There has been a significant Palestinian refugee problem over the last 50 years. Do sources A-F allow you to come to a firm conclusion about who or what is responsible for this problem?

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Modern World Study:  The Arab-Israeli Conflict

There has been a significant Palestinian refugee problem over the last 50 years.  Do sources A-F allow you to come to a firm conclusion about who or what is responsible for this problem?

Sources A-G give us very mixed answers to this question.  Almost all of the sources include a biased view.  This is partly because most of the time, the people writing the sources are on conflicting sides.  The Palestinians are going to stand up for the Palestinian ‘side of the argument’, and the Israelis are going to stand up for the Israeli ‘side of the argument’.  We could go along with the journalists version of events, (Source C), but again, it is possible for the information to be very biased.  This is unlikely, however, as the journalist is Irish, and has no apparent reason to favour either side.  However, as none of the sources are entirely trustworthy, I shall study all of them, and come to my own conclusions.

‘Source A’ gives us a Palestinian view of why the Arabs fled from Palestine in 1948.  Because the Jews were the reason for the Palestinians leaving, this source is likely to favour the Palestinians.  The source tells us that because of the Palestinian ‘Law of Return’, it was illegal for Palestinians, to return home on a route through Israel once they had left Palestine.  It says that the Jews had ‘scared the Palestinians away’, and the author makes out that the Palestinians’ plight was the fault of the Jews. As well as this, the article was written 36 years after the Arab Exodus, so it may not be as accurate as one written at the time.

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Over the years, facts can become distorted and exaggerated, so they can often be quite inaccurate.  However, modern articles are sometimes better if you want an overall view of things, as the situation will have been analysed, and the truth may finally have been revealed.  Also, when there are pressures of war in the world, writers will often write what people want to hear, because of fear for their own safety.  This is when writers from the time may have a ‘forced’ biased view of the situation.

‘Source B’ is written by an Israeli, who is making a ...

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