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Palestinian Refugees – The Truth (whose responsibility?) |
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Yoram Ettinger
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23.06.2008 |
While the surrounding Arab countries – assisted by Palestinian Arabs
- invaded the newly established Jewish State:
1. The British Mandate urged Arabs and Jews (November 30, 1947-
May 14, 1948, before the outbreak of the war) to evacuate small mixed towns,
where they constituted a minority. Arabs complied, while Jews defied.
Consequently, Alan Cunningham, the British High Commissioner, stated: “Arabs
are leaving the country with their families in considerable numbers, and
there is an exodus from the mixed towns to the rural Arab centers…The panic
of the Arab middle class persists and there is a steady exodus of those
who can afford to leave the country (December 1947, five months before
the 1948/9 War)”.
2. The Arab Higher Committee (the effective leadership of Palestinian
Arabs) instructed/forced Arabs in Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa and other urban
centers to relocate “until Jews are obliterated,” while British troops
were still there, pleading with them to stay. The London Economist (Oct.
2, 1948): "The most potent factors [in the flight] were announcements made
by the Palestinian-Arab Higher Committee, urging all Haifa Arabs to quit,
intimating that those remaining would be regarded as renegades."
Arab over-confidence prior to the war (600,000 Jews vs. 27, 000,000 Arabs)
was crashed by defeat, intensifying the flight of Arabs.”
3. Leaders of Arab countries and the Arab Liberation Army enticed
urban and rural Arabs to evacuate, in order to facilitate the Arab onslaught,
and then inherit the homes of the Jews. Abu Mazen (Filastin A-Thawra,
March 1976): “Arab armies forced Palestinians to leave their homes.” Khaled
al-Azam, Syrian Prime Minister in 1949 (memoirs, 1973): "We brought destruction
upon the refugees, by calling on them to leave their homes.” The Jordanian
daily, Filastin (Feb. 19, 1949): "The Arab States...encouraged the Palestinians
to leave their homes, temporarily, not interfering with the invading Arab
armies." Al-Ayyam daily (May 13, 2008): “The Arab Liberation Army
told the Palestinians – ‘Leave you houses and villages, and you will return
in a few days. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission…’”
4. Lack of leadership and no sense of shared-destiny. High Commissioner,
Cunningham (before the outbreak of the war): “The collapsing Arab morale
in Palestine is in some measure due to the increasing tendency - of those
who should be leading them - to leave the country… In Jaffa, the mayor
went on a 4 day leave 12 days ago…In Haifa, the Arab members of the [mixed]
municipality left some time ago…The Chief Arab Magistrate has left…The
Effendi [aristocrat] class has been evacuating in large numbers and the
tempo is increasing…” Lack of national cohesion was reflected via
inter-regional, urban-rural, inter-urban Palestinian animosity and the
eventual rejection of the refugee camps by surrounding Palestinian and
Arab communities.
5. The 1936-39 Palestinian violence, with more Arabs than Jews
murdered by Arab terrorists, triggered a large wave of Arab migrants, who
sought refuge in their countries of origin – Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan
(most coastal Arabs migrated to the area, from the surrounding Arab countries,
as well as Sudan, Algeria, Libya, Bosnia during 1831-1947). The 1947-8
pre-war urban and rural anti-civilian terrorism instigated a similar flight.
US Consul General, Robert Macatee: “A Jewish woman, mother of 5 children,
was shot in Jerusalem, while hanging out clothes on the roof. The
ambulance rushing her to the hospital was machine-gunned, and the mourners
following her to the funeral were attacked…”
6. Rumors of bogus Jewish atrocities. Jordanian daily, al-Urdun,
April 9, 1953: "Arab leaders were responsible for the [Arab] flight, disseminating
exaggerated rumors of Jewish atrocities, in order to incite the Arabs,
thus instilling fear in the hearts of the Palestinians." Yahya Hammudah,
former (1966) PLO chairman to the Christian Science Monitor: The Jews did
not expel us from Lifta [in Jerusalem]; the entire village left following
the killing of a 35 person Jewish convoy in April 1948, in order to pre-empt
a vicious Jewish vengeance. Jordanian daily, al-Urdun, April 9, 1953:
"Arab leaders were responsible for the [Arab] flight, disseminating exaggerated
rumors of Jewish atrocities, in order to incite the Arabs, thus instilling
fear in the hearts of the Palestinians."
7. Over 300,000 left before the eruption of the full scale 1948/9
War, while the Arabs had the upper hand, and while the US Department of
State and CIA – as well as some of Ben Gurion’s colleagues – urged him
to avoid declaration of independence, “lest he be responsible for a second
Jewish Holocaust in less than ten years.” Ismayil Safwat, Commander
in –Chief of the Arab Liberation Army (March 23, 1948): "The Jews have
not attacked any Arab village, unless attacked first." John Troutbeck Head
of the British Middle East Office, Cairo (June 1949): “The refugees speak
with utmost bitterness of the Egyptians and other Arab states. They know
who their enemies are, and they are referring to their Arab brothers who
– they declare – persuaded them unnecessarily to leave their homes…”
8. Arab Street and Arab media amplification of unexpected Jewish
victories and fall of Arab military leaders - such as the fall of Abdel
Qader Husseini in the critical Castel Battle - Arab evacuation - triggered
a Domino Effect of further Arab flight.
9. An exchange of populations occurred when 820,000 Jewish refugees
were expelled from – or fled - Arab countries, while 315,000 Palestinian
refugees were created by the aforementioned developments. A mega-million
population exchange took place between India and Pakistan (Hindus and Muslims)
and in East Europe (Poles and Germans). 100 million refugees were created
via wars since World War II and 80 million refugees during 1933-45. Most
of them are no longer refugees.
10. The 1948/9 Palestinian-Arab refugees totaled 315,000, in contrast
to conventional “wisdom.” 800,000 Palestinian Arabs resided within
the “Green Line” before the war and 170,000 remained at the end of the
war. Of the 630,000 gap, 100,000 were absorbed after the war by Israel,
100,000 (middle and upper class) were absorbed by surrounding Arab countries,
50,000 were migrant laborers who returned to their countries, 50,000 were
Bedouins who joined their tribes in Jordan and Egypt and 10,000-15,000
were war fatalities.
11. The Palestinian-Arab 1948 goal. Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the
Palestinian leader in 1948, requested (1940) that Germany and Italy acknowledge
the Arab right “to settle the question of the Jewish elements in Palestine,
and in other Arab countries, along lines similar to those used to solve
the Jewish question in Germany and Italy." (Fritz Grobba, Peoples and Powers
in the East, pp. 194-7, 207-8, Berlin, 1967; Joan Peters, From Time Immemorial,
p.37, Harper, 1988). Jamal Al-Husseini, acting Chairman of the (Palestinian)
Arab Higher Committee threatened on Nov. 24, 1947 that "Palestine shall
be consumed with fire and blood," if the Jews get any part of it.
The misrepresentation of the Palestinian-Arab refugee phenomenon –
just like Abu Mazen’s Palestinian hate education – constitutes the most
authentic reflection of the Palestinian/Arab Vision. It is intended
to de-legitimize and de-humanize the Jewish State, while legitimizing the
“Claim of Return” as a means to destroy Israel. The misrepresentation of
the Palestinian-Arab refugee phenomenon is much more significant than the
seemingly-moderate Arab/Palestinian exchanges with Israeli and Western
policy-makers and public-opinion molders.
***
This Cloakroom is based on data reported by Dr. Yuval Arnon-Ohana,
a top Israeli expert on the Palestinian issue (HaUmma Quarterly #141 and
142, autumn and winter 2000) and Prof. Efraim Karsh, Head of Mediterranean
Studies at King’s College, University of London (Commentary Magazine, May
2008).
Straight From The Jerusalem Cloakroom #214, June 13, 2008
Russian version
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Materials of the Analytical Group MAOF site in English |
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An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] http://maof.rjews.net/section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] http://maof.rjews.net/authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] http://maof.rjews.net/authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a
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