The Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research published a previously suppressed IDF intelligence report dating from 1948. This report contradicts the Israeli narrative about the major factor in the displacement of Israel’s Arab residents during the 1948 war.
The 25-page document entitled “Migration of Eretz Yisrael Arabs between December 1, 1947 and June 1, 1948”, concludes that the displacement of some 70% of the Arabs during this time should be attributed to military operations carried out by Jewish forces, while orders given by Arab leaders impacted the displacement of only 5%.
Previously discovered in the 1980s, historian Benny Morris had used the document as a source in a published article. After he published this article, the Israeli military suppressed the report. This process of suppressing previously public information was first discovered by Akevot and then reported on at length by Ha’aretz. The Akevot Institution ultimately found another unsuppressed copy of this intelligence report, which they published in full in 2019.
