British Goverments vs the Palestinians.

Truth and Justice for the Palestinians

Holding Britain to account

Nakba - Historians Speak

The Zionists in 1948 demonised the Palestinian refugees by claiming that they had the Nazi like intent to exterminate the Jews in Palestine. The story propagated then was that the Palestinians fled on the orders of the Arab states or Arab command so that the Arab armies could push the Jews into the sea. This story has remained in vogue still in Israel, the UK and the USA and is completely contrary to the facts.

Historians using released Israeli and British archives(1980-now)

Israeli Jewish historians, such as Ilan Pappé, Benny Morris, Zeev Sternhall, Avi Shlaim, Simha Flapan and Tom Segev and Palestinian historians, Walid Khalidi, Nur Masalha, Dr Salman Abu Sitta, Ghada Karmi and Sami Hadawi have debunked the established myths of Israel’s creation.

Using Israeli & British archives and declassified material, they were able to discover much of the hidden history of Zionism and they reveal a factual account of the establishment of Israel.

They all contradict the version of 1948 that has demonised the Palestinian refugees and has helped negate their rights for so long. The historians all arrive at the same conclusions namely:

Most Palestinians refugees were expelled or fled in terror, many whilst Britain was in control.
The story that Palestinians fled on the orders of the Arab states or Arab command in order to push the Jews into the sea was false .
The Zionist army destroyed hundreds of the emptied villages usually by bombing them to rubble.
The Israeli army shot dead as "infiltrators" any of the Palestinians trying to return.

Whilst there is agreement on all the above among the new historians there is still a variety of observations about the expulsion of the Palestinians.

Ilan Pappé:

Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and professor of History at the University of Exeter and is author of 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'

"Imagine that not so long ago, in any given country you are familiar with, half of the entire country had been forcibly expelled within a year, half of its villages and towns wiped out, leaving behind only rubble and stone. Imagine now the possibility that somehow this act will never make it into the history books and that all diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict will totally sideline , if not ignore, this catastrophic event."

Benny Morris:

Benny Morris today still an ardent Zionist, is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and is author of 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited 2005'. This book of 639 pages shows in the first few pages maps and lists of villages destroyed and the reasons for villagers fleeing.

Benny Morris established 24 instances of Israeli soldier’s massacres of Palestinian villagers which triggered panic and flight. He also said "There is no evidence to show that the Arab states and the Arab High Command wanted a mass exodus or issued blanket orders or appeals to the Palestinians to flee their homes”.

Writing to Avi Shlaim , Morris stated: “Above all, let me reiterate, the refugee problem was caused by attacks by Jewish forces on Arab villages and towns and by the inhabitants’ fear of such attacks, compounded by expulsions, atrocities, and rumors of atrocities — and by the crucial Israeli Cabinet decision in June 1948 to bar a refugee return.” Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim 2007 p. 38

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Dr Salman Abu Sitta:

Dr Salman Abu Sitta is author of The Return Journey (2007) Palestine Land Society, Atlas of Palestine, 1948 Palestine Land Society (January 2004) , the Palestinian Nakba 1948: The register of depopulated localities in Palestine (1998 reprinted 2000)

"That a whole population was uprooted and robbed of their land and property is an unprecedented catastrophe. There is no precedent in modern history to the case of a foreign minority destroying the fabric of the indigenous majority, occupying their land and expelling them out of their homes.".

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Avi Shlaim:

Avi Shlaim is professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy and is author of 'The Iron Wall'.

“Plan D (The Jewish leadership plan for the clearing of Palestinian Villages and towns) was not a blueprint for the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs; it was a military plan with military objectives. However, by ordering the capture of Arab cities and the destruction of villages it both permitted and justified the forcible expulsion of Arab civilians.

By the end of 1948 the number of Palestinians refugees had swollen to about 700,000. But the first and largest wave of refugees occurred before the official outbreak of hostilities on the 15th May ” (Britain left on the 15th May)

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Tanya Reinhart:

Tanya Reinhart Was Professor of Linguists and influential academic writer on Israel1/Palestinians

A haunted , persecuted people sought to find a shelter and state for itself and did so at a horrible price to another people. During the war of 1948 , more than half the population at that time were driven off their homeland by the Israeli army. Israel refused to allow the refugees to return , as a UN resolution demanded shortly after the war.Thus the Israeli land was obtained through ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants.

Duty to right wrongs:

Ed Husain is Co-Founder and Quilliam ambassador and is the celebrated author of ‘The Islamist’, shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize for best political writing. He is currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC.

"Our (British) rushed withdrawal in 1948 is partly to blame for the crisis in the Middle East, so now we must help create a new Palestine. At schools across the Arab world children are taught about the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. Here in Britain, we might want to forget this imperial past, but ask any Arab and they will reel off these dates and confirm Britain's involvement in creating Israel. As a country, we have a moral duty to right our historical wrongs. We helped create Israel. We must now help create a Palestine."

Article in Guardian Tuesday 30 December 2008

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Nur Masalha is a Palestinian writer and academic. He is Professor of Religion and Politics and Director of the Centre for Religion and History and the Holy Land Research Project at St. Mary's University College, University of Surrey. He is author of "Expulsions of the Palestinians: the concept of transfer in Zionist political thought , 1882-1948"

”Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann proclaimed the Arab evacuation as 'a miraculous clearing of the land; the simplication of Israel's task ' - It was in fact less than a miracle than the culmination of over a half century of effort, plans and in the end brute force.”

" For the Palestinians both refugees and non-refugees the traumatic events of 1948 became central to Palestinian history, memory and identity".

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"It is significant to note that each phase of the Zionist assaults was opened by a massacre, followed by others during the same phase. During operation Dalet whilst Palestine was under British protection , the Dayr Yassin massacres was committed followed by 16 others. The " success" achieved by driving the citizens out of their homes was not lost on the Zionist leaders , especially in the absence of any British action to stop the massacres or protect the population".

43% of localities and their refugees with known depopulation dates were run over by the Zionists (not yet Israelis) while Palestine was under the protection of the British Mandate Government. The expulsion of the population was largely due to Plan Dalet. "The Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine."

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Reconciliation

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Natasha Gill is a research associate at Columbia University and co-author of the forthcoming book The Struggle for Palestine in the 1930s. She teaches courses on genocide, human rights, and intractable conflict. Her current research focuses on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict working with Israeli and Palestinian scholars.

"A frank recognition of its past in the Middle East can give Britain a unique role in the peace process.

A decision to openly address Britain's role could have an impact on the most unbridgeable gap between Palestinians and Israelis: the question of ultimate responsibility for the conflict.

The responsibility issue – and its twin, recognition – has only become more intractable in recent years. The Palestinians insist that Israel acknowledge its responsibility for the 1948 Nakba and the refugee problem. For Israelis this is unacceptable because they believe it corners them into confessing to "original sin" and ultimately delegitimises Zionism and Israel. They have thus upped the ante recently by requiring that Palestinians recognise Israel "as a Jewish state", which the Palestinians consider as tantamount to putting a stamp of approval on the loss of their homeland.
This is a circle that seemingly cannot be squared. So what could Britain possibly do about it? Britain might consider making an important public speech that would address the problems of recognition and accountability directly.

Acknowledging its own role in the origins of the conflict might afford Britain the opportunity to speak to the parties from a position of humility and even complicity: not as an outsider trying to impose its will, but as a former party to the conflict, one that has a moral and historical stake in its resolution, in a way that even the US can never have.

Guardian Thursday 25th March 2010

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Nur Masalha

"Israel’s acknowledge of its wrong doing in 1948 remains a pre condition for genuine negotiations and reconciliation between the Palestinians and Israelis and the achievement of a just and lasting peace."

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Ilan Pappé

"However I am a great believer that in order to further the chances of reconciliation, you have to have a kind of link, an association between the ability of the Israelis to stop denying the Nakbah ( the catastrophe visited on the Palestinians in 1948) , and the Palestinians accepting that the Holocaust plays a role in the life of Jews in Israel, and the life of Jews everywhere.”

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Anne Alexander & John Rose in 'The Nakba' , A Bookmarks Publication.

John Rose is author of 'The myths of Zionism' (2004).

Anne Alexander is author of ' The New Intifada: Israel, Imperialism and Palestinian Resistance' (2001)

Decsribing the negotiations between Israel & the Palestinians in Taba , in 2000.

"The Palestinians did insist on something , which, in one sense, was really rather timid , and yet in another sense , it literally touched a raw nerve. The Palestinians insisted that Israel publicly recognised that it bore responsibility for creating the problem of the refugees. Barak angrily and 'categorically' rejected this proposal".

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Ilan Pappe and Karma Nabulsi
Karma Nabulsi is Palestinian and a Fellow in Politics at St. Edmund Hall and University Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford University and author of Traditions of War: Occupation, Resistance and The Law.

What would be the structure of a real peace between Israel and Palestine?

Karma Nabulsi and Ilan Pappé The Guardian, Thursday 19 September 2002

First, the refugee issue needs to be placed at the centre of the process from where it has mysteriously disappeared. Next, all those involved in resolving the conflict must have the public courage to confront the Israeli denial of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing at the heart of the Palestinian refugee question. This remains the single largest stumbling block towards a lasting peace between both people

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Richard Falk, Princeton University, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine

Despite such astonishing realities as that two thirds of all Palestinians are currently refugees, have endured such humiliation for more than 50 years, and most often live in appalling circumstances of deprivation and danger, most informed observers of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process continue to believe that the refugee issue is of trivial relevance. As the testimonies in this moving report make vividly clear, the refugee consciousness is unified behind the idea that “a right of return”, as guaranteed by the United Nations and by international law, is indispensable to any prospect of reconciliation between the two peoples who have been for so long at war with one another.