The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe
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PRAISE FOR THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE ‘Ilan Pappe is Israel’s bravest, most principled, most incisive historian.’ —John Pilger ‘Ilan Pappe has written an extraordinary book of profound relevance to the past, present, and future of Israel/Palestine relations.’ —Richard Falk, Professor of International Law and Practise, Princeton University ‘If there is to be real peace in Palestine/Israel, the moral vigour and intellectual clarity of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine will have been a major contributor to it.’ —Ahdaf Soueif, author of The Map of Love ‘This is an extraordinary book – a dazzling feat of scholarly synthesis and Biblical moral clarity and humaneness.’ —Walid Khalidi, Former Senior Research Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University ‘Fresh insights into a world historic tragedy, related by a historian of genius.’ —George Galloway MP ‘Groundbreaking research into a well-kept Israeli secret. A classic of historical scholarship on a taboo subject by one of Israel’s foremost New Historians.’ —Ghada Karmi, author of In Search of Fatima ‘Ilan Pappe is out to fight against Zionism, whose power of deletion has driven a whole nation not only out of its homeland but out of historic memory as well. A detailed, documented record of the true history of that crime, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine puts an end to the Palestinian “Nakbah” and the Israeli “War of Independence” by so compellingly shifting both paradigms.’ —Anton Shammas, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern Literature, University of Michigan ‘An instant classic. Finally we have the authoritative account of an historic event, which continues to shape our world today, and drives the conflict in the Middle East. Pappe is the only historian who could have told it, and he has done so with supreme command of the facts, elegance, and compassion. The publication of this book is a landmark event.’ —Karma Nabulsi, research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University ‘The first book to so clearly document the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, of which the massacre at Deir Yassin was emblematic. A masterful achievement.’ —Daniel McGowan, Executive Director, Deir Yassin Remembered, Hobart and William Smith College ‘Pappe has opened up an important new line of inquiry into the vast and fateful subject of the Palestinian refugees. His book is rewarding in other ways. It has at times an elegiac, even sentimental, character, recalling the lost, obliterated life of the Palestinian Arabs and imagining or regretting what Pappe believes could have been a better land of Palestine.’ —The Times Literary Supplement ‘Succinct, clearly written, sometimes emotionally overwhelming in its personalized presentation, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine should be put forward as a document serving as a prime witness to the war crimes and the crimes against humanity of the destruction of Palestinian society and cultural geography by the Jewish state.’ —Palestine Chronicle ‘Pappe offers a scorching indictment of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people in The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.’ —Metro ‘Pappe is one of the brave few voices to stand up and be counted in the oppressive atmosphere of Israeli society.’ —Morning Star ‘For anyone who possesses a strong stomach and an equally strong desire to know the truth.’ —Counterpunch ‘Pappe is well positioned to lob a grenade such as this one into the twin worlds of Middle Eastern studies and politics.’ —Arab Banker THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE ILAN PAPPE THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE First published by Oneworld Publications Limited October 2006 This paperback edition first published 2007 Reprinted 2008 (three times), 2010, 2011 This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications 2011 Copyright © Ilan Pappe 2006 All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention ACIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978–1–78074–056–0 Cover design by Jon Gray Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford, OX2 7AR England The publishers would like to thank the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for permission to reproduce the photographs on plates 8, 10–12, 18, 19, and back cover, all copyright © UNRWA. The publishers would also like to thank the Institute of Palestine Studies, Beirut, for permission to publish the photographs on plates 14-17, all from the book All That Remains (ed. Walid Khalidi) and for generously providing maps 3, 4, and 7; and would like to express their sincere gratitude to Abu al-Sous of www.palestineremembered.com, whose assistance in locating images has been invaluable. The photographs on plates 4 & 13 copyright © Bettmann/Corbis; the photograph on plate 1 copyright © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis; the photograph on plate 6 and front cover copyright © Getty Images; the facsimile article on plate 7 copyright © New York Times. Learn more about Oneworld. Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at: www.oneworld-publications.com Contents List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables Acknowledgements Preface 1. An ‘Alleged’ Ethnic Cleansing? Definitions of Ethnic Cleansing Ethnic Cleansing as a Crime Reconstructing an Ethnic Cleansing 2. The Drive for an Exclusively Jewish State Zionism’s Ideological Motivation Military Preparations The Village Files Facing the British: 1945–1947 David Ben-Gurion: The Architect 3. Partition and Destruction: UN Resolution 181 and its Impact Palestine’s Population The UN’s Partition Plan The Arab and Palestinian Positions The Jewish Reaction The Consultancy Begins its Work 4. Finalising A Master Plan The Methodology of Cleansing The Changing Mood in the Consultancy: From Retaliation to Intimidation December 1947: Early Actions January 1948: Farewell to Retaliation The Long Seminar: 31 December–2 January February 1948: Shock and Awe March: Putting the Finishing Touches to the Blueprint 5. The Blueprint for Ethnic Cleansing: Plan Dalet Operation Nachshon: The First Plan Dalet Operation The Urbicide of Palestine The Cleansing Continues Succumbing to a Superior Power Arab Reactions Towards the ‘Real War’ 6. The Phony War and the Real War over Palestine: May 1948 Days of Tihur The Massacre at Tantura The Brigades’ Trail of Blood Campaigns of Revenge 7. The Escalation of the Cleansing Operations: June–September 1948 The First Truce Operation Palm Tree In Between Truces The Truce that Wasn’t 8. Completing the Job: October 1948–January 1949 Operation Hiram Israel’s Anti-Repatriation Policy A Mini Empire in the Making Final Cleansing of the South and the East The Massacre in Dawaymeh 9. Occupation and its Ugly Faces Inhuman Imprisonment Abuses Under Occupation Dividing the Spoils Desecration of Holy Sites Entrenching the Occupation 10. The Memoricide of the Nakba The Reinvention of Palestine Virtual Colonialism and the JNF The JNF Resort Parks in Israel 11. Nakba Denial and the ‘Peace Process’ First Attempts at Peace The Exclusion of 1948 from the Peace Process The Right of Return 12. Fortress Israel The ‘Demographic Problem’ Epilogue Endnotes Chronology Maps and Tables Bibliography Index List of Illustrations, Maps, and Tables ILLUSTRATIONS: PLATE SECTION 1. Irgun troops marching through Tel-Aviv, 14 May 1948 2. Jewish forces occupy a village near Safad 3. Jewish forces enter Malkiyya 4. Arab men of military age are marched to holding camps 5. The Red House in Tel-Aviv, headquarters of the Hagana 6. Refugee women, children and the elderly are evacuated 7. The New York Times report on the Deir Yassin massacre 8. Palestinian refugees flock to the sea to escape 9. Refugees on the move 10. Loading belongings into trucks for the journey 11. Elderly refugees 12. Palestinian refugees flee on fishing boats 13. Jewish immigrants arrive at the port in Haifa 14. The village of Iqrit before its destruction 15. The village of Iqrit, 1990 16. A theme park on the site of Tantura 17. The cemetery of Salama 18. Nahr al-Barid refugee camp in northern Lebanon 19. Baqa’a refugee camp, Jordan MAPS AND TABLES 1. Jewish State Proposed by the World Zionist Organisation, 1919 2. The Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937 3. Palestine Partition Commission Plan B, 1938 4. Palestine Partition Commission Plan C, 1938 5. United Nations General Assembly Partition Plan, 1947 6. 1949 Armistice Agreement 7. Palestinian villages depopulated, 1947–1949 Table 1: Jewish and Palestinian land ownership, 1945 Table 2: Jewish and Palestinian population distribution, 1946 Acknowledgements Over the years, the theme of this book was discussed with many friends, all of whom, in one way or another, have contributed to this book with their encouragement and support; many also provided me with documents, testimonies and evidence. There were so many of them that I do not dare compose a list, but wish to thank them collectively. The military material was collected by Oshri Neta-Av, and I thank him for what was, in hindsight, a very difficult task, not only because of the voluminous material, but also due to a murky political atmosphere. Uri Davis, Nur Masalha and Charles Smith read the manuscript, and I hope that, at least in part, the end result reflects their industrious work. Needless to say, the final version is mine and they share no responsibility for the text. Nonetheless, I owe them a great deal and wish to thank them very much for their cooperation. Walid Khalidi and Anton Shamas, who read the manuscript, provided moral support and empowerment, which made the writing of the book a valuable and meaningful project, even prior to publication. My dear old friend Dick Bruggeman, as always, was there editing meticulously and painstakingly. This project could not have been completed without him. Novin Doostdar, Drummond Moir, Kate Kirkpatrick, and above all Juliet Mabey at Oneworld lost sleep and time over this manuscript. I hope the end result is a fine reward for their immense efforts. Revital, Ido and Yonatan, as always, suffered for the fact that their husband and father did not choose a far-away country in the distant past as a specialist subject, hobby and obsession.