{ Born of War, or Premeditation? Benny Morris and Nur Masalha debate the Palestinian Refugee Problem

Morris’ Argument

Benny Morris 4 Options for Overcoming the Zionist Dilemma 1) Immigration 2) Apartheid 3) Partition 4) Transfer

Herzl and Transfer “ We must expropriate gently…We shall try and spirit the penniless population across the border…Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly” “ We must expropriate gently…We shall try and spirit the penniless population across the border…Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly” Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl Diaries (1895) Diaries (1895)

Ben-Gurion / Transfer? “The compulsory transfer of the Arabs from the proposed Jewish state could give us something which we never had….Any doubt on our part about the necessity of this transfer…may lose us an historic opportunity ….I support compulsory transfer. I don’t see in it anything immoral.” David Ben-Gurion Diaries (1937) Diaries (1937) Speech (1938) Speech (1938)

Menachem Ussishkin / Transfer? “We must continually raise the demand that our land be returned to our possession.... If there are other inhabitants there, they must be transferred to some other place… “We must continually raise the demand that our land be returned to our possession.... If there are other inhabitants there, they must be transferred to some other place… We cannot start the Jewish state with...half the population being Arab…Such a state cannot survive even half an hour... It [transfer] is most moral... I am ready to come and defend... it before the Almighty. We cannot start the Jewish state with...half the population being Arab…Such a state cannot survive even half an hour... It [transfer] is most moral... I am ready to come and defend... it before the Almighty. Menachem Ussishkin Menachem Ussishkin 1930 / / 1938

Transfer – Yosef Weitz “There is no room for both peoples in this country. After the Arabs are transferred, the country will be wide open for us…not a single village or a single tribe must be left…there is no other solution” Yosef Weitz (1940) Yosef Weitz (1940)

Morris on Transfer Sentiment “My conclusion was and remains that thinking about the transfer of all or part of Palestine’s Arabs out of the prospective Jewish state was pervasive among Zionist leadership circles before 1937…the consensus or near consensus in support of transfer…was clear.” Benny Morris Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus, pp. 40, 44.

Morris on Transfer Thinking and Transfer “What is the importance of expressions of support for transfer and how do they connect to what actually happened…My feeling is that the connection is subtle and indirect.” Benny Morris Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus, pp

The Refugee Problem … the refugee problem was essentially a product of the war, of the shelling, shooting and bombing, and the fears that these generate….Above all,…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.

Where Did Refugees Go? Place # (est) Jordan/W. Bank 400,000 Gaza 200,000 Lebanon 120,000 Syria 75,000

“There are circumstances that justify ethnic cleansing. A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them…. It was necessary to cleanse the border areas and main roads…to cleanse the villages…I know it doesn’t sound nice, but that’s the term we used at the time.” Benny Morris Benny Morris Ha’aretz Interview (2004) Ha’aretz Interview (2004)

In 1948 the Palestinians became a disinherited people…. The reality was that of an Arab community in a state of terror facing a ruthless Israeli army whose path to victory was paved not only by its exploits,… but also by the intimidation and at times atrocities it perpetrated against the civilian Arab community. A panic stricken Arab community was uprooted under the impact of massacres that would be carved into the Arabs’ monument of grief and hatred,…the less [sic] Arabs remained, the better; this principle is the political motor for the expulsions and atrocities. Shlomo Ben-Ami pp

Masalha’s Argument? …the problem of the Arab minority, supposed to reside in that [prospective Jewish] state, began to preoccupy the Yishuv's leadership obsessively. They were justified in seeing the future minority as a great danger to the prospective Jewish state…. The transfer idea...was viewed by the majority of the Yishuv leaders in those days as the best solution to the problem

...the Yishuv military establishment, presided over by Ben-Gurion, formulated in early March 1948 and began implementing in early April Plan Dalet in anticipation of Arab military operations. According to Morris, the essence of Plan Dalet "was the clearing of hostile and potentially hostile forces out of the interior of the prospective territory of the Jewish State. Masalha: No Master Plan?

{ Born of War, or Premeditation?