Palestinian Exodus in 1948

What happened when the Israeli state was created in 1948. Were the Palestinians forcefully removed from Israel or not? Here you can read the actual answer. At the end of the article you can read my conclusion.

Palestinian refugees in 1947

Let's start with some factual information. There is no discussion possible about those facts, whatever Israel or anyone else may claim.

  • The Palestinians started to leave the land of Israel from December 1947 until November 1948.

  • The Palestinian exodus can be divided into four phases or waves, each wave with its own main reason for the exodus:

  1. December 1947 – March 1948 - 100,000 Palestinians left because of the sense of vulnerability, attacks and fear of attacks.

  2. April–June 1948 - 300,000 Palestinians left because of fear impending attack

  3. July–October 1948 - 100,000 Palestinians left because of attacks and expulsions

  4. October–November 1948 - 230,000 Palestinians left because of attacks and expulsions

From here on a chronological summary of what actually happened during/after the Palestinian exodus.

  • 11 December 1948, the UN created the Resolution 194, which defined a Palestinian Refugee.

  • 8 December 1949, the UN created the UNRWA under resolution 302. The number of refugees was stated on 726,000. In June 1951, this number was reduced to 876,000. Today there are nearly 4 million Palestinian refugees; 33% live on the West Bank, 30% in Jordan, 17% in Syria and Lebanon. 25% of all refugees carry only UNRWA identity cards.

  • 1954, the law Prevention of Infiltration was created. This law prevented many Palestinians to return to their homes in Israel.

  • 1958-1969 Acquisition of depopulated lands. Israel created between 1958 and 1969 four laws, which enabled itself to the acquisition of land in Israel (Prescription Law, 5718-1958. This law, in conjunction with the Land (Settlement of Title) Ordinance (Amendment) Law, 5720-1960, the Land (Settlement of Title) Ordinance (New Version), 5729-1969 and the Land Law, 5729-1969, was designed to revise criteria related to the use and registration of Miri lands in 1943 (Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance (1943). To authorise the confiscation of lands for Government and public purposes.)).

  • 1967, the Israeli resettlement program was designed to give Palestinians land, where they can build their own houses and cities. The UN was against the idea and passed resolutions 31/15 and 34/52, which condemned the program as a violation of the refugees' "inalienable right of return", and called upon Israel to stop the program.

Some links about 'exodus'

Summary

I will be short and brief. Here is the conclusion: Yes, without any doubt are the Palestinians removed from their lands when the Jewish settlers arrived in 1948.

Sources:

Note This article is written based on the information produced by wikipedia.

The map of the Israel between 1948 and 2000

The map of the Middle East between 1020 and 930 BCE. In this map, the Jews make the claims of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. The Palestinians are descended from the Philistine and can claim that, the same as the Jews can claim theirs.