by Efraim Karsh
Israel Affairs
April 2011
The number of Palestinian Arabs fleeing their homes during the 1948 war has constituted one of the most intractable bones of contentions of the Arab-Israeli conflict, not least since the Palestinians have insisted on the "right of return" of these individuals and their descendants to territory that has long been part of the state of Israel.
More than a half-century later, these exaggerated initial numbers have swollen still further: as of June 2000, according to UNRWA, the total had climbed close to three and three-quarters million, though it readily admits that the statistics are largely inflated. For its part the PLO set a still higher figure of 5 million refugees, while Israel has unofficially estimated the current number of refugees and their families at closer to 2 million.
Using a wealth of declassified Arab, Israeli, and British documents, this article seeks to provide as comprehensive and accurate an estimate as possible of the actual number of refugees in the wake of the 1948 war.
At the end of the war, the Israeli government set the number of Palestinian refugees at 550,000-600,000; the British Foreign Office leaned toward the higher end of this estimate. But within a year, as large masses of people sought to benefit from the unprecedented influx of international funds to the area, some 962,000 alleged refugees had been registered with the newly-established UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The extraordinary coverage of the 1948 war notwithstanding, the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem during the five-and-a-half months of fighting, from the partition resolution of November 29, 1947, to the proclamation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, passed virtually unnoticed by the international community. Nor for that matter did the Arab states, burdened as they were with a relentless flow of refugees, or even the Palestinian leadership itself, have a clear idea of the dispersal's full magnitude, as demonstrated by the mid-June 1948 estimate of the prominent Palestinian leader, Emile Ghouri, of the number of refugees at 200,000: less than two thirds the actual figure. A few weeks later, after thousands more Arabs had become refugees, a Baghdad radio commentator was still speaking of 300,000 evacuees "who are forced to flee from the Jews as the French were forced to flee from the Nazis." Taking their cue from these claims, W. De St. Aubin, delegate of the League of Red Cross Societies to the Middle East, estimated the number of Arab refugees (in late July) at about 300,000, while Sir Raphael Cilento, director of the UN Disaster Relief Project (DRP) in Palestine, set the number at 300,000-350,000 (in early August).
Paradoxically it was the Israelis who initially came with the highest, and most accurate, estimates. In early June Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was told by Yossef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) that "some 123,000 Arabs left 155 villages in the Jewish state's territory; another 22,000 left 35 villages outside the Jewish state: a total of 145,000 evacuees and 190 villages. Seventy-seven thousand Arabs left five cities in the Jewish state's territory (Haifa, Beisan, Tiberias, Safad, Samakh). Another 73,000 left two cities [designed to remain] outside the state (Jaffa and Acre). Forty thousand Arabs left Jerusalem: a total of 190,000 from eight cities. All in all, 335,000 Arabs fled (including 200,000 from the UN ascribed Jewish territory)."
A comprehensive report by the Hagana's intelligence service, comprising a detailed village-by-village breakdown of the exodus, set the number of Palestinian Arab evacuees in the six-month period between December 1, 1947 and June 1, 1948, at 391,000: 239,000 from the UN-ascribed Jewish state, 122,000 from the territory of the prospective Arab state, and 30,000 from Jerusalem. Another exhaustive Israeli study set the number of refugees (in late October) at 460,000, almost evenly divided between the rural and urban sectors.
This estimate was substantially higher than the 360,000 figure in the report of the UN mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, submitted to the General Assembly on September 16, or Cilento's revised estimate of 400,300 a couple of weeks later, and was virtually identical to the supplementary report submitted on October 18 by Bernadotte's successor, Ralph Bunche, which set the number of refugees at 472,000 and anticipated the figure to reach a maximum of slightly over 500,000 in the near future.
By now, however, the Arabs had dramatically upped the ante. In a memorandum dispatched to the heads of the Arab states and Arab League Secretary-General Abdel Rahman Azzam in mid-August, the Palestine Office in Amman, an organization operating under the auspices of the Transjordan government, estimated the total number of refugees at 700,000, of whom 500,000 were in Palestine and the rest in the neighboring Arab states. The memo struck a responsive chord, for in October the Arab League set the number of refugees at 631,967, and by the end of the month official Arab estimates ranged between 740,000 and 780,000. When the newly-established United Nations Relief for Palestine refugees (UNRPR) began operating in December 1948, it found 962,643 refugees on its relief rolls.
In conversations with British diplomats (in early October) Cilento described the figures supplied by the Arab authorities as unreliable, claiming that they increased from week to week in all areas irrespective of known movements of refugees from place to place. A large number of refugees had, for example, moved from the Nablus area to the Hauran in Syria while others from Jericho, Jerusalem and Transjordan had moved to Gaza. Similarly, at least 2,000 refugees had recently moved from the Egyptian port town of Kantara, on the Suez Canal, to Gaza. Yet the number of refugees in the areas from which these movements had taken place was in all cases reported as increasing instead of decreasing. Similar exaggerations were made in Syria where, according to Bunche's October report, the authorities claimed the existence of 30,000 refugees whereas the actual figure was no more than half that size.
Cilento expected as many as 400,000 Arabs to apply for UN relief in the coming winter on top of the 360,000-390,000 registered refugees, though these were not genuine refugees in the sense that they were living in their own homes and had not been "displaced." This, however, didn't prevent him, when the prediction was vindicated before the end of the year, from raising the number of refugees to 750,000. St. Aubin, who in September 1948 became the DRP's director of field operations, went a step further by placing the figure (in July 1949) at "approximately one million."
Admitting to having "some difficulty in separating out the real refugees from the rest, and in explaining the reasons for doing so to the Arab authorities," Cilento attributed this chaotic situation to a number of reasons:
* Refugees were registered on arrival and fed but their names were not struck off the list if they moved or died;
* Refugees moving from one area to another would check in and be fed at several points en route and at each would be added to the list of refugees in the area, in this way numbers increased on paper in areas vacated as well as at final destination;
* Local destitute persons were included in numbers although they were not properly refugees;
* Fraud and misrepresentation by officials and others to utilize supplies etc.;
* There were people who left their homes owing to disturbed conditions but returned to them shortly afterward, yet were briefly registered as refugees and the records remained.
Sir John Troutbeck, head of the British Middle East office in Cairo, got a first-hand impression of this pervasive inflation of refugee numbers during a fact-finding mission to Gaza in June 1949. "The Quakers have nearly 250,000 refugees on their books," he reported to London.
They admit however that the figures are unreliable, as it is impossible to stop all fraud in the making of returns. Deaths for example are never registered nor are the names struck off the books of those who leave the district clandestinely. Some names too are probably registered more than once for the extra rations. But the Quakers assured me that they have made serious attempts to carry out a census and believe they have more information in that respect than the Red Cross organizations which are working in other areas. Their figures include Bedouin whom they feed and care for just like other refugees. They seemed a little doubtful whether this was a right decision, but once it had been taken it could not be reversed, and in any case the Bedouin, though less destitute than most of the refugees proper, are thought to have lost a great part of their possessions. They and the other refugees live in separate camps and in a state of mutual antipathy.
This was hardly a novel phenomenon. Population figures of Palestinian Arab society, especially of rural Muslim communities, were notoriously unreliable, based as they were on exaggerated information provided by village headmen in order to obtain greater government support. As explained in the preface to the mandatory government's Village Statistics 1945, for all the "very detailed work" invested in this comprehensive compendium of rural Palestine, its estimates "cannot… be considered as other than rough estimates which in some instances may ultimately be found to differ even considerably, from the actual figures."
The supplementary volume to the government's Survey of Palestine (1946), compiled in June 1947 for the information of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), elaborated on the problematic nature of official demographic statistics:
For the years 1943-46 an investigation recently carried out by the Department of Statistics revealed that many cases of death, especially in rural areas, have not been reported. These omissions (which are mainly due to the attempt to obtain food rations of deceased persons) seriously impair the reliability of the death rates (particularly infant mortality rates) and that of the rate of natural increase. On the other hand, they are not of such magnitude as to effect seriously the estimates of total population.
This may well have been the case. But then, if accepting the Supplement's estimate of 1.3 million Palestinian Arabs at the end of 1946 (the actual figure was most probably 5%-6% lower) the number of refugees could by no stretch of the imagination approximate the million mark for the simple reason that some 550,000-600,00 Arabs who lived in the mandatory districts of Samaria, Jerusalem, and Gaza (which subsequently became the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after their respective occupation by Transjordan and Egypt) remained in situ, while another 160,000 Arabs remained in, or returned to, Israel. This, in turn, puts the number of refugees at 540,000-590,000. Likewise, according to an extrapolation of the Village Statistics 1945, the non-Jewish population of the area that was to become Israeli territory at the end the war amounted, in April 1948, to some 696,000-726,800. Deducting Israel's 160,000-strong postwar Arab population from this figure would leave 536,000-566,800 refugees beyond Israel's frontiers.
As can be seen below, my own calculations, based on British, Jewish, and to a lesser extent Arab, population figures of all identified rural and urban localities abandoned during the war, amounts to 583,000-609,000 refugees.
The Palestinian Arab Exodus 1947-48
CITIES
Acre – 13,510 (3,885 remained).
Beersheba – 6,490.
Beisan – 5,540.
Haifa – 70,910 (5,000 remained).
Jaffa – 70,730 (4,000-5,000 remained).
Jerusalem – 65,010 (some 30,000 fled).
Lydda & Ramle – 35,078 (2,500 remained).
Majdal – 10,900.
Safad – 10,210.
Tiberias – 5,770.
Total: 247,403-248,403
VILLAGES
GALILEE DISTRICT
Acre Sub-District
Amqa – 1,240, Jul. 9, 1948.
Arab Samniya – 200,
Bassa – 2,950-3,140 (includes Ma'sub), May 14, 1948.
Birwa – 1,460, Jun. 11, 1948.
Damun – 1,310, Jul. 14-18, 1948.
Deir Qasi – 1,190 (including Mansura), Oct. 30, 1948.
Ghabisiya – 690-740, May 22, 1948.
Iqrit – 490-520, Apr. 26-Oct. 30, 1948.
Kabri – 1,530-1,640, May 5-22, 1948.
Kafr Inan – 360, Oct. 30, 1948.
Khirbat Iribbin – 360 (including Jurdeih & Khirbat Idmith),
Khirbat Jiddin – no people according to the Village Statistics
Kuweikat – 1,050, Jul. 9, 1948.
Manshiya – 810-1,140, May 17, 1948.
Mansura – see Deir Qasi.
Mi'ar – 770, Oct. 30, 1948.
Nabi Rubin – see Tarbikha.
Nahr – 610, May 22, 1948.
Ruweis – 330, Jul. 18, 1948.
Suhmata – 1,130, Oct. 29/30, 1948.
Sumeiriya – 760-820, May 14, 1948.
Suruh – see Tarbikha.
Tell – May 14, 1948.
Tarbikha – 1,000 (including Nabi Rubin & Suruh), Oct. 30, 1948.
Umm Faraj – 800, May 22, 1948.
Zib (includes Manawat) – 1,910-2,050, May 14, 1948.
Beisan Sub-District
Arida – 150, May 20, 1948.
Ashrafiya – 230, May 12, 1948.
Bawati - 520-700, Mar. 30, 1948.
Bira – 220-500, May 16, 1948.
Danna – 160-400, May 16-28, 1948.
Farawna – 330-350, May 11, 1948.
Ghazawiya – 1,020, late May 1948.
Hamidiya – 220-300, Apr. 6-May 12, 1948.
Hamra, 730, May 1, 1948.
Jabbul – 250-370, May 1-18, 1948.
Kafra – 400-700, May 16, 1948.
Kaukab Hawa – 30-600, May 14, 1948.
Khuneizir – 260-400, May 20, 1948.
Masil Jizl – 100, mid-May 1948.
Murassas – 460-600, May 16, 1948.
Qumiya – 320-440, Mar. 30, 1948.
Safa – 650, May 20, 1948.
Sakhina – 200-530, May 16, 1948.
Samiriya – 250-500, May 27, 1948.
Sirin – 600-820, Apr. 24, 1948.
Tell Shauk – 120, probably in mid-May 1948.
Tira – 120-150, Apr. 15, 1948.
Zab'a – 170, May 12, 1948.
Yubla – 150-250, May 16, 1948.
Zir'in – 1,300, May 1, 1948.
Nazareth Sub-District
Indur – 620, May 24, 1948.
Ma'lul – 690, Jul. 15-18, 1948.
Mujeidil – 1,600-1,900, Jul. 15-18, 1948.
Saffuriyya – 4,320-4,330, Jul. 15-16, 1948.
Safad Sub-District
Abil Qamh – 230-330, May 10, 1948.
Abisiya – 830-1,220, May 25, 1948.
Akbara – 390-410, May 10, 1948.
Alma – 950, Oct. 30, 1948.
Ammuqa Tahta & Fawqa – 140, May 24, 1948.
Arab Shamalina – see Buteiha.
Arab Zubeid – Apr. 20, 1948.
Azaziyat – 390, Apr. 30-May 1, 1948.
Beisamun – 20, May 25, 1948.
Biriya – 240, May 2, 1948.
Buteiha - 650 (including Arab Shamalina), May 4, 1948.
Buweiziya – 510-540, May 11, 1948.
Dahariya – 350, May 10, 1948.
Dallata – 360, Oct. 30, 1948.
Darbashiya – 310, early May 1948.
Dawwara – 700, May 25, 1948.
Deishum – 590, May 9, 1948-Oct. 30, 1948.
Dirdara – Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Ein Zeitun – 620-820, May 2, 1948.
Fara – 820, Oct, 30, 1948.
Farradiya – 670, Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 1948.
Fir'im – 740, May 2-26, 1948.
Ghabbatiya – 60, probably in late October 1948.
Ghuraba – 220, May 1-28, 1948.
Hamra – May 1, 1948.
Harrawi – May 25, 1948.
Hunin – 1,620, May 3-5, 1948.
Husseiniya – 340 (including Tuleil), Apr. 21, 1948.
Jahula – 420, date not known.
Jauna – 1,150, May 9, 1948.
Jubb Yusuf – 170, early May 1948.
Kafr Bir'im – 710, Oct. 30, 1948.
Khalisa – 1,840, May 11, 1948.
Khirbat Muntar – n.a., May 7, 1948.
Khisas – 470-530, Mar. 26-May 24, 1948.
Khiyam Walid – 210-280, Mar. 29-May 1, 1948.
Kirad Baqqara – 360, Apr. 22, 1948.
Kirad Ghanama - 350, Apr. 22, 1948.
Lazzaza – 230, May 21, 1948.
Madahil – 410, Apr. 7-30, 1948.
Malikiya – 360, May 15-Oct. 30, 1948.
Mallaha – 890, May 25, 1948.
Mansura– 360, May 25, 1948.
Mansurat Kheit – 200-900, Jan. 18, 1948.
Marus – 80, May 26, 1948.
Meirun – 290, May 29-Oct. 29, 1948.
Mughr Kheit – 490, Jan. 18, 1948.
Muftakhira – 350 – May 1-16, 1948.
Nabi Yusha – 70, May 16-17, 1948.
Naima – 1,240-1,310, May 14, 1948.
Qabba'a - 460, May 2, 1948.
Qadas – 320-390, May 28, 1948.
Qaddita – 240, May 11, 1948.
Qeitiya – 940, May 2-19, 1948.
Qudeiriya – 390, May 4, 1948.
Ras Ahmar – 620, Oct. 30, 1948.
Sabalan – 70, apparently in late October 1948.
Safsaf – 910, Oct. 29, 1948.
Saliha – 1,070, Oct. 30, 1948.
Salihiya – 1,520, May 25, 1948.
Sammui – 310, May 12-Oct. 30, 1948.
Sanbariya – 130, date not known.
Sa'sa – 1,130, Oct. 29-30, 1948.
Shauka Tahta – 200, Feb. 2-May 14, 1948.
Shuna – 170, date not known.
Teitaba – 530, Oct. 30, 1948.
Tuleil – see Husseiniya.
Ulmaniya – 260, Feb. 25-Apr. 20, 1948.
Weiziya – date not known.
Yarda – Jul. 10, 1948.
Zanghariya – 840, May 4, 1948.
Zawiya – 760, May 24, 1948.
Zuk Fauqani & Zuk Tahtani – 1,050, May 11-21, 1948.
Tiberias Sub-District
Dalhamiya – 410, probably late April.
Ghuweir Abu Shusha – 1,240, Apr. 21-28, 1948.
Hadatha – 520-550, Mar. 30-May 12, 1948.
Hittin – 1,190, Jul. 17, 1948.
Kafr Sabt – 480, Apr. 22, 1948.
Khirbat Qadish – 410, Apr. 19-20, 1948.
Khirbat Wa'ra Sauda – 1,870 (Mawasi & Wuheib), date not known.
Lubiya – 2,350, Jul. 17, 1948.
Ma'dhar – 480-510, Apr.16-May 12, 1948.
Majdal – 240-360, Apr. 22, 1948.
Manara – 490, Apr. 10, 1948.
Mansura – 360, May 25, 1948
Nasr al-Din – 90 - Apr. 12, 1948.
Nimrin – 320, Jul. 17-18.
Nuqeib (includes Samra) - 290-320, Apr. 23-24, 1948.
Samakh – 3,460-3,660, Apr. 29, 1948.
Samakiya – 380, May 4, 1948.
Samra – see Nuqeib.
Shajara, 720-770, Apr. 21-May 6, 1948.
Tabigha – 330, May 1, 1948.
Ubeidiya – 870-920, Mar. 5-Apr. 21, 1948.
Ulam - 720- Mar. 30-May 12, 1948.
Yaquq – 210, Jul. 18, 1948.
HAIFA DISTRICT
Haifa Sub-District
Abu Shusha – 720, Apr. 9-12.
Abu Zueriq – 550, Apr. 12, 1948.
Arab Fuqara – 310-340, Apr. 10, 1948.
Arab Nufeiat – 820-910, Mar. 30-Apr. 10, 1948.
Atlit – 150, date not known.
Balad Sheikh – 4,120-4,500, Jan. 7-Apr. 25, 1948.
Bureika – 290, Mar. 6-Apr. 26, 1948.
Buteimat – 110, Apr. 12-May 13, 1948.
Daliyat Ruha – 280-310, Apr. 12, 1948.
Dumeira – 620, date not known.
Ein Ghazal – 2,170-2,410, Apr. 25-July 26, 1948.
Ein Haud – 650, Jul. 17, 1948.
Ghubaiyat, 1,130-1,260 (includes Naghnagiya), Apr. 9-13, 1948.
Hawsha – n.a., Apr. 4-19, 1948.
Ijzim – 2,970, Apr. 25-July 26, 1948.
Jaba – 1,140, Jul. 25, 1948.
Jalama – n.a, Jun. 1, 1948.
Kabara -120, apparently late April-early May 1948.
Kafr Lam – 340-380, May 13-15-Jul. 16, 1948.
Kafrin – 920; April 12, 1948.
Khirbat Damum – 340; late April 1948.
Khirbat Kasayir – Apr. 27, 1948.
Khirbat Lid – 640, mid-April-mid-May, 1948.
Khubbeiza – 290, apparently in mid May 1948.
Mansi – 1,200, Apr. 12-15, 1948.
Mazar – 210, May 17, 1948.
Mazra'a – 460, Feb. 6, 1948.
Naghnagiya – see Ghubaiyat.
Qannir – 750, Apr. 5-25, 1948.
Qisariya – 930-1,240, Jan. 12-Feb. 15, 1948.
Rihaniya – 240-340, Apr. 12, 1948.
Sabbarin – 1,700-1,880, May 14, 1948.
Sarafand – 290, early May 1948-Jul. 17, 1948.
Sarkas – Apr. 15-26, 1948.
Sindiyana – 1,250-1,390, May 2-14, 1948.
Tantura – 1,490-1,650, May 6-21, 1948.
Tira – 5,270, Apr. 22-Jul. 16, 1948.
Umm Shauf – 480, May 14, 1948.
Umm Zinat – 1,470, Apr. 26-May 15, 1948.
Wadi Ara – 260, Feb. 27, 1948
Yajur – 610 – Feb. 18-Apr. 25, 1948.
SAMARIA DISTRICT
Jenin Sub-District
Ein Mansi – 90, date not known.
Kufeir – 140, Apr. 27, 1948.
Lajjun – 600, Apr. 16-May 30, 1948.
Mazar – 270-350, May 30, 1948.
Nuris – 570-700, May 30, 1948.
Zir'in – 1,300-1,420, May 28, 1948.
Tulkarm Sub-District
Arab Balawina, Dec. 31, 1947.
Arab Huweitat – Mar. 15, 1948.
Arab Zubeidat (Kafr Zibad) – 1,590, Apr. 16, 1948.
Kafr Saba – 1,270-1,370, May 15, 1948.
Khirbat Azzun (Tabsur) – 50, Dec. 21, 1947-Apr. 3, 1948.
Khirbat Beit Lid – 460-500, Mar. 20-Apr. 5, 1948.
Khirbat Jalama – 70, early February 1948.
Khirbat Manshiya – 260-280, Apr. 15, 1948.
Khirbat Zalafa – 210-370, Apr. 15, 1948.
Miska – 650-880 – Apr. 15, 1948.
Qaqun – 1,970, May 4 & Jun. 4, 1948.
Umm Khalid – 970-1050, Mar. 20, 1948.
Wadi Hawarith – 1,330-1,440, Mar. 15, 1948.
JERUSALEM DISTRICT
Hebron Sub-District
Ajjur – 3,720 (including Khirbat Ammuriya), Oct. 22-24, 1948.
Barqusiya – 330, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Beit Jibrin – 2,430, Jul. 13-14-Oct. 27, 1948.
Beit Nattif – 2,150, Oct. 22, 1948.
Dawayima – 3,710, Oct. 29, 1948.
Deir Dubban – 730, Oct. 22-23, 1948.
Deir Nakh-Khas – 600, Oct. 29, 1948.
Kidna – 450, Oct. 22-24, 1948.
Mughallis – 540, Jul. 16, 1948.
Qubeiba – 1,060, Oct. 28, 1948.
Ra'na – 190, Oct. 22-23, 1948.
Tell Safi – 1,290, Jul. 9, 1948.
Zakariya – 1,180, Jul. 22-23-Oct. 22-24, 1948.
Zeita – 330, Jul. 9-18, 1948.
Zikrin – 330-960, Oct. 22-24, 1948.
Jerusalem Sub-District
Allar – 440, Oct. 22, 1948.
Aqqur – 40, Jul. 13, 1948.
Artuf – 350, Jul. 17-18, 1948.
Beit Itab – 540, Oct. 21, 1948.
Beit Mahsir – 2,400, May 10, 1948.
Beit Naqquba – 240, Jul. 8, 1948.
Beit Thul – 260, date not known.
Beit Umm Meis – 70, Jul. 15, 1948.
Buerij – 720, Jul. 15-16, 1948.
Deir Aban - Oct. 19, 1948.
Deir Amr – 10, Jul. 14, 1948.
Deir Hawa – 60, Oct. 19, 1948.
Deir Rafat – 430, Jul. 17-18, 1948.
Deir Sheikh – 220, Oct. 21, 1948.
Deir Yasin – 610-650, Apr. 9-10, 1948.
Ein Karim – 3,180-3,390, Apr. 10-21 & Jul. 10-17, 1948.
Ishwa – 620, Jul. 10-18, 1948.
Islin – 260, Jul. 10, 1948.
Jarash – 190, Oct. 21, 1948.
Jura – 420, late Jul. 1948.
Kasla – 280, Jul. 14, 1948.
Khirbat Ismallah – 20, date not known.
Khirbat Lauz – 450, Jul. 13-14, 1948.
Khirbat Umur – 270, Oct. 21, 1948.
Lifta – 2,550-2,730, Dec. 31, 1947-early January 1948.
Maliha – 1,940-2,070, Apr. 21-May 6, 1948 & Jul. 14, 1948.
Nataf – 40, Apr. 15, 1948.
Qabu – 260, Oct. 21, 1948.
Qaluniya – 910-970, Apr. 10-May 3, 1948.
Qastel - 90-100- late March 1948-May 3, 1948.
Ras Abu Ammar – 620, Oct. 21, 1948.
Sar'a – 340, Jul. 10-14, 1948.
Saris – 560-600, Apr. 16-May 3, 1948.
Sataf – 540, Jul. 13-14, 1948.
Suba – 620, Jul. 12/13, 1948.
Sufla – 60, Oct. 21, 1948.
Walaja – 1,650, Oct. 21, 1948.
LYDDA DISTRICT
Jaffa Sub-District
Abbasiya – see Yahudiya.
Abu Kishk – 1,900 – Mar. 30, 1948.
Beit Dajan – 3,840, Apr. 25-May 1, 1948.
Biyar Adas – 300, Apr. 12, 1948.
Fajja – 1200-1,570, Mar. 17-May 15, 1948.
Haram - see Saiduna Ali.
Jalil – 600-1,020, Mar. 23-Apr. 3, 1948.
Jammasin – 1,810-2,050, Jan. 7-Mar. 17, 1948.
Jarisha – 190, apparently in mid-May 1948.
Kafr Ana – 2,000-3,020, Apr. 17-25, 1948.
Kheiriya – 1,420-1,600, Apr. 25, 1948.
Mas'udiya – 850, Dec. 25, 1947.
Mirr – 170-190, Feb. 3-15, 1948.
Muweilih – 360, Jul. 9, 1948.
Rantiya – 590, Apr. 28-May 13, 1948.
Safiriya – 3,070, apparently in late April 1948.
Saiduna Ali- 520-880, Feb. 3, 1948.
Salama – 6,730-7,610, Apr. 25, 1948.
Saqiya – 1,100-1,240, Apr. 25, 1948.
Sawalima – 800, Apr. 20, 1948.
Sheik Muwannis – 1,930-2,000, Dec. 1, 1947-Mar. 30, 1948.
Sumeil – see Mas'udiya.
Yahudiya – 5,650-6,560, May 4-Jul. 10, 1948.
Yazur – 4,030, May 1, 1948.
Ramle Sub-District
Abu Fadl (Sautariya) – 510, Apr. 7-May 9, 1948.
Abu Shusha – 870-950, May 14-20, 1948.
Aqir – 2,480-2,710, May 4-6, 1948.
Barfiliya – 730, Jul. 15-17, 1948.
Barriya – 510, May 1-Jul. 10-11, 1948.
Bashshit – 510-1,770, May 12-13, 1948.
Beit Jiz – 550-600, Apr. 20, 1948.
Beit Nabala – 630-2,310, May 13, 1948.
Beit Shanna – 210, date not known.
Beit Susin – 210, Apr. 20, 1948.
Bir Ma'in – 510, Jul. 15-16, 1948.
Bir Salim – 410-950, May 9, 1948.
Burj – 480, Jul. 15-16, 1948.
Daniyal – 410, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Deir Abu Salama – 60, Jul. 13, 1948.
Deir Aiyub – 320, May 16, 1948.
Deir Muheisin 460-500, Apr. 7-20, 1948.
Deir Tarif – 1,750, Jul. 9-11, 1948.
Haditha – 760, Jul. 10-12, 1948.
Idnibba – 490, Jul. 9-16, 1948.
Innaba – 1,420, Jul. 10-16, 1948.
Jilya – 330, Jul. 16, 1948.
Jimzu – 1,510, Jul. 10, 1948.
Kharruba – 170, Jul. 11, 1948.
Kheima – 190, Jul. 16, 1948.
Khirbat Beit Far – 300, date not known.
Khirbat Buweira – 190, date not known.
Khirbat Dhuheiriya – 100, Jul. 10-11, 1948.
Khirbat Zakariya – date not known.
Khulda – 260-300, Apr. 7-21, 1948.
Latrun – 190, May 16, 1948.
Majdal Yaba – 1,520, Jul. 12, 1948.
Mansura – 90-100, Dec. 22-29, 1947-Apr. 20, 1948.
Mughar – 1,740-1,900, May 15-18, 1948.
Mukheizin – 200-310, Dec. 29, 1947.
Muzeiri'a – 1,160, Jul. 16-18, 1948.
Na'ana – 1,470-2,270, May 14-Jun. 12, 1948.
Nabi Rubin – 1,420, Jun. 1, 1948.
Qatra – 1,210-1,320, May 17, 1948.
Qazaza – 940, Apr. 17-Jul. 16, 1948.
Qubab – 1,980-2,160, Apr. 20-Jun. 4, 1948.
Qubeiba – 1,720-1,870, May 27-Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Qula – 1,010, Jul. 11-18, 1948.
Sajad – 370, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Salbit – 510, Jul. 16-17, 1948.
Sarafand Amar – 1,950, probably in mid-May 1948.
Sarafand Kharab – 1,040-1,130, Apr. 20, 1948.
Seidun – 210-230, Jan. 1, 1948.
Shahma – 280-310, May 14, 1948.
Shilta – 100, Jul. 17-18, 1948.
Tina – 750, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Tira – 1,290, Jul. 10, 1948.
Umm Kalkha – 60, date not known.
Wadi Hunein – 1,620-1,770, Jan. 5-Apr. 17, 1948.
Yibna – 5,400-5,920, Jun. 4-5, 1948.
Zarnuqa – 2,380-2,600, May 27, 1948.
GAZA DISTRICT
Gaza Sub-District
Arab Sukreir – 390-430, Jan. 25, 1948.
Barbara – 2,410, Nov. 30, 1948.
Barqa – 890-980, May 13, 1948.
Batani Sharqi – 650-710, May 11-13, 1948.
Batani Gharbi – 980, Jun. 10-11, 1948.
Beit Affa – 700, May 23-Nov. 10, 1948.
Beit Daras – 2,750-3,010, May 11-12, 1948.
Beit Jirja – 940, Nov. 5, 1948.
Beit Tima – 1,060, May 29-31, 1948.
Bi'lin – 180, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Bureir – 2,740-4,000, May 12, 1948.
Deir Suneid – 730, late October-early November 1948.
Dimra – 520, late October-early November 1948.
Faluja – 4,670, Oct. 16, 1948.
Hamama – 5,000, Jun. 9-Nov. 30, 1948.
Hatta – 970, Jul. 17-18, 1948.
Hirbiya – 2,240, Nov. 5-30, 1948.
Huj – 800-810, May 28, 1948.
Huleiqat – 420, May 12-Oct. 29, 1948.
Ibdis – 540, May 23, 1948.
Iraq Manshiya – 2,010, Oct. 16-17, 1948.
Iraq Suweidan – 660, Jul. 9-Nov. 10, 1948.
Isdud – 4,620, Nov. 30, 1948.
Jaladiya – 360, May 23-Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Jiya – 1,230, Nov. 5-30, 1948.
Julis – 1,030-1,130, May 23-Jun. 10-11, 1948.
Jura – 2,420, Nov. 5, 1948.
Juseir – 1,180, late May or early June 1948.
Karatiya, 1,370, May 23, 1948.
Kaufakha – 500, Aug. 16-Sept. 24, 1948.
Kaukaba – 680, May 12-Oct. 18, 1948.
Khirbat Khisas – 150, Nov. 30, 1948.
Masmiya Kabira – 2,520, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Masmiya Saghira – 530, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Muharraqa – 580-1,100, May 25-28, 1948.
Najd – 600-620, May 12, 1948.
Ni'ilya – 1,310, Nov. 5-30, 1948.
Qastina – 890, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Sawafir Gharbiya – 1,000-1,030, May 15-18, 1948.
Sawafir Shamaliya, 680, May 11-18, 1948.
Sawafir Sharqiyya – 970, May 15-18, 1948.
Sumsum – 1,200-1,360, May 12, 1948.
Summeil – 950, Jul. 9-10, 1948.
Tell Turmus – 760, Jul. 9, 1948.
Yasur – 1,070, Jun. 10-11, 1948.
Beersheba Sub-District
Bir Asluj – Jun. 11, 1948.
Jammama – 150, May 22, 1948.
GALILEE DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Acre Sub-District 20,950-21,860
Beisan Sub-District 9,960-13,640
Nazareth Sub-District 7,230-7,540
Safad Sub-District 34,320-36,030
Tiberias Sub-District 17,430-17,940
HAIFA DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Haifa Sub-District 35,290-37,120
SAMARIA DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Jenin Sub-District 2,970-3,300
Tulkarm Sub-District 8,830-9,570
JERUSALEM DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Hebron Sub-District 19,040-19,670
Jerusalem-Sub-District 22,260-22,930
LYDDA DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Jaffa Sub-District 39,060-43,670
Ramle Sub-District 47,940-54,410
GAZA DISTRICT (Sub Total)
Gaza Sub-District 58,850-61,400
Beersheba Sub-District 150
Villages Total 324,280-349,230
Cities Total 247,403-248,403
Negev Bedouins 30,510
Refugees Settled in Israeli Localities other than their Original Sites 19,072
Palestine Grand Total: 583,121-609,071
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"The Palestinian people have no national identity.
I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel."
Quotes About "Palestine"
Remember: Israel is bad! Its existence keeps reminding Muslims what a bunch of losers they are.
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"There will be no peace until they will love their children more than they hate us."
-Golda Meir-
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'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel'
~Benjamin Netanyahu~
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"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all out war, a war which will last for generations.
~Yasser Arafat~
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"The Palestinian people have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel."
~ Yasser Arafat ~
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"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel. For our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of Palestinian people, since Arab national interest demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism".
~ Zahir Muhse'in ~
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More Quotes About "Palestine"
"There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. 'Palestine' is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it".
- Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, Syrian Arab leader to British Peel Commission, 1937 -
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"There is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not".
- Professor Philip Hitti, Arab historian, 1946 -
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"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria".
- Representant of Saudi Arabia at the United Nations, 1956 -
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Concerning the Holy Land, the chairman of the Syrian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in February 1919 stated:
"The only Arab domination since the Conquest in 635 c.e. hardly lasted, as such, 22 years".
"There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent (valley of Jezreel, Galilea); not for thirty miles in either direction... One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee... Nazareth is forlorn... Jericho lies a mouldering ruin... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent, mournful expanse... a desolation... We never saw a human being on the whole route... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes... desolate and unlovely...".
- Mark Twain, "The Innocents Abroad", 1867 -
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"In 1590 a 'simple English visitor' to Jerusalem wrote: 'Nothing there is to bescene but a little of the old walls, which is yet remayning and all the rest is grasse, mosse and weedes much like to a piece of rank or moist grounde'.".
- Gunner Edward Webbe, Palestine Exploration Fund,
Quarterly Statement, p. 86; de Haas, History, p. 338 -
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"The land in Palestine is lacking in people to till its fertile soil".
- British archaeologist Thomas Shaw, mid-1700s -
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"Palestine is a ruined and desolate land".
- Count Constantine François Volney, XVIII century French author and historian -
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"The Arabs themselves cannot be considered but temporary residents. They pitched their tents in its grazing fields or built their places of refuge in its ruined cities. They created nothing in it. Since they were strangers to the land, they never became its masters. The desert wind that brought them hither could one day carry them away without their leaving behind them any sign of their passage through it".
- Comments by Christians concerning the Arabs in Palestine in the 1800s -
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"Then we entered the hill district, and our path lay through the clattering bed of an ancient stream, whose brawling waters have rolled away into the past, along with the fierce and turbulent race who once inhabited these savage hills. There may have been cultivation here two thousand years ago. The mountains, or huge stony mounds environing this rough path, have level ridges all the way up to their summits; on these parallel ledges there is still some verdure and soil: when water flowed here, and the country was thronged with that extraordinary population, which, according to the Sacred Histories, was crowded into the region, these mountain steps may have been gardens and vineyards, such as we see now thriving along the hills of the Rhine. Now the district is quite deserted, and you ride among what seem to be so many petrified waterfalls. We saw no animals moving among the stony brakes; scarcely even a dozen little birds in the whole course of the ride".
- William Thackeray in "From Jaffa To Jerusalem", 1844 -
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"The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population".
- James Finn, British Consul in 1857 -
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"The area was underpopulated and remained economically stagnant until the arrival of the first Zionist pioneers in the 1880's, who came to rebuild the Jewish land. The country had remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people. Jewish development of the country also attracted large numbers of other immigrants - both Jewish and Arab. The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts... Houses were all of mud. No windows were anywhere to be seen... The plows used were of wood... The yields were very poor... The sanitary conditions in the village [Yabna] were horrible... Schools did not exist... The rate of infant mortality was very high... The western part, toward the sea, was almost a desert... The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants".
- The report of the British Royal Commission, 1913 -
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