The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Encyclopedia
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine is a controversial book about the 1948 Palestinian exodus
authored by Ilan Pappé
and published in 2006 by Oneworld Publications
.
Ilan Pappé is one of the New Historians
. He seeks through his book to prove that a planned ethnic cleansing
of Palestinian Arabs occurred during the 1948 Palestine War
, or as he puts it in the preface of this book:
He considers that this objective was implemented by the Zionist movement leaders, mainly Ben Gurion
and the other ten members of his "consultancy group" as referred to by Pappé, and that the forced move of Palestanian
s to the Arab World
was an objective of the Zionist movement, and a must for the desired character of the Jewish State
. The book says that this planned ethnic cleansing was put into effect through systematic destruction of about 500 Arab villages, as well as several terrorist attacks executed mainly by members of the Haganah
and the Irgun
.
consisted of the forced relocation of close to 800,000 Palestinians. This was more than half of the Palestinian population at that time. It also involved the destruction of 531 Palestinian villages, and the emptying of 11 entire Palestinian urban neighborhoods.
The event is referred to, by Palestinians, as the Nakba, the catastrophe. The thesis that Pappé presents is that the Nakba was a calculated and intentionally executed ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Zionist Israelis. He states, with emphasis, that there is no room for ambivalence in this matter. His references include Zionist quotations and writings, military and political archives, and the diaries of David Ben-Gurion
. His intent is also to explore how the denial of the Nakba has been so successful for so long. His views are in direct opposition to mainstream Israeli versions of the relocation, which claim that the relocation was ‘voluntary.’
In his preface, Ilan Pappé says, ‘such a painful journey into the past is the only way forward if we want to create a better future for us all.’
Pappé states that the ethnic cleansing idea was first expressed in early Zionist writings.
For example, in 1917, Leo Motzkin
stated ‘the colonization of Palestine has to go in two directions, Jewish settlement…and the resettlement of the Arabs.’ In 1938 David Ben-Gurion
stated, ‘I am for compulsory transfer; I do not see anything immoral in it.’ Then in 1948, according to Ilan Pappé, the ethnic cleansing was implemented by David Ben-Gurion
, Yigael Yadin, Moshe Dayan
, Yigal Allon
, Yitzhak Sadeh
, Moshe Kalman, Moshe Camel, Yitzak Rabin, Shimon Avidan
, Rehavam Zeevi
, Yitzhak Pundak
, and others. The ideological drivers of the campaign were Ben-Gurion’s close advisers whom Ilan Pappé calls the ‘Consultancy group.’ The implementers were officers who lead attacks executed by the Haganah
(an Israeli militia) and the Irgun
(another Israeli militia), the Stern Gang (another Israeli militia), and the Israeli Defense Force. The details of the "ethnic cleansing strategy" are fully described in an Israeli military/government document entitled Plan Dalet
. Plan Dalet, according to Pappé, spells out, in writing, the clear directives of the operation. It included ‘bombarding villages…setting fire to homes, properties and goods, expulsion, demolition and planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.’ Pappe catalogues actions such as poisoning of the water supply of Acre with typhoid, numerous cases of rape, atrocities, and dozens of massacres.
, the United States Department of State
, and the International Criminal Court
for sources of discussion. He also describes the short-lived support that the U.S. gave to the Palestinians by endorsing United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which calls for the return of the displaced Palestinian refugees. Pappé states that, ‘Later on, the expelled are then erased from the country’s official and popular history and excised from its collective memory.’ He concludes that there is no denying that this alleged ethnic cleansing has been most successfully erased from conventional Israeli history.
The Muslim control of Palestine
had lasted for 1300 years prior to the British Mandate.
Zionism
emerged in the 1880s largely through the writings of Theodore Herzl. The Zionist movement had been growing steadily by the time that Britain took control of Palestine after World War I.
On October 31, 1917 the Balfour Declaration occurred. ‘Lord Balfour gave the Zionist movement his promise…to establish a national home for the Jews in Palestine.’ Palestinians made up 80-90 percent of the population of Palestine in the 1920s. As a result of the Balfour Declaration, Yosef Weitz
began a remarkably thorough demographic study of the Palestinian villages. His study is called the Village Files
. It was later used for key strategic information needed to implement the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This chapter also includes a history of the impact of the British military operations in suppressing the Palestinian uprisings in 1929 and in 1937. The uprising in 1937 was particularly significant in that, according to Pappé, the British so thoroughly defeated the Palestinians that their future ability to fight for their rights to their homeland was strategically impacted. Britain provided key training for the Haganah
and the Irgun
. David Ben-Gurion
stated, ‘The Arabs will have to go.’ Ben-Gurion’s strategy for the creation of the Israeli State included very specific offensive military steps. They are described in Plans A, B, C, and D. ‘The purpose of such actions would be to deter the Palestinian population from attacking Jewish settlements, and to retaliate for assaults on Jewish houses, roads, and traffic. Plan C spelled out clearly what punitive actions would entail, such as;
Killing the Palestinian leadership.
Killing Palestinian inciters and their financial supporters.
Killing Palestinians who acted against Jews.
Killing senior Palestinian officers and officials.
Damaging Palestinian transportation.
Damaging the sources of Palestinian livelihoods: water wells, mills etc.. Attacking nearby Palestinian villages likely to assist in future attacks. Attacking Palestinian clubs, coffeehouses, meeting places, etc..’
Plan Dalet (Plan D) called for the systematic and total expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
called for the creation of two states and the United Nations General Assembly
passed Resolution 181 stating so. The Palestinians immediately rejected this. Then David Ben-Gurion’s group of close advisors, that Pappé calls the Consultancy, began its planning to deal with the Palestinian resistance.
) was adopted on March 10, 1948. It called for, amongst many things, the initial uprooting of 250,000 Palestinians. This initial uprooting represented the beginning of the actual execution of Plan Dalet. Key negotiations between Israel and Jordan had led to the Jordanian promise to not join any all-Arab military operations against the Jewish state. The agreement ‘neutralized the strongest army in the Arab world.’ The British departed Palestine on 15 May 1948.
Haganah
had 50,000 trained troops. The implementation of Plan Dalet continued in earnest. The Deir Yassin
massacre occurred. In it, 93 Palestinians were killed. Soon after, four more villages were taken. They were Qalunya
, Saris
, Beit Surik
, and Biddu
. The United States offered a scheme to stop the bloodshed by first establishing a three-month cease-fire and then developing a trusteeship plan in five years. Both ideas were rejected by the Israelis. Ben-Gurion had stated "Only a state with at least 80% Jews is a viable and stable state" and that Palestinians ‘can either be mass arrested or expelled; it is better to expel them.’ Pappé states that many Palestinian villages such as Dayr Ayyub
, Beit Affa, and Khisas had virtually no defense mechanism of any kind. The attack on Balad al-Shaykh occurred leaving 60 Palestinians dead. The Hawassa neighborhood in Haifa
was evacuated. The Sarraya house in Jaffa
was bombed leaving 26 dead and the Samiramis Hotel in Qatamon was bombed leaving many others dead. Pappé refers to Yosef Weitz again, a member of the Consultancy. Weitz had stated, ‘The only solution is to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries. Not a single village or a single tribe must be left off.’
was the first operation of Plan Dalet. It specifically called for the destruction of Palestinian villages in April 1948. It was the first time that the various Israeli militias would operate together as a unit and become the Israeli Defense Force. Pappé states ‘the Arab governments did little beyond airing their inflammatory war rhetoric in all directions so as to hide their inaction and unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the Palestinians.’ The United Nations plan had allocated Haifa, the only port of the country, to be granted Jewish control. The De-Arabization of Haifa
involved the expulsion of 75,000 Palestinians from Haifa. The 2000 members of the Israeli Carmeli Brigade quickly defeated the 500 members of a poorly equipped Lebanese force. Mordechai Maklef as the operation officer of the Carmeli Brigade, issued orders to ‘Kill any Arab you encounter; torch all inflammable objects and force doors open with explosives’ Crowds of defenseless Palestinians ran down the streets of Haifa to the port to escape on any boat they could find. ‘Many [boats] turned over and sank with all their passengers’. The next cities to fall were Acre, Nazareth and Safad. Pappé states that the Arab Liberation Army was never a match against the well organized Israeli forces. According to Pappé, there was never serious Arab Liberation Army
strength, so ‘the falsity of the myth of a Jewish David facing an Arab Goliath’ was very clear.
As Jerusalem was cleansed, ‘British inaction was the rule.’
In April 1948 the cleansing of Jerusalem began. ‘All in all, eight Palestinian and thirty nine villages were ethnically cleansed in the Greater Jerusalem area.’ On 13 May, Jaffa was the last city to be taken. It was taken after a two-week battle between 5000 members of the Haganah
militia and 1500 members of the Arab Liberation Army. This was the largest effort of the Arab Liberation Army. After the battle was won by the Israeli Haganah
, 50,000 Palestinians were forced to leave Jaffa. Pappé states that ethnic cleansing occurred before any Arab Liberation Army soldiers arrived in Palestine. By 15 May 1948 200 Palestinian villages were occupied and their people expelled. Another 90 villages were destroyed by 11 June 1948. At the time, Egypt
and Iraq
were embroiled in the final stages of the own wars of liberation…and Syria
and Lebanon
were young countries that had just won independence.’
sent to the commanders of the Haganah
brigades he stated, ‘the cleansing of Palestine remained the prime objective of Plan Dalet.’ Pappé states that the Arab war efforts were ‘ineffective’, and ‘pathetic’. This was true for Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. And Jordan
had agreed to not attack Israel. The Arab weapons were scarce and their supply lines were ineffective. The most intensive Arab efforts occurred in the first three weeks of the war. Ethnic cleansing was conducted in at least 64 villages by the Israeli Alexandria brigade according to Pappé They were also part of the massacre at Tantura, per Ilan Pappé, on May 2, 1948. He quotes from various witnesses that as many as 230 were massacred there. Various other brigades such as the Golani Brigade
, Carmeli Brigade, Kiryati Brigade
, Harel Brigade
, Bulgarian Brigade, Yiftach Brigade
, and Givati Brigade
also conducted cleansing operations.
through the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A(III) David Ben Gurion’s diary June 5, 1948 states, ‘the cleansing operation continues.’ Eliezer Kaplan
, the minister of finance authorized the confiscation of all Palestinian properties already taken. The First Truce was declared on June 8, 1948. And according to Pappé the Israelis continued the destruction of villages that had already been taken. The truce ended on July 8, 1948. Fighting continued with the Israelis showing the upper hand against the various Arab forces. The Israelis took Itarun, Amqa
, Tel-Qisan, Saffuriyya, Kfar Yassif, Abu Sinan
, Judeida, and Tabash. Pappé states that numerous Palestinian villages had been peacefully occupied by Muslim
, Druze
, and Christian
s for centuries. On July 18, 1948 another truce was organized by the U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. Pappé states, ‘In less than two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been expelled from their villages, towns, and cities.’ Count Folke Bernadotte was murdered in September, ‘for having dared to put forward a proposal to re-divide the country in half, and to demand the unconditional return of all the refugees.’ Pappé in this chapter talks about various Israeli operations such as Operation Palm Tree, Operation Kippa, Operation Broom, Operation Scissors, Operation Cyprus, Operation Policeman, Operation Autumn and Operation Dani. Pappé quotes from Keith Wheeler of the Chicago Sun Times that in one operation ‘Practically everything in their (Israeli Forces) path died.’ He also quotes from the London Economist
that, village ‘inhabitants were forced to start marching after their houses had been looted, their family members murdered and their city wrecked.’
. Pappé states ‘I have no illusion that it will take more than this book to reverse a reality that demonizes a people who have been colonized, expelled, and occupied, and glorifies the very people who colonized, expelled and occupied them.’
’ have all been ‘involved in establishing new Jewish settlements on the lands of the destroyed Palestinian villages.’ ‘The dispossession was accompanied by the renaming of the places it had seized, destroyed and now recreated.’ ‘This mission was accomplished with the help of archaeologists and biblical experts who volunteered to serve on an official Naming Committee whose job it was to Hebraize Palestine’s geography.’ He goes on to state, ‘The true mission of the J.N.F., in other words, has been to conceal these visible remnants of Palestine not only by the trees it has planted over them, but also by the narratives it has created to deny their existence.’ As an example, Pappé refers to the Forest of Birya, which is the largest man made forest in Israel. It conceals the land of six Palestinian villages; Dishon
, Alma,Israel, Qaddita
, Amqa
, Ayn al-Zaytun, and Biryya. Also the Ramat Menashe Park covers the ruins of Lajjun
, Mansi
, Kafrayan, Al-Butaymat
, Hubeza, Daliyat al-Rawha, Sabbarin
, Burayka
, Al-Sindiyana
, and Umm al-Zinat
. The Jerusalem forest is another example.
along with King Abdullah of Jordan
, defeated those efforts. For the following two decades there was a lull in international interest. Then, ‘The June War (1967) ended with total Israeli control over all of ex-Mandatory Palestine.’ Israel then established three important axioms/guidelines for defining the debate over the Palestinian issue. One, the conflict had its origin in 1967 and the solution would be defined by an agreement on what to do with the West Bank and Gaza. Pappé points out that the West Bank
and Gaza
make up only 22% of Palestine. Two, the West Bank and Gaza could be further divided. Three, nothing that occurred prior to 1967 could ever be negotiated. As a response, for four decades, Yassar Arafat conducted a campaign to get the world to recognize that an ethnic cleansing had occurred in 1948. And according to Pappé, this task for the Palestinians continues to today. Pappé mentions that the Knesset
had even gone to the extent of passing a law that prohibited Israeli negotiators from discussing the right of return. He also speculates that if Israelis were to acknowledge the Nakba that it would be akin to recognizing ‘that they have become the mirror image of their own worst nightmare.’
. He states, ‘None of this is new.’ because Theodore Herzl wrote in 1895, ‘We shall endeavor to expel the poor population across the border unnoticed, procuring employment for it in the transit countries, but denying it any employment in our own country.’ In 2003 Benyamin Netanyahu said, ‘If the Arabs in Israel form 40% of the population, this is the end of the Jewish State. But 20% is also a problem. If the relationship with these 20% becomes problematic, the state is entitled to employ extreme measures.’ The demographic problem remains serious today in the minds of many Israelis. ‘There are 2.5 million Palestinians sharing the state with six million Jews. There are also another 2.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza strip and in the areas Israel does not want in the West Bank.’
who writes that "Ilan Pappé is Israel's bravest, most principled, most incisive historian" and historian Walid Khalidi
who writes that "[the book is] a dazzling feat of scholarly synthesis and Biblical moral clarity and humaneness".
Benny Morris
one of the preeminent Israel "New Historians
" describing Pappe in his review of "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palesine" writes, "At best, Ilan Pappe must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two." Adding that "Such distortions, large and small, characterize almost every page of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. "
Commenting in his review Alice in Ethnic Cleansing Land, Raphael Israeli
of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
notes, "When we advance beyond the title of this eye-catching volume of one-sided 'History,' whose author has been called 'Israel's bravest, most principled and most incisive historian,' the picture becomes more nuanced and can be argued either way." He goes on to accuse Pappe of falsification of the facts. "The most blatant falsification of history may be found in the distorted presentation of otherwise irrefutable facts," he says.
Ian Black, the Guardian
's Middle East editor writes, "Emphasis apart, it is hard to say what is new in his account." He calls the book "a catalogue of intimidation, expulsion and atrocity," and notes that Pappe "does historical understanding a disservice by all but ignoring the mood and motives of the Jews, so soon after the end of a war in which six million had been exterminated by the Nazis."
David Pryce-Jones
, writing in the Literary Review
calls Pappe "an Israeli academic who has made his name by hating Israel and everything it stands for."
Reverend Tony Higton, (of Paradox Ministries), writer and past rector of a church in the Old City of Jerusalem, says there are "valid reasons for posing questions about the reliability of Pappe's book." In his 6 page review he lists the following:
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
authored by Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist...
and published in 2006 by Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey to publish non-fiction for general and academic markets. Based in Oxford, it publishes across a wide range of subjects, from history, current affairs, and religion to philosophy,...
.
Ilan Pappé is one of the New Historians
New Historians
The New Historians are a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history, including Israel's role in the Palestinian Exodus in 1948 and Arab willingness to discuss peace. The term was coined in 1988 by one of the leading New Historians, Benny...
. He seeks through his book to prove that a planned ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
of Palestinian Arabs occurred during the 1948 Palestine War
1948 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war refers to the events in the British Mandate of Palestine between the United Nations vote on the partition plan on November 30, 1947, to the end of the first Arab-Israeli war on July 20, 1949.The war is divided into two phases:...
, or as he puts it in the preface of this book:
In other words, I want to make the case for the paradigm of ethnic cleansing and use it to replace the paradigm of war as the basis for the scholarly research of, and public debate about, 1948.
He considers that this objective was implemented by the Zionist movement leaders, mainly Ben Gurion
Ben Gurion
Ben Gurion can refer to the following persons:* Nicodemus ben Gurion, a Biblical figure, probably a rich Jewish member of the Sanhedrin that felt sympathetic to Jesus Christ...
and the other ten members of his "consultancy group" as referred to by Pappé, and that the forced move of Palestanian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
s to the Arab World
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
was an objective of the Zionist movement, and a must for the desired character of the Jewish State
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...
. The book says that this planned ethnic cleansing was put into effect through systematic destruction of about 500 Arab villages, as well as several terrorist attacks executed mainly by members of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
and the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
.
Synopsis
According to Ilan Pappé, the 1948 Palestinian exodus1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
consisted of the forced relocation of close to 800,000 Palestinians. This was more than half of the Palestinian population at that time. It also involved the destruction of 531 Palestinian villages, and the emptying of 11 entire Palestinian urban neighborhoods.
The event is referred to, by Palestinians, as the Nakba, the catastrophe. The thesis that Pappé presents is that the Nakba was a calculated and intentionally executed ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Zionist Israelis. He states, with emphasis, that there is no room for ambivalence in this matter. His references include Zionist quotations and writings, military and political archives, and the diaries of David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
. His intent is also to explore how the denial of the Nakba has been so successful for so long. His views are in direct opposition to mainstream Israeli versions of the relocation, which claim that the relocation was ‘voluntary.’
In his preface, Ilan Pappé says, ‘such a painful journey into the past is the only way forward if we want to create a better future for us all.’
Pappé states that the ethnic cleansing idea was first expressed in early Zionist writings.
For example, in 1917, Leo Motzkin
Leo Motzkin
Leo Motzkin was a Russian Zionist leader. A leader of the World Zionist Congress and numerous Jewish and Zionist organizations, Motzkin was a key organizer of the Jewish delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and one of the first Jewish leaders to organize opposition to the Nazi Party in...
stated ‘the colonization of Palestine has to go in two directions, Jewish settlement…and the resettlement of the Arabs.’ In 1938 David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
stated, ‘I am for compulsory transfer; I do not see anything immoral in it.’ Then in 1948, according to Ilan Pappé, the ethnic cleansing was implemented by David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, Yigael Yadin, Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
, Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and acting Prime Minister of Israel, and was a member of the Knesset and government minister from the 10th through the...
, Yitzhak Sadeh
Yitzhak Sadeh
Yitzhak Sadeh , was the commander of the Palmach, one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel and a cousin of British philosopher Isaiah Berlin.-Biography:...
, Moshe Kalman, Moshe Camel, Yitzak Rabin, Shimon Avidan
Shimon Avidan
Shimon Avidan , born Shimon Koch , was an Israeli soldier and officer, the commander of the Givati Brigade during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war....
, Rehavam Zeevi
Rehavam Zeevi
' 20 June 1926 - 17 October 2001) was an Israeli general, politician, and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party, mainly advocating population transfer....
, Yitzhak Pundak
Yitzhak Pundak
-Early life:Pundak was born Yitzhak Fundik in Kraków, Poland and immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1933.-Military career:Pundak's military career started with the Haganah. In 1945, he was an instructor in a platoon commanders' course....
, and others. The ideological drivers of the campaign were Ben-Gurion’s close advisers whom Ilan Pappé calls the ‘Consultancy group.’ The implementers were officers who lead attacks executed by the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
(an Israeli militia) and the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
(another Israeli militia), the Stern Gang (another Israeli militia), and the Israeli Defense Force. The details of the "ethnic cleansing strategy" are fully described in an Israeli military/government document entitled Plan Dalet
Plan Dalet
Plan Dalet, or Plan D, was a plan worked out by the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group and the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces, in Palestine in autumn 1947 to spring 1948. Its purpose is much debated...
. Plan Dalet, according to Pappé, spells out, in writing, the clear directives of the operation. It included ‘bombarding villages…setting fire to homes, properties and goods, expulsion, demolition and planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.’ Pappe catalogues actions such as poisoning of the water supply of Acre with typhoid, numerous cases of rape, atrocities, and dozens of massacres.
An Ethnic Cleansing?
This chapter focuses on the definition of ethnic cleansing in terms of ethics and international law and international agreements. Pappé refers to the United Nations Commission on Human RightsUnited Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...
, the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, and the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
for sources of discussion. He also describes the short-lived support that the U.S. gave to the Palestinians by endorsing United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which calls for the return of the displaced Palestinian refugees. Pappé states that, ‘Later on, the expelled are then erased from the country’s official and popular history and excised from its collective memory.’ He concludes that there is no denying that this alleged ethnic cleansing has been most successfully erased from conventional Israeli history.
The Drive for an Exclusive Jewish State
Pappé states in this chapter that a key ingredient in the Zionist creation of an Israeli state was such that it would be created exclusively for Jews.The Muslim control of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
had lasted for 1300 years prior to the British Mandate.
Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
emerged in the 1880s largely through the writings of Theodore Herzl. The Zionist movement had been growing steadily by the time that Britain took control of Palestine after World War I.
On October 31, 1917 the Balfour Declaration occurred. ‘Lord Balfour gave the Zionist movement his promise…to establish a national home for the Jews in Palestine.’ Palestinians made up 80-90 percent of the population of Palestine in the 1920s. As a result of the Balfour Declaration, Yosef Weitz
Yosef Weitz
Yosef Weitz was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of the Jewish National Fund. From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine.-Biography:...
began a remarkably thorough demographic study of the Palestinian villages. His study is called the Village Files
Village files
Village files were military intelligence documents based on a card index system, with detailed data on every Arab village in Mandatory Palestine. Gathered by the SHAI, they were the basis of Haganah and Palmah operations during the 1940s...
. It was later used for key strategic information needed to implement the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This chapter also includes a history of the impact of the British military operations in suppressing the Palestinian uprisings in 1929 and in 1937. The uprising in 1937 was particularly significant in that, according to Pappé, the British so thoroughly defeated the Palestinians that their future ability to fight for their rights to their homeland was strategically impacted. Britain provided key training for the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
and the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
. David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
stated, ‘The Arabs will have to go.’ Ben-Gurion’s strategy for the creation of the Israeli State included very specific offensive military steps. They are described in Plans A, B, C, and D. ‘The purpose of such actions would be to deter the Palestinian population from attacking Jewish settlements, and to retaliate for assaults on Jewish houses, roads, and traffic. Plan C spelled out clearly what punitive actions would entail, such as;
Killing the Palestinian leadership.
Killing Palestinian inciters and their financial supporters.
Killing Palestinians who acted against Jews.
Killing senior Palestinian officers and officials.
Damaging Palestinian transportation.
Damaging the sources of Palestinian livelihoods: water wells, mills etc.. Attacking nearby Palestinian villages likely to assist in future attacks. Attacking Palestinian clubs, coffeehouses, meeting places, etc..’
Plan Dalet (Plan D) called for the systematic and total expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
Partition and Destruction: UN Resolution 181 and Its Impact
Here Pappé recalls that in 1947 the United Nations Special Committee on PalestineUnited Nations Special Committee on Palestine
The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was formed in May 1947 in response to a United Kingdom government request that the General Assembly "make recommendations under article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future government of Palestine"...
called for the creation of two states and the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
passed Resolution 181 stating so. The Palestinians immediately rejected this. Then David Ben-Gurion’s group of close advisors, that Pappé calls the Consultancy, began its planning to deal with the Palestinian resistance.
Finalising a master plan
Plan D (Plan DaletPlan Dalet
Plan Dalet, or Plan D, was a plan worked out by the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group and the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces, in Palestine in autumn 1947 to spring 1948. Its purpose is much debated...
) was adopted on March 10, 1948. It called for, amongst many things, the initial uprooting of 250,000 Palestinians. This initial uprooting represented the beginning of the actual execution of Plan Dalet. Key negotiations between Israel and Jordan had led to the Jordanian promise to not join any all-Arab military operations against the Jewish state. The agreement ‘neutralized the strongest army in the Arab world.’ The British departed Palestine on 15 May 1948.
Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
had 50,000 trained troops. The implementation of Plan Dalet continued in earnest. The Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews...
massacre occurred. In it, 93 Palestinians were killed. Soon after, four more villages were taken. They were Qalunya
Qalunya
Qalunya was a Palestinian Arab village located west of Jerusalem.Prior to the village's destruction in 1948, with the exception of 166 dunums, Qalunya's land was privately owned: 3,594 dunums were owned by Arabs, while 1,084 dunums were owned by Jews....
, Saris
Saris
Saris was a Palestinian Arab village that was depopulated during the major offensive launched by the Haganah on 6 April 1948. Called Operation Nachshon, and launched before the British had left Palestine, its objective was to capture villages between Jerusalem and the coastal plain.-History:During...
, Beit Surik
Beit Surik
Beit Surik is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 kilometers Northwest of Jerusalem in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 3,818 in 2006.-Enclave:...
, and Biddu
Biddu
Biddu or Biddu Appaiah is an Indian-British music producer, composer, song-writer and singer who produced and composed many hit records worldwide during a career spanning five decades...
. The United States offered a scheme to stop the bloodshed by first establishing a three-month cease-fire and then developing a trusteeship plan in five years. Both ideas were rejected by the Israelis. Ben-Gurion had stated "Only a state with at least 80% Jews is a viable and stable state" and that Palestinians ‘can either be mass arrested or expelled; it is better to expel them.’ Pappé states that many Palestinian villages such as Dayr Ayyub
Dayr Ayyub
Dayr Ayyub was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on March 6, 1948 by the Givati and Sheva' brigades of Operation Nachshon. It was located 17.5 km southeast of Ramla, situated close to Bab al-Wad...
, Beit Affa, and Khisas had virtually no defense mechanism of any kind. The attack on Balad al-Shaykh occurred leaving 60 Palestinians dead. The Hawassa neighborhood in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
was evacuated. The Sarraya house in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
was bombed leaving 26 dead and the Samiramis Hotel in Qatamon was bombed leaving many others dead. Pappé refers to Yosef Weitz again, a member of the Consultancy. Weitz had stated, ‘The only solution is to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries. Not a single village or a single tribe must be left off.’
The Blueprint for Ethnic Cleansing: Plan Dalet
In this chapter, Pappé describes various cities, and villages, and the operations to cleanse them. Operation NaschonOperation Nachshon
Operation Nachshon was an Jewish military operation during the 1948 war. Lasting from 5–20 April 1948, its objective was to break the Siege of Jerusalem by opening the Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem road blockaded by Palestinian Arabs and to supply food and weapons to the isolated Jewish community of...
was the first operation of Plan Dalet. It specifically called for the destruction of Palestinian villages in April 1948. It was the first time that the various Israeli militias would operate together as a unit and become the Israeli Defense Force. Pappé states ‘the Arab governments did little beyond airing their inflammatory war rhetoric in all directions so as to hide their inaction and unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the Palestinians.’ The United Nations plan had allocated Haifa, the only port of the country, to be granted Jewish control. The De-Arabization of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
involved the expulsion of 75,000 Palestinians from Haifa. The 2000 members of the Israeli Carmeli Brigade quickly defeated the 500 members of a poorly equipped Lebanese force. Mordechai Maklef as the operation officer of the Carmeli Brigade, issued orders to ‘Kill any Arab you encounter; torch all inflammable objects and force doors open with explosives’ Crowds of defenseless Palestinians ran down the streets of Haifa to the port to escape on any boat they could find. ‘Many [boats] turned over and sank with all their passengers’. The next cities to fall were Acre, Nazareth and Safad. Pappé states that the Arab Liberation Army was never a match against the well organized Israeli forces. According to Pappé, there was never serious Arab Liberation Army
Arab Liberation Army
The Arab Liberation Army , also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji...
strength, so ‘the falsity of the myth of a Jewish David facing an Arab Goliath’ was very clear.
As Jerusalem was cleansed, ‘British inaction was the rule.’
In April 1948 the cleansing of Jerusalem began. ‘All in all, eight Palestinian and thirty nine villages were ethnically cleansed in the Greater Jerusalem area.’ On 13 May, Jaffa was the last city to be taken. It was taken after a two-week battle between 5000 members of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
militia and 1500 members of the Arab Liberation Army. This was the largest effort of the Arab Liberation Army. After the battle was won by the Israeli Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, 50,000 Palestinians were forced to leave Jaffa. Pappé states that ethnic cleansing occurred before any Arab Liberation Army soldiers arrived in Palestine. By 15 May 1948 200 Palestinian villages were occupied and their people expelled. Another 90 villages were destroyed by 11 June 1948. At the time, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
were embroiled in the final stages of the own wars of liberation…and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
were young countries that had just won independence.’
The Phony War and the Real War over Palestine: May 1948
This chapter discuses the dual nature of the 1948 conflict particularly during May 1948. On one hand there was the Arab Israeli war and on the other hand there was the ethnic cleansing. In a letter that David Ben-GurionDavid Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
sent to the commanders of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
brigades he stated, ‘the cleansing of Palestine remained the prime objective of Plan Dalet.’ Pappé states that the Arab war efforts were ‘ineffective’, and ‘pathetic’. This was true for Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. And Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
had agreed to not attack Israel. The Arab weapons were scarce and their supply lines were ineffective. The most intensive Arab efforts occurred in the first three weeks of the war. Ethnic cleansing was conducted in at least 64 villages by the Israeli Alexandria brigade according to Pappé They were also part of the massacre at Tantura, per Ilan Pappé, on May 2, 1948. He quotes from various witnesses that as many as 230 were massacred there. Various other brigades such as the Golani Brigade
Golani Brigade
The Golani Brigade is an Israeli infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. Its symbol is a green tree on a yellow background, and its soldiers wear a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the...
, Carmeli Brigade, Kiryati Brigade
Kiryati Brigade
The Kiryati Brigade was formed in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion and was one of the original nine brigades that made up the Haganah. The Kiryati Brigade was initially responsible for securing the area in and around Tel Aviv...
, Harel Brigade
Harel Brigade
Harel Brigade is a reserve brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Northern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.- War of Independence :...
, Bulgarian Brigade, Yiftach Brigade
Yiftach Brigade
The Yiftach Brigade was an Israeli infantry brigade...
, and Givati Brigade
Givati Brigade
The Givati Brigade is an infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, and serves as its amphibious force. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
also conducted cleansing operations.
The Escalation of the Ethnic Cleansing Operations: June–September 1948
Pappé, in this chapter, discusses June through September 1948. The ethnic cleansing continued despite the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
through the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A(III) David Ben Gurion’s diary June 5, 1948 states, ‘the cleansing operation continues.’ Eliezer Kaplan
Eliezer Kaplan
Eliezer Kaplan was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician, one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence and the country's first Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.-Biography:...
, the minister of finance authorized the confiscation of all Palestinian properties already taken. The First Truce was declared on June 8, 1948. And according to Pappé the Israelis continued the destruction of villages that had already been taken. The truce ended on July 8, 1948. Fighting continued with the Israelis showing the upper hand against the various Arab forces. The Israelis took Itarun, Amqa
Amqa
Amka or Amqa is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in . The location of the Jewish village roughly corresponds the former Palestinian Arab village, depopulated during the...
, Tel-Qisan, Saffuriyya, Kfar Yassif, Abu Sinan
Abu Sinan
Abu Snan is an Arab local council in the Galilee region of northern Israel, with an area of 4,750 dunams . It achieved recognition as an independent local council in 1964.-History:...
, Judeida, and Tabash. Pappé states that numerous Palestinian villages had been peacefully occupied by Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
, and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s for centuries. On July 18, 1948 another truce was organized by the U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. Pappé states, ‘In less than two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been expelled from their villages, towns, and cities.’ Count Folke Bernadotte was murdered in September, ‘for having dared to put forward a proposal to re-divide the country in half, and to demand the unconditional return of all the refugees.’ Pappé in this chapter talks about various Israeli operations such as Operation Palm Tree, Operation Kippa, Operation Broom, Operation Scissors, Operation Cyprus, Operation Policeman, Operation Autumn and Operation Dani. Pappé quotes from Keith Wheeler of the Chicago Sun Times that in one operation ‘Practically everything in their (Israeli Forces) path died.’ He also quotes from the London Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
that, village ‘inhabitants were forced to start marching after their houses had been looted, their family members murdered and their city wrecked.’
Completing the Job: October 1948-January 1949
Pappé begins this chapter with quotes from the Badil Resource Center. ‘In 1948, 85% of the Palestinians living in the areas that became the state of Israel became refugees.’ ‘It is estimated that there were more than 7 million Palestinian displaced persons at the beginning of 2003.’ He talks about Operation Hiram, War Crimes During the Operation, Mopping Up Operations, Israel’s Anti-Reparation Policy, Final Cleansing of the South and the East, and The Massacre in DawaymehAl-Dawayima massacre
On October 28, 1948, the Arab town al-Dawayima was conquered by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during the Operation Yoav. The Battalion, whose first commander was Moshe Dayan, was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces...
. Pappé states ‘I have no illusion that it will take more than this book to reverse a reality that demonizes a people who have been colonized, expelled, and occupied, and glorifies the very people who colonized, expelled and occupied them.’
Occupation and Its Ugly Faces
Pappé starts this chapter with another set of quotes about ethnic cleansing, including, ‘Since 1967, Israel has detained 670,000 Palestinians.’ Sections of this chapter are entitled Inhuman Imprisonment, Abuses Under Occupation, Ghettoizing the Palestinians of Haifa, Rape, Dividing the Spoils, Desecration of Holy Sites, Entrenching the Occupation, and The Land Robbery:1950-2000.The Memoricide of the Nakba
This chapter, like others, starts with provocative quotes. ‘Over 700,000 olive and orange trees have been destroyed by the Israelis. This is an act of sheer vandalism from a state that claims to practice conservation of the environment.’ The sections of this chapter include; The Reinvention of Palestine, Virtual Colonialism and the J.N.F., The J.N.F. Parks In Israel, The Forest of Birya, The Ramat Menahse Park, and Greening of Jerusalem. Pappé states that ‘the Israeli Land Authority, the army, the government and the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
’ have all been ‘involved in establishing new Jewish settlements on the lands of the destroyed Palestinian villages.’ ‘The dispossession was accompanied by the renaming of the places it had seized, destroyed and now recreated.’ ‘This mission was accomplished with the help of archaeologists and biblical experts who volunteered to serve on an official Naming Committee whose job it was to Hebraize Palestine’s geography.’ He goes on to state, ‘The true mission of the J.N.F., in other words, has been to conceal these visible remnants of Palestine not only by the trees it has planted over them, but also by the narratives it has created to deny their existence.’ As an example, Pappé refers to the Forest of Birya, which is the largest man made forest in Israel. It conceals the land of six Palestinian villages; Dishon
Dishon
Dishon is a moshav in northern Israel, located along the border with Lebanon, between the towns of Kiryat Shmona and Safed. It is part of the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council...
, Alma,Israel, Qaddita
Qaddita
Qaddita was a Palestinian Arab village of 240, located northwest of Safad. It was captured and depopulated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with some of its inhabitants fleeing to nearby Akbara where they live as internally displaced Palestinians and others to refugee camps in Lebanon or...
, Amqa
Amqa
Amka or Amqa is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in . The location of the Jewish village roughly corresponds the former Palestinian Arab village, depopulated during the...
, Ayn al-Zaytun, and Biryya. Also the Ramat Menashe Park covers the ruins of Lajjun
Lajjun
Lajjun was a Palestinian Arab village of nearly 1,300 people located northwest of Jenin. The village along with nearby Umm al-Fahm and seven hamlets, had a total land area of 77,242 dunams or , of which were built-up, while the rest was used for agricultural purposes...
, Mansi
Al-Mansi
Al-Mansi and also called was a Palestinian town in the District of Haifa. It was occupied on April 12, 1948 by Israeli troops during the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek.-Geography:...
, Kafrayan, Al-Butaymat
Al-Butaymat
Al-Butaymat was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of Haifa. In 1945, the village had a population of 110. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 1, 1948 under the Battle for Mishmar Ha'emek....
, Hubeza, Daliyat al-Rawha, Sabbarin
Sabbarin
Sabbarin is a former Palestinian Arab village located 28 kilometers south of Haifa. According to the 1931 census of Palestine, the village had a population of 1,108 inhabitants and the village's lands spanned 25,307 dunams.-History:...
, Burayka
Burayka
Burayka was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 5, 1948...
, Al-Sindiyana
Al-Sindiyana
Al-Sindiyana was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 12, 1948. It was located 29 km south of Haifa.V. Guérin visited the village in the 19th century...
, and Umm al-Zinat
Umm al-Zinat
Umm az Zinat or Umm al-Zinat was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 15, 1948 by Golani Brigade's Fourth Battalion...
. The Jerusalem forest is another example.
Nakba Denial and the 'Peace Process'
Here Pappé states that the creation of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency was not committed to the return of the refugees as resolution 194 was. There were one million Palestinian refugees and U.N.R.W.A. was created to meet their daily needs as refugees. He states that international peace brokers consistently sidelined the Palestinian cause and there ‘was the categorical refusal of the Israelis to acknowledge the Nakba and their absolute unwillingness to be held accountable, legally, and morally, for the ethnic cleansing they committed in 1948.’ In the first attempts at peace, the U.N. held a peace conference in Switzerland. There, the U.S., the U.N., the Arab world, the Palestinians, and the Israeli foreign minister, Moshe Sharet, accepted a plan for a two-state solution wherein a right of return was guaranteed. But, according to Pappé, David Ben-GurionDavid Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
along with King Abdullah of Jordan
Abdullah I of Jordan
Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan [‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn] عبد الله الأول بن الحسين born in Mecca, Second Saudi State, was the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah...
, defeated those efforts. For the following two decades there was a lull in international interest. Then, ‘The June War (1967) ended with total Israeli control over all of ex-Mandatory Palestine.’ Israel then established three important axioms/guidelines for defining the debate over the Palestinian issue. One, the conflict had its origin in 1967 and the solution would be defined by an agreement on what to do with the West Bank and Gaza. Pappé points out that the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
make up only 22% of Palestine. Two, the West Bank and Gaza could be further divided. Three, nothing that occurred prior to 1967 could ever be negotiated. As a response, for four decades, Yassar Arafat conducted a campaign to get the world to recognize that an ethnic cleansing had occurred in 1948. And according to Pappé, this task for the Palestinians continues to today. Pappé mentions that the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
had even gone to the extent of passing a law that prohibited Israeli negotiators from discussing the right of return. He also speculates that if Israelis were to acknowledge the Nakba that it would be akin to recognizing ‘that they have become the mirror image of their own worst nightmare.’
Fortress Israel
This chapter is about various measures Israel has taken to protect itself. As an example, Pappé starts this chapter by describing a law the Knesset passed on 31 July 2003. This law states that any Palestinian who marries an Israeli will not be granted Israeli citizenship, permanent residency, or temporary residency. He also discusses the advent of the Israeli West Bank barrierIsraeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
. He states, ‘None of this is new.’ because Theodore Herzl wrote in 1895, ‘We shall endeavor to expel the poor population across the border unnoticed, procuring employment for it in the transit countries, but denying it any employment in our own country.’ In 2003 Benyamin Netanyahu said, ‘If the Arabs in Israel form 40% of the population, this is the end of the Jewish State. But 20% is also a problem. If the relationship with these 20% becomes problematic, the state is entitled to employ extreme measures.’ The demographic problem remains serious today in the minds of many Israelis. ‘There are 2.5 million Palestinians sharing the state with six million Jews. There are also another 2.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza strip and in the areas Israel does not want in the West Bank.’
Epilogue
Here, Pappé states that the Faculty Club of Tel-Aviv University is called the Green House. It is built upon the remains of the Palestinian village, Shaykh Muwannis. It is the epitome of the denial of ethnic cleansing according to Pappé because there is no mention of its true history. Pappé goes on to say, furthermore, that the university does not have a record of looking into the Zionist history of ethnic cleansing whatsoever in any of its disciplines. He concludes by saying ‘We end this book as we began: with the bewilderment that this crime was so utterly forgotten and erased from our minds and memories. But we now know the price: the ideology that enabled the depopulation of half of Palestine’s native people in 1948 is still alive and continues to drive inexorable, sometimes indiscernible, cleansing of those Palestinians who live there today.’Critics
Some praise the work and the man as noted on his cover page, such as John PilgerJohn Pilger
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
who writes that "Ilan Pappé is Israel's bravest, most principled, most incisive historian" and historian Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center...
who writes that "[the book is] a dazzling feat of scholarly synthesis and Biblical moral clarity and humaneness".
Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
one of the preeminent Israel "New Historians
New Historians
The New Historians are a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history, including Israel's role in the Palestinian Exodus in 1948 and Arab willingness to discuss peace. The term was coined in 1988 by one of the leading New Historians, Benny...
" describing Pappe in his review of "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palesine" writes, "At best, Ilan Pappe must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two." Adding that "Such distortions, large and small, characterize almost every page of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. "
Commenting in his review Alice in Ethnic Cleansing Land, Raphael Israeli
Raphael Israeli
Raphael Israeli is an Israeli academic, Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a member of the steering committee of the Ariel Center for Policy Research....
of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is a public policy think tank devoted to research and analysis of critical issues facing the Middle East. The center is located in Jerusalem, Israel...
notes, "When we advance beyond the title of this eye-catching volume of one-sided 'History,' whose author has been called 'Israel's bravest, most principled and most incisive historian,' the picture becomes more nuanced and can be argued either way." He goes on to accuse Pappe of falsification of the facts. "The most blatant falsification of history may be found in the distorted presentation of otherwise irrefutable facts," he says.
Ian Black, the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's Middle East editor writes, "Emphasis apart, it is hard to say what is new in his account." He calls the book "a catalogue of intimidation, expulsion and atrocity," and notes that Pappe "does historical understanding a disservice by all but ignoring the mood and motives of the Jews, so soon after the end of a war in which six million had been exterminated by the Nazis."
"He fights the "power of deletion" over the fate of the Palestinians. But he does historical understanding a disservice by all but ignoring the mood and motives of the Jews, so soon after the end of a war in which six million had been exterminated by the Nazis. Ben-Gurion's public rhetoric about the dangers of annihilation or a second Holocaust, Pappe argues, was matched by private confidence about the outcome of an unequal fight. That does not mean the shadow of the Holocaust can be airbrushed out of the story. The Jews were fighting, as they saw it, with their backs to the wall, for survival. To ignore that perception - a huge factor in western sympathy for Israel in 1948 and for so long afterwards - is to misrepresent reality."
David Pryce-Jones
David Pryce-Jones
David Eugene Henry Pryce-Jones FRSL is a conservative British author and commentator.- Career :He was educated at Eton and read History at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied under A.J.P...
, writing in the Literary Review
Literary Review
Literary Review is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at Edinburgh University. Its offices are currently on Lexington Street in Soho, London, and it has a circulation of 44,750. Britain's principal literary monthly, the magazine was...
calls Pappe "an Israeli academic who has made his name by hating Israel and everything it stands for."
"To him, Israeli politicians and soldiers, one and all, are so many murderers. Forests have been planted only to cover up the past. Houses are ˜monstrous villas and palaces for rich American Jews". Everything Israeli is ugly, everything Palestinian is beautiful.
For evidence of Israeli monstrosity, he relies on quotations from his own previous works or from Palestinian polemicists, and above all on the oral testimonies of Palestinian refugees. Over half a century of military and ideological conflict has passed since their exodus, but Pappe declares his faith that whatever they now say is true."
Reverend Tony Higton, (of Paradox Ministries), writer and past rector of a church in the Old City of Jerusalem, says there are "valid reasons for posing questions about the reliability of Pappe's book." In his 6 page review he lists the following:
- Pappe's extreme left political position
- His subjective approach to history that denies historical truth
- Pappe is alleged to have fabricated evidence
- Pappe depends too much on oral testimony
- His work "shows a lack of careful attention to facts and includes many factual errors
See also
- Benny MorrisBenny MorrisBenny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
- Nur Masalha - Walid KhalidiWalid KhalidiWalid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center...
- Yoav GelberYoav GelberYoav Gelber is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin.... - 1948 Palestinian exodus1948 Palestinian exodusThe 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
- Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodusCauses of the 1948 Palestinian exodusThe causes and explanations of the exodus of Palestinian Arabs that arose during the 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War are a matter of great controversy between historians and journalists, and of the Arab-Israeli conflict....
- Plan DaletPlan DaletPlan Dalet, or Plan D, was a plan worked out by the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group and the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces, in Palestine in autumn 1947 to spring 1948. Its purpose is much debated...