In a July 5, 2019, article, Hegar Shezaf, writing in Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, describes how Israel Defense Ministry teams have been scouring Israel’s archives and removing historic documents. She reports that hundreds of documents have been concealed as part of a systematic effort to hide evidence of the Nakba. Much information on massacres and expulsions is provided. The article provides a link to a translation of a report about how Palestinians became refugees written by an officer in the precursor to Israel’s Shin Bet security service. The document discusses why the country was emptied of so many of its Arab inhabitants, descrbing circumstances of each village. Compiled in late June 1948, it was titled “The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine.”
That article lists why Palestinians became refugees:
“In reviewing the factors that affected migration, we list the factors that had a definitive effect on population migration. Other factors, localized and smaller scale, are listed in the special reviews of migration movement in each district. The factors, in order of importance, are:
- Direct Jewish hostile actions against Arab communities.
- Impact of our hostile actions against communities neighboring where migrants lived (here –
particularly – the fall of large neighboring communities). - Actions taken by the Dissidents [Irgun, Lehi].
- Orders and directives issued by Arab institutions and gangs.
- Jewish Whispering operations [psychological warfare] intended to drive Arabs to flee.
- Evacuation ultimatums.
- Fear of Jewish retaliation upon a major Arab attack on Jews.
- The appearance of gangs and foreign fighters near the village.
- Fear of an Arab invasion and its consequences (mostly near the borders).
- Arab villages isolated within purely Jewish areas.
- Various local factors and general fear of what was to come”
A must hear podcast, Hegar Shezaf discusses her findings with Haaretz Weekly‘s Simon Spungin, which include the hiding of documents which had previously been open and discussed.
Israeli historian Benny Morris, who supports Israel’s expulsion of Arabs, confirms the effort to hide the facts. He says “No reasonable person still believes that there were no acts of expulsion and massacre by the Jewish side in the 1948 war.”
Mondoweiss, which covers Israel/Palestine, has several articles related to the Ha’aretz article and Morris’s opinion piece about it.
