Why Did So Many Palestinians Become Refugees in 1948-49

Sam Coley 11H

Why Did So Many Palestinians Become Refugees in 1948-49

In this essay I am going to look at the reasons why many Palestinians became refugees in 1948-49. I am going to look at it from both the point of view of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Violence on both Israeli, and Palestinian sides increased during 1947. By December, Palestinians began to flee Israel, to the Western Bank. In the areas where the Jews where strong, the wealthier Palestinians decided to move out. This caused the morale of the Palestinians to begin to drop. Between December 1947, and January 1948, many other Palestinians, who were richer, also moved, to escape from the fighting. Many of the British employed Palestinians left, as they thought that there was no future for them in the Jewish state. This caused the morale to drop further. During March and April, many of the roads linking Jerusalem to the Jewish heartlands on the coast were targeted for yet more fighting. Many Palestinian families in Jerusalem began to move out, to escape the fighting. People living in the places involved in the fighting where often driven out by the Jewish force, however villages where there was no fighting where left alone. By March 1948, a large-scale movement of all kinds of Palestinian people, the rich and the poor, fled the country, as they feared the fighting. At this stage it did not look good for the Jews. Palestinians surrounded many villages, and cut off the Jews form Jerusalem. The Jews then changed their way of fighting. They now disarmed or destroyed all villages that showed any support for the Palestinians. In April 1948, 250 Palestinian villagers were killed, many of them children, in Deir Yassin, not far from Jerusalem. This was because the Jewish force met strong resistance there. The news of this spread quickly, and people began to panic, because they could now see what extremes the Jews were willing to go to. In 8 days in April, around 60,000 Palestinians fled from Haifa, when it was attacked. In early May, 50,000 fled Jaffa, when it was attacked. During April and May alone, 250,000 Palestinians left their homes. During July, a further 100,000 left their homes when fighting again broke out. In October, Jewish leaders decided that all Palestinian people should be driven out of the war zone. The result, around 150.000 more refugees left their homes. In November, 25,000 refugees where driven out, as they lived close to the border of Israel.

Here you can see that the terror caused by the Israelis was the reason why so many people fled their homes. The heard news from places caught in the fighting, and decided to leave before they were affected. The Israelis forced people to leave the villages, otherwise they were killed. The Palestinians feared their lives, and felt that fleeing the country was the safes option.

Also, the Jewish leaders decided that they were not going to let the Palestinian refugees back into the country once they had left. They felt that thousands of Palestinians coming back into the ...

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Also, the Jewish leaders decided that they were not going to let the Palestinian refugees back into the country once they had left. They felt that thousands of Palestinians coming back into the county would mean that the country may become unstable, and the Jewish force hindered during the war.

Therefore, you can see that the Palestinians where driven from there homes, through terror from the Israelis. If they did not leave, they would have been killed. So many of them remained refugees, because they were not allowed back across the border.

However, the Israelis felt that this was not entirely the case. They felt that many of the Israelis left by choice, and not because they were driven out. After all, the Israelis did not force people to leave until April 1948. Before then, people left because they felt that they were safer to.

The Israelis also may argue that it was the Palestinians own fault in the first place. They began the war, as they ignored the UN partition plan, and invaded Israel in 1948. The Jews were defending their own country, something that anyone would have done in their situation.

The Jews felt that because they were made to leave many Arab countries, and emigrate to Israel, where they were resettled and given new homes, other Arab countries should have done same thing. The Jews did not think that it was wrong to treat the Palestinians in this way, as they themselves had been treated like this. It was the neighbouring Arab countries that were at fault for not helping the refugees.

The Jews also thought that the Arab leaders where to blame, as they deliberately because it was good propaganda against Israel to see so many people suffering. The Jews saw this as wrong, and not helping the Palestinians at all, as the refugee problem could have been easily sorted with all the Arab wealth.

It is clear to see that Israelis thought the Arabs did not make the situation any better. The neighbouring counties could have helped out, like the Jews received help, and it was the Arabs that started the war in the first place. Also the Arab leaders made the situation worse by leaving the refugees in the camps for as long as possible, as propaganda against Israel.

My conclusion therefore, is that it is clear that the Arab and the Israelis both have very different views as to why so many Palestinians became refugees in 1948-49. However, I feel that a mixture of both side’s actions was the cause of the problem. The Jews were at fault because they drove innocent people from their homes, and terrorised many more, sometimes killing a whole village, as in Deir Yassin, and that it was unfair to stop refugees from returning to the country. But, the Arabs did bring it on themselves, by ignoring the UN partition plan, and invading Israel in the first place, which started the war. If this had not happened, the problems would have never occurred. The Arab countries in the region could have helped the refugees out, and the leaders should have not forced the refugees to stay in the camps for so long.

If both sides had acted differently, the problems that occurred may have been avoided.