Arabs, Arab immigrants from the Arabian peninsula, Bedouin Arabs, Druze (who are not Arabs), Jews, Turks, as well as smaller number of people from other areas. None of these groups, including the various Arab ethnicities, ever saw themselves as a united people or nationality. It was only with the creation of modern Arab nationalism in the 20th century that this perception began to change. Today most Arabs, especially Palestinians, look back at the peoples in this land over the last milennia and hold them to be an indigenous Palestinian people. Many historians disagree, saying that this view is a historical anachronism, analogus to Americans claiming that the Portugeuse, Spanish and Dutch founded the United States of America, simply because they lived in the same land centuries before, and were from the same European area.

No Arab nation or people was ever centered in this land; no Jewish nation existed during this timeframe either. Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir stated that "There was no such thing as Palestinians...It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist." This statement did not mean that there were no Arabs in the land before 1948 (of course there were!). While not widely known today, the original Arab position, including the position of the PLO was the same as that of Prime Minister Meir. For example, in March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. He noted that

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

Since then, however, the concept of an independent Palestinian nationality and state has taken firm hold in the Arab world, and the former position is either rejected, or (more often) denied (i.e. many Arabs deny that the former position ever existed.)

Palestinians today take great exception to any such former view. They interpret such views to mean that Israelis deny the existence of various Arab peoples in the land before 1948.

There are now somewhere between 5 - 6 million Palestinians worldwide. Some live as a minority in Israel proper, some live in the West Bank and Gaza, and most are refugees in many parts of the world (mainly the Middle East, Europe, and North and South America). Many still live a life of diaspora, as displaced persons.

Few Palestinians have assimilated to their host countries; most Arab nations forbade Palestinian Arabs from becoming citizens in Arab nations. Most Palestinians still seel a sense of identity, with their Palestinian nationalism. Palestinians are working for their political and national rights in both the West Bank and in Arab nations, where they are still discriminated against.

Early Political History of Palestine, and Decline of Jewish Population

The earliest known people in Palestine was the Canaanites. It is most probable that the Jews began as a part of them. Later, other (now mostly extinct) peoples appeared, such as the Samaritans and the Phoenicians. However the Jewish population over the centuries declined, due to several reasons. The Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar conquered ancient Israel in 597 B.C., and deported the middle and upper classes of the Jews to Babylonia, replacing them with settlers from other parts of the Babylonian Empire. Some of the lower classes and the settlers intermarried and merged into one community. The deported Jews flourished in Babylonia, and decades later, the upper and middle class Jews in Babylonia were permitted to return to Israel. However, a large proportion decided to stay in Babylon for economic reasons. This was the beginning of the Jewish diaspora.

The Jews who had returned to Israel refused to recognize the descendants of the lower class Jews who had remained as Jews, due to their intermarriage and merger with pagan settlers. This latter group is likely the progenitor of the Samaritans. An alternative explanation states that the Samaritans were an unrelated people settled in the area by Assyrian empire following the demise of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.

In 539 B.C. the Babylonians were annexed by the Persian Empire, which held Palestine until the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered Gaza and the surrounding areas in the early 330s B.C. After Alexander's death in 323, his empire was partitioned, and the competing Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires occupied various portions of the eastern Mediterranean, including different parts of Palestine, until the Roman Empire swept through in 63 B.C. Under the Romans the territory of Palestine was in nearly constant revolt, and a number of events with far-reaching consequences took place, including the founding of Christianity, the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem by the Roman army and mass suicide of Zealots in A.D. 66-70, and the sacking of the entire city of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 132. (Some sources mark the failed Jewish revolts as the beginning of the Diaspora.)

Over several centuries, the diaspora grew even further. In addition to the large Jewish community in Babylon, large numbers of Jews settled in Egypt, and in other parts of the Hellenistic world and in the Roman Empire. This migration was primarily driven by economic opportunities, though the situation in Israel also contributed. Israel experienced a large amount of conflict, principally over Hellenistic and then Roman rule.

The Jews were divided between those who were Hellenists, and supported the adoption of Greek culture, and those who believed in keeping to the traditions of the past. This conflict caused frequent disputes, which resulted in political and military upheveal -- such as the Maccabean revolt of the 2nd century B.C., the war of the 70s A.D. and the revolt led by Bar Kokhba in the 130s. The frequent conflict contributed to Jewish emigration, both as refugees, through deportation, and by reducing economic opportunities in the region compared to elsewhere. It also led to many deaths among the Jewish population of Palestine, both deaths in battles with the Romans and others, deaths due to massacres, and deaths due to the famine and disease that so often accompanies armed conflict.

Palestine changed hands several more times in the post-Biblical period, becoming at first part of the Byzantine Empire after the division of the Roman Empire into east and west (a fitful process that was not finalized until A.D. 395), then an early acqisition of the first Islamic Caliphate in A.D. 638. The marked the beginning of the longest contigious period in Palestine, which lasted until 1948, when it was an integrated part of the Arab world. The Umayyad dynasty controlled the Caliphate until they were overthrown by the Abbasids in 661. Over time the monolithic Caliphate fragmented, and the Fatimid Caliphate assumed control of Palestine in the 900s.

In the next century, Seljuk Turks invaded large portions of West Asia, including Asia Minor and Palestine, which was the proximate cause of the Crusades by the Christian European powers. Jerusalem and the surrounding lands were the object of these military expeditions. Christian forces held Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, when Saladin defeated them.

The Ayyubid Sultanate, founded by Saladin, controlled the region until 1250, when the Mamluks invaded. The Mamluk Sultanate ultimately became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, in the wake of campaigns waged by Selim I in the 16th century.

By the end of the first millennium A.D. almost all the Jewish population lived in the diaspora, in the Arab world and in Europe.

Over time the Jewish population in Palestine declined, due to several causes: Jewish emigration, deaths due to the multiple rebellions against the Romans, the deportation of Jews and the settlement of pagans by the Romans in response to these revolts, and the conversion of some Jews to Christianity (and later Islam). This conversion was driven both by the attractiveness of these religions to some Jews, and the taxation applied to Jews by Christian and then Muslim rulers. These special taxes on Jews especially affected agriculture, in which the majority of the Jewish population in Palestine was involved (the diaspora by contrast was primarily urban). As a result, the Jewish population in their original homeland dwindled over the centuries to a tiny percentage, both of the local population and of Jews as a whole.

During this period Israel continued as a constant topic of Jewish thought and liturgy, though its Jewish population was by then minimal -- for many of the Jews of the period "Eretz Israel" was a mythical place of redemption, since few of them ever stepped foot in it, and those who did found it changed dramatically from what it once was.

Most Jews during this period believed that the Jewish people would would return to Israel with the coming of the Messiah; some proposed that Jews attempt to return earlier, by their own devices, but until the rise of Zionism in the 19th century they were in a minority.

While up until the end of the 19th century, most of the Jewry did not have aspirations to come to the land of Israel, there were always Jews in it; they settled mainly in the "4 sacred cities" (Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron). Jews of European origin lived mostly of donations from off-country, while many Sefardic Jews found themselves a trade. By the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population of Palestine numbered 60,000.

Rise of Zionism

Zionism, a political movement seeking to have Jews return to their ancient homeland in Palestine, arose in Europe and Russian in the 19th century. It arose as a result of the liberation of European Jews from the many legal restrictions placed upon them in Medieval times, and the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Due to anti-Semitism Jews were not accepted as part of the wider society, but by leaving the ghetto they were no longer accepted by the Jewish community either. Zionism was also heavily influenced by the rise of nationalism, a major trend in 19th-century European politics. Zionists held that an independent Jewish homeland was necessary to ensure Jewish survival as a nation and to protect Jews from anti-Semitism. They began to settle in Palestine, though intially the numbers were small. The British government, who after World War I administered Palestine under a League of Nations mandate, supported this aspiration of the Zionists by the Balfour Declaration in 1917.

The entries on Zionism and History of Israel provide more information on this topic.

Establishment of British League of Nations mandate

Prior to the end of World War I, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. With the Allied defeat of the Central Powers, the United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by the Peace Confrence of Versailles, which also established the League of Nations. The British had promised the local Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British. In the end, due to poltical complications, the territory was split up on several adminstrative units. According to some, the British have fulfilled their promise by making an area to the east of Jordan River, consisting of 78% of the whole Mandate of Palestine, into an independent Arab Kingdom of Jordan. However, most Arabs do not accept this. The British did not hand out territories west of Jordan to either Jews or Arabs. This was the source of much of the Palestinian resentment against the British, and the Middle East conflict of today.

Palestinian opposition to Jewish emigration

Initially Jewish emigration to Palestine met little opposition from the local Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Jewish emigration to Palestine began to markedly increase, to their resentment.

The British government put severe limitations on the Jewish immigration to Palestine. Immigration was allowed, but up to a certain quota. Both Arabs and Jews disliked this policy, each side for its own reasons. The Palestinians would frequently riot or massacre Jewish communities; two Jewish groups, the Irgun and the Stern Gang carried out several acts of terrorism against British targets.

The British placed restrictions on Jewish land purchases in the remaining land, allegedly contradicting the provision of the Mandate which said "the Administration of Palestine ... shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency ... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not acquired for public purposes." According to the Israeli side, the British had by 1949 allotted over 8500 acres to Arabs, and about 4000 acres to Jews.

The Holocaust

Most of the Palestinians leadership, supported the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. They were hoping that the Axis coming to Palestine would maintain Palestinian control over their country, while slaughtering away the Jews. In particularly the influential mufti Haj Amin El-Husseini supported Hitler openly and convened with Nazi leaders several times. Despite being no great friend of any Arab cause, Hitler accepted Palestinian support in the hope that they would rebel against his enemies, the British, in the region, thereby advancing Hitler's military interests. Eventually the British were forced to imprison the Arabs who supported Hitler.

Arabs who opposed the persecution of the Jews by the hands of the Nazis included Habib Bourguiba in Tunisia, and Egyptian intellectuals such as Tawfiq al-Hakim and Abbas Mahmoud al-Arkad (Source: Yad Vashem)

The Holocaust, the killing of approximately 6 million European Jews by the Nazis, had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. During the war and after it, the British forbade entry into Palestine to European Jews escaping Nazi persecution. This was a calculated move to maximise support for their cause in World War II; the Jews were unlikely to support the deeply anti-semitic Axis, so the British considered it more important to get Arab backing.

Opposing this policy, which continued after the war's end, as well as the continous British oppression of the Jewish population in Palestine, the Irgun blew up in 1946 the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing around 100 people. In a more tempered move, the accepted Jewish leadership decided to begin an illegal immigration (haa'pala) using small boats operating in conditions of secrecy. About 70,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in this way between 1946 and 1947, and a similar number were captured an imprisoned by the British while sailing.

Seeing that the situation was quickly spiraling out of hands, the British announced their desire to terminate their mandate and to withdraw by May 1948. This decision threw Palestine into the middle of civil and ethnic unrest.

Divison of Palestine by United Nations

The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, attempted to solve the dispute between the Jews and the Palestinians. The UN appointed a committee, the UNSCOP, composed of representatives from several states. None of the Great Powers were represented, in order to make the committee more neutral. UNSCOP considered two main proposals. The first called for the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states in Palestine, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration. The second called for the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab consitituent states. A majority of UNSCOP adopted the first option, although several members supported the second option instead and one member (Australia) said it was unable to decide between them. The UN General Assembly largely accepted UNSCOP's proposals, though they made some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal.

The partition plan was rejected out of hand by the Palestinians, although much of the land reserved for the Jewish state was already acquired by Jews or was under state control. Most of the Jews accepted the proposal, in particular the Jewish Agency, which was the Jewish state-in-formation. Numerous records indicate the joy of Palestine's Jewish inhabitants as they attended to the U.N. session voting for the division proposal. Up to this day, Israeli history books mention November 29th (the date of this session) as the most important date in the Israel's aquisition of independence.

Several Jews, however, declined the proposal. Menachem Begin, Isrgun's leader, announced: 'The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The Land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever.' His views were publicly rejected by the majority of the nascent Jewish state. Palestinians, on the other hand, claim that this publicly expressed accepting was mainly propaganda for the consumpition of Western nations, and that Begin's statement more accurately reflected the real intentions of the founders of the State of Israel.

On the date of British withdrawal the Jewish provisional government declared the formation of the State of Israel, and the provisional government said that it would grant full civil rights to all within its borders, whether Arab, Jew, Bedouin or Druze. The declaration stated:

We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

Palestinians do not give way to this, and claim that despite the assurances of equal rights for all, the State of Israel continues to discriminates in numerous ways in favour of Jews against others up until this day. For example, they point to Israeli immigration laws, which give preference to Jews in immigration. Such a policy is uncommon among Western democracies, although both Western (Germany), and particularly Arab states (Algeria) behave in a similar way.

Palestinians consider a far more accurate statement of the intention of the founders of Israel to be that of Chaim Weizmann, who reportedly said:

[Our intention is to] finally establish such a society in Palestine that Palestine shall be as Jewish as England is English, or America is American.

References

1947 UN resolution

Map of 1947 UN division

Refugees

The topic of Palestinian refugees has been very controversial, and tends to be the subject of endless propaganda from both sides. Israelis have argued that the Palestinians left their homes because they were encouraged by the surrounding Arab states, through various media, such as radio broadcasts. Palestinians claim that many of them were forced from their homes by Zionist forces. Recent historical research [insert reference] indicates that both explanations are partly correct. About a third of Palestinian refugees were ejected from their homes by Jews; most of the rest left due to encouragement to do so from both their own and Jewish leaderships.

There were also a large number of Jewish refugees from surrounding Arab states created by the 1948 war. Most of them, however, enjoyed peace and prosperity and were forced to leave only due to Arab antisemitism and, as revealed by examination of IDF files from the time, Zionist agent provocateur actions.

On the date of British withdrawal the Jews declared the formation of the State of Israel. The Arab leadership, in spite of its bellicose sayings has failed to construct a state. However separate Arab gangs continued to terrorize separate Jewish neighborhoods in all the areas, particularly closing upon Jerusalem and in effect creating the state of a siege. As a response, Jewish forces had occupied several chunks of territory designated for the proposed Arab state as well as parts of Jerusalem intended for international administration. As a result, on the day Israel proclaimed its independence there were already 300,000 Palestinian refugees.

Israelis allege that the Arab refugees left their homes because Arabs from surround nations ordered them to leave. Arab military commanders promised an immediate invasion of the nascent Jewish state that would kill all the Jews, and Arabs were ordered to leave to reduce casualties. Israelis claim that the Arabs were promised that victory would be quick, and that they would be able to return to their homes within a few weeks. Specific quotes and references are provided in the entry under Palestinian.

Example: Israelis point to statements made by the Iraqi Prime Minister at the time, Nuri Said, who said:

We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter in. The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.

Likewise, Israelis point to statements made by Haled al Azm, the Syrian Prime Minister in 1948-49, who said

Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the [Arab] refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave and our appeal to the United Nations to resolve on their return.

Palestinians however argue that they were forcibly driven out of their homes by the Israeli forces.

By the end of this war, there were between 400,000 and 650,000 Arab refugees. (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, Submitted to the Secretary-General for Transmission to the Members of the United Nations, General Assembly Official Records: Third Session, Supplement No.11 (A/648), Paris, 1948) A similar number of Jewish refugees were created as well, as Arab nations ejected their Jewish populations. Neither the Jewish nor the Palestinian refugees have been permitted to return home.

On midnight on May 14 1948, the last British soldiers departed and the new state of Israel was proclaimed. By then, West Jerusalem and parts of the Old City were under Jewish control, but the city was effectively under Arab siege. Jaffa had been captured by Jews, as well a corridor between the coast and Jerusalem. Arab inhabitants of that area had launched numerous attacks on the young Jewish state's vital route; because of that, several Arab villages had been destroyed, and their inhabitants expelled, in order to remove Arab the siege from Jerusalem.

In response to the declaration of the State of Israel, and alleged Jewish atrocities against Palestinian civilians, armies from surrounding Arab states entered Palestine, thus beginning the 1948 war, which was lost by the Arabs.

External links

Some of the links below represent Palestinian point of view; others represent the Israeli point of view. Unfortunately much of the information on this issue, from both points of view, is closer to propaganda than unbiased factual reporting.

Palestinian links

U.N. links

Israeli links

/Commentary