The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949 (Cambridge Middle East Library, Series Number 15)

Introduction -- Background -- The First Wave : The Arab Exodus, December 1947 - March 1948 -- The Second Wave : The Mass Exodus, April-june 1948 -- Deciding Against A Return Of The Refugees, April-december 1948 -- Blocking A Return -- The Third Wave : The Ten Days (9-18 July 1948) And The Second Truce (18 July - 15 October) -- The Fourth Wave : The Battles And Exodus Of October-november 1948 -- Clearing The Borders : Expulsions And Population Transfers, November 1948 - July 1949 -- Solving The Refugee Problem, December 1948-september 1949 -- Conclusion. Benny Morris. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 303-369. In this first full-length study of the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, the author traces the stages of the 1947-9 exodus against the backdrop of the first Arab-Israeli war and analyzes the varied causes of the flight. The Jewish and Arab decision-making involved, on national and local levels, military and political, is described and explained, as is the crystallization of Israel's decision to bar a refugee repatriation. Morris examines the subsequent fate of the abandoned Arab villages, lands, and urban neighborhoods, and looks at the international context of the war and the exodus The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem is filled with page after page of play-by-play descriptions of what was going on in each period- December 1947 to March 1948.This book takes us back into offices of the Arab League and the Haganah, into the councils of the National committees set up in Arab towns, into meeting of the Jewish Agency and, later, the fledging Israeli government. This book is the first full-length study of the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem. Based on recently declassified Israeli, British and American state and party political papers and on hitherto untapped private papers, it traces the stages of the 1947-9 exodus against the backdrop of the first Arab-Israeli war and analyses the varied causes of the flight. Modern Zionism began with the prophetic-programmatic writings of Moses Hess, Judah Alkalai, Zvi Hirsch Kalischer and Theodore Herzl and the immigration from Russia to Ottoman-ruled Palestine in the 1880s of Jews dedicated to rebuilding a national home for the Jewish people on their ancient land.