This angered the Arabs considerably and so the British introduced a quota system for Jewish entrance meaning that between 1939 and 1944 only 77,000 Jews could enter Palestine. Unfortunately, these were the years of the Second World War in which around 6 million Jews were brutally killed by the Nazis. As the war ended and the Allies managed to access Germany and see what had happened, more people started to believe that the Jews should have their own homeland where they would not be persecuted again. In the war, Jews had fought alongside the Allies and believed that more Jews should be let into Palestine. Although there were 240,000 requests for entrance into the area, the British were worried about the locals’ reaction and continued to only allow the quota number in.
The Jews in Palestine did not agree with this decision and so decided to fight guerrilla warfare against the British and the Arabs. Important buildings were blown up and the level and occurrence of violence increased. Though the United Nations tried to intervene, no solution was found. In May 1948, it was decided that Britain would give the mandate of Palestine to the United Nations, however the day before the change was made Jewish leaders took control and declared that the State of Israel was formed.
Before the state was formed, there had been many battles between the Israelis and the Arabs of which the most famous is the Deir Yassin massacre. There are many disputes about what happened during the massacre as Jewish and Arabic forces continue to blame each other. Deir Yassin was a small village located on the road to Jerusalem, and in April 1948 Jewish militias passed through the village in order to reach Jerusalem so that they could announce the formation of the state. Though Israel does not deny that the massacre was by the Jews, it believes that Jewish nonconformists and not under the command of Zionist leaders. Palestinians however believe that Zionist forces massacred their innocent villagers.
Source A shows the Palestinian view of the Deir Yassin bloodbath and is a propaganda pamphlet distributed in 1984, making it a secondary source. The pamphlet was created by the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation), who believed that the Jews had invaded their territory and wanted Palestine to be the size it was before the formation of the state of Israel. The source’s purpose was to try and persuade those reading the pamphlet that the Jews were heartless killers, and therefore should not be allowed to keep control of Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. This means that the source is probably biased towards the Arab ideals. The reliability of the source may also be questioned as this bias could influence people’s perspective on events. The source is useful to historians as it allows them to see what the Palestinian command wanted others to think of what happened at Deir Yassin.
In the source, the PLO state that the Zionist Government attacked the village of Deir Yassin and killed “154 men, women and children” and then mutilated their bodies. The source then goes on to blame the individual parts of the Zionist forces like the Irgun (the revolutionary militant force), the Stern Gang (a Jewish guerrilla militia) and the Haganah (the official Israeli army). The pamphlet states that the plot was to scare Arabs into leaving Palestine so Jews could take their place. The pamphlet uses emotive language to try and make the reader sympathise with their cause. Examples of this are “cold blood” and “mutilated”, these words make the reader believe that the Israelis are evil and ruthless. The source has both some true facts in it and some opinions that are posing as facts. For example, it is true that 154 people were killed at the massacre but the fact that it frightened the Arabs into leaving and that the Haganah took part could be inaccurate to win sympathy from the public.
Source B however shows the Israeli view of the same conflict and is a statement made in 1961, to the United Nations, by Israel’s foreign minister Golda Meir. This is also a secondary source and may also be biased towards the Jewish view of events. The purpose of the statement was to give a detailed picture of what had happened in 1948 to the United Nations from the Israeli perspective. The statement may not be reliable for a few reasons, the fact that Meir could have a national bias on the event and that it was written 13 years after the massacre. The source has historical use as it allows people to see what the Israeli Government wanted the wider world to think about the formation of the state of Israel.
The source says that by the time Israel was formed, a lot of the Arabs living in the area had already left their homes and become refugees of their own accord, and that numbers of refugees grew when the Arabs began fighting. However, the source then says that the responsibility for the mass exodus from Israel lies with the Arab leaders who, according to the source, ordered Palestinians to leave their homes so the army could enter. Golda Meir then states that though some Arab leaders have claimed that it was the “tragedy of Deir Yassin” that drove their people out, it was not so. Mrs Meir also claims that the massacre was performed by “some Jewish dissidents”.
There are many similarities and differences between the sources. Both sources agree that the massacre was performed by a Jewish group; though source A believes it to be co-ordinated by the Zionist leaders whilst source B claims it was performed by some Jewish dissidents, who did not adhere to the Zionist’s orders.
The sources blame different people for the Arab flight from Israel with source A stating that it was only after the massacre that Palestinians began to fear for their lives and so fled away from the Jews. Source B however states that the Arabs had been fleeing before the incident at Deir Yassin at the order of their army commanders so an army could get into Israel.
Both of the sources are secondary and so the information they use will be based on a mixture of inherited stories and Government reports at the time. However, as the sources were written after the event, tensions will have risen towards the opposing party, possibly making the source more inaccurate.
In conclusion, the village of Deir Yassin came to be fought over in 1948 after thousands of years of Jewish oppression. The Jews decided to reclaim what they believed to be their homeland, and did not spare thought for the Arabs who already lived there.
However, the Arabs did not welcome the Jews to their homeland meaning that eventually one group would have to leave the area. The Arabs therefore left in early 1948 but it is disputed what made this evacuation happen. The Arabs say that they left after seeing the brutality of Deir Yassin whilst the Jews believe that the Arabs left under orders so that the army could move in.
It is hard to blame one group for the exodus as both have some responsibility in the matter. The Arabs refused to allow Jews into their society and the Jews used unnecessary force in order to achieve their goals of a homeland. The actions of groups such as the Stern Gang and others who blew up hotels and whoever organised the massacre at Deir Yassin were seen as brutal and unnecessary by the majority of the world, as there were many innocent civilian casualties.
Sources A and B differ for many reasons but mainly because of a national bias. The Jews in Israel have grown up learning to believe the Arabs are criminals and vice versa. Therefore, the writers of these sources cannot be blamed for any bias or unreliability in them as they are only reporting what they believe to be true. However, another unbiased source is needed to successfully reach a conclusion. If there was a source written by someone without bias, then this could be used to check details given in sources A and B and then the real chain of events could be worked out. This could tell us who is really responsible for the refugees of Palestine.