The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 2004 - History - 640 pages
Benny Morris' The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem was published in 1988. Its startling revelations about how and why 700,000 Palestinians left their homes and became refugees during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 undermined traditional interpretations as to whether they left voluntarily or were expelled as part of a systematic plan. This book represents a revised edition of the earlier work, compiled on the basis of newly-opened Israeli military archives. While the focus remains the 1948 war and the analysis of the Palestinian exodus, the new material contains more information about what happened in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa, and how events there led to the collapse of Palestinian urban society. It also sheds light on the battles and atrocities that resulted in the disintegration of rural communities. The story is a harrowing one. The refugees now number four million and their existence remains a major obstacle to peace.
 

Contents

Background a brief history
9
The idea of transfer in Zionist thinking before 1948
39
The first wave the Arab exodus December 1947March 1948
65
The second wave the mass exodus AprilJune 1948
163
Deciding against a return of the refugees AprilDecember 1948
309
Blocking a return
341
The third wave the Ten Days918 Julyand the second truce 18 July15 October
414
The fourth wave the battles and exodus of OctoberNovember 1948
462
Clearing the borders expulsions and population transfers November 19481950
505
Solving the refugee problem December 1948 September 1949
549
Conclusion
588
Appendix 1
602
Appendix 2
605
Bibliography
609
Index
617
Copyright

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About the author (2004)

Benny Morris is Professor of History in the Middle East Studies Department, Ben-Gurion University. He is an outspoken commentator on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and is one of Israel's premier revisionist historians. His publications include Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 (2001), and Israel's Border Wars, 1949-56 (1997).

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