The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
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Benny Morris' The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem was published in 1988. Its startling revelations about how and why 700,000 Palestinians left their homes and became refugees during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 undermined traditional interpretations as to whether they left voluntarily or were expelled as part of a systematic plan. This book represents a revised edition of the earlier work, compiled on the basis of newly-opened Israeli military archives. While the focus remains the 1948 war and the analysis of the Palestinian exodus, the new material contains more information about what happened in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa, and how events there led to the collapse of Palestinian urban society. It also sheds light on the battles and atrocities that resulted in the disintegration of rural communities. The story is a harrowing one. The refugees now number four million and their existence remains a major obstacle to peace.
- Revised edition of controversial history challenging traditional Zionist mythology that Palestinians left their homeland voluntarily in 1948
- Newly opened Israeli military and intelligence documentation sheds light on one of the most harrowing episodes of the Arab-Israel conflict
- Author, considered to be the first of the revisionist Israeli historians, is a well-known critic of both Israeli and Palestinian policies
Reviews & endorsements
"The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, a book of extraordinary power and integrity written by a young Israeli scholar and journalist, Benny Morris, takes that great tale of flight and conquest and tells it as it has never been told before: with precision and moral economy, with awesome detail and honesty." The Washington Post Book World
"The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, a book of extraordinary power and integrity written by a young Israeli scholar and journalist, Benny Morris, takes that great tale of flight and conquest and tells it as it has never been told before: with precision and moral economy, with awesome detail and honesty." The Washington Post Book World
"The book remains a seminal work on the evacuation of Palestinians between 1947 and 1949. this extremely readable book narrates a powerful story of the uprooting of a people, even if the very voice of the uprooted is absent from it." Political Science Quarterly
Product details
- Published: January 2004
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9780521009676
- Length: 666 pages
- Dimensions: 229 × 153 × 40 mm
- Weight: 0.934kg
- Contains: 3 maps
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Background
- 2. 'Transfer': thinking in Zionism before 1948
- 3. The first stage of the exodus, November 1947–March 1948
- 4. The second stage of the exodus, April-June, 1948
- 5. The third stage of the exodus,'The Ten Days', July 1948
- 6. Deciding against a return of the refugees
- 7. Preventing a return
- 8. The fourth stage of the exodus, October- November 1948
- 9. Clearing the borders
- 10. Solving the refugee problem: the failure to reach agreement and a solution, 1949
- Conclusion.
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