How many Palestinian Arab refugees were there? - Efraim Karsh

Israel Affairs
Vol. 17, No. 2, April 2011, 224-246
Middle East and Mediterranean Studies, King's College London, UK

The number of Palestinian Arabs fleeing their homes during the 1948 war has constituted one of the most intractable bones of contention 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. 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). 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 3.75 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.

Keywords: Palestinians; refugees; 1948 war; Israel; United Nations; Red Cross; Gaza; 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 29 November 1947, to the proclamation of the state of Israel on 14 May 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).1

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).2

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 1 December 1947 and 1 June 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.3

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 16 September, or Cilento's revised estimate of 400,300 a couple of weeks later, and was virtually identical to the supplementary report submitted on 18 October 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.4

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 neighbouring 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.5

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 2000 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, did not 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.

* There was 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 afterwards, yet were briefly registered as refugees and the records remained.6

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.7

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'.8

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 affect seriously the estimates of total population.9

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 post-war Arab population from this figure would leave 536,000-566,800 refugees beyond Israel's frontiers.10

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
CITIES11
Acre - 13,510 (3885 remained).12
Beersheba - 6490.
Beisan - 5540.
Haifa - 70,910 (5000 remained).13
Jaffa - 70,730 (4000-5000 remained).14
Jerusalem - 65,010 (some 30,000 fled).15
Lydda & Ramle - 35,078 (2500 remained).16
Majdal - 10,900. Safad - 10,210. Tiberias - 5770.
Total: 247,403-248,403
VILLAGES17
Galilee District
Acre sub-district
Amqa - 1240, 9 July 1948.18
Arab Samniya - 200, late October 1948.
Bassa - 2950-3140 (includes Ma'sub), 14 May 1948.19
Birwa - 1460, 11 June 1948.20
Damun - 1310, 14-18 July 1948.21
Deir Qasi - 1190 (including Mansura), 30 October 1948.22
Ghabisiya - 690-740, 22 May 1948.23
Iqrit - 490-520, 26 April-30 October 1948.24
Kabri - 1530-1640, 5-22 May 1948.25
Kafr Inan - 360, 30 October 1948.26
Khirbat Iribbin - 360 (including Jurdeih & Khirbat Idmith).
Khirbat Jiddin - no people according to the Village Statistics.
Kuweikat - 1050, 9 July 1948.27
Manshiya - 810-1140, 17 May 1948.28
Mansura - see Deir Qasi.
Mi'ar - 770, 30 October 1948.29
Nabi Rubin - see Tarbikha.
Nahr - 610, 22 May 1948.30
Ruweis - 330, 18 July 1948.31
Suhmata - 1130, 29/30 October 1948.32
Sumeiriya - 760-820, 14 May 1948.33
Suruh - see Tarbikha.
Tell - 14 May 1948.34
Tarbikha - 1000 (including Nabi Rubin & Suruh), 30 October 1948.35
Umm Faraj - 800, 22 May 1948.36
Zib (includes Manawat) - 1910-2050, 14 May 1948.37
Beisan sub-district
Arida - 150, 20 May 1948. Ashrafiya - 230, 12 May 1948. Bawati - 520-700, 30 March 1948. Bira - 220-500, 16 May 1948.38
Danna - 160-400, 16-28 May 1948.
Farawna - 330-350, 11 May 1948.
Ghazawiya - 1020, late May 1948.
Hamidiya - 220-300, 6 April-12 May 1948.39
Hamra - 730, 1 May 1948.
Jabbul - 250-370, 1-18 May 1948.40
Kafra - 400-700, 16 May 1948.41
Kaukab Hawa - 30-600, 14 May 1948.42
Khuneizir - 260-400, 20 May 1948.
Masil Jizl - 100, mid-May 1948.
Murassas - 460-600, 16 May 1948.
Qumiya - 320-440, 30 March 1948.43
Safa - 650, 20 May 1948.
Sakhina - 200-530, May 16, 1948.
Samiriya - 250-500, 27 May 1948.
Sirin - 600-820, 24 April 1948.44
Tell Shauk - 120, probably in mid-May 1948.
Tira - 120-150, 15 April 1948.45
Zab'a - 170, 12 May 1948.46
Yubla - 150-250, 16 May 1948.47
Zir'in - 1300, 1 May 1948.48
Nazareth sub-district
Indur - 620, 24 May 1948.
Ma'lul - 690, 15-18 July 1948.49
Mujeidil - 1600-1900, 15-18 July 1948.50
Saffuriyya - 4320-4330, 15-16 July 1948.51
Safad sub-district
Abil Qamh - 230-330, 10 May 1948.52
Abisiya - 830-1220, 25 May 1948.53
Akbara - 390-410, 10 May 1948.
Alma - 950, 30 October 1948.54
Ammuqa Tahta & Fawqa - 140, 24 May 1948.
Arab Shamalina - see Buteiha.
Arab Zubeid - 20 April 1948.
Azaziyat - 390, 30 April-1 May 1948.
Beisamun - 20, 25 May 1948.
Biriya - 240, 2 May 1948.
Buteiha - 650 (including Arab Shamalina), 4 May 1948.55
Buweiziya - 510-540, 11 May 1948.56
Dahariya - 350, 10 May 1948.
Dallata - 360, 30 October 1948.57
Darbashiya - 310, early May 1948.
Dawwara - 700, 25 May 1948.
Deishum - 590, 9 May 1948-30 October 1948.58
Dirdara -9-10 July 1948.59
Ein Zeitun - 620-820, 2 May 1948.
Fara - 820, 30 October 1948.60
Farradiya - 670, 30 October-6 November 1948.61
Fir'im - 740, 2-26 May 1948.62
Ghabbatiya - 60, probably in late October 1948.
Ghuraba - 220, 1-28 May 1948.
Hamra - 1 May 1948.
Harrawi - 25 May 1948.
Hunin - 1620, 3-5 May 1948.63
Husseiniya - 340 (including Tuleil), 21 April 1948.
Jahula - 420, not known.
Jauna - 1150, 9 May 1948.
Jubb Yusuf - 170, early May 1948.
Kafr Bir'im - 710, 30 October 1948.64
Khalisa - 1840, 11 May 1948.
Khirbat Muntar - n.a., 7 May 1948.65
Khisas - 470-530, 26 March-24 May 1948.66
Khiyam Walid - 210-280, 29 March-1 May 1948.
Kirad Baqqara - 360, 22 April 1948.
Kirad Ghanama - 350, 22 April 1948.
Lazzaza - 230, 21 May 1948.
Madahil - 410, 7-30 April 1948.67
Malikiya - 360, 15 May-30 October 1948.68
Mallaha - 890, 25 May 1948.
Mansura- 360, 25 May 1948.
Mansurat Kheit - 200-900, 18 January 1948.
Marus - 80, 26 May 1948.
Meirun - 290, 29 May-29 October 1948.69
Mughr Kheit - 490, 18 January 1948.
Muftakhira - 350 - 1-16 May 1948.
Nabi Yusha - 70, 16-17 May 1948.
Naima - 1240-1310, 14 May 1948.
Qabba'a - 460, 2 May 1948.70
Qadas - 320-390, 28 May 1948.
Qaddita - 240, 11 May 1948.
Qeitiya - 940, 2-19 May 1948.
Qudeiriya - 390, 4 May 1948.
Ras Ahmar - 620, 30 October 1948.71
Sabalan - 70, apparently in late October 1948.
Safsaf - 910, 29 October 1948.72
Saliha - 1070, 30 October 1948.73
Salihiya - 1520, 25 May 1948.
Sammui - 310, 12 May-30 October 1948.74
Sanbariya - 130, not known.
Sa'sa - 1130, 29-30 October 1948.75
Shauka Tahta - 200, 2 February-14 May 1948.
Shuna - 170, not known.
Teitaba - 530, 30 October 1948.76
Tuleil - see Husseiniya.
Ulmaniya - 260, 25 February-20 April 1948.
Weiziya - not known.
Yarda - 10 July 1948.77
Zanghariya - 840, 4 May 1948.
Zawiya - 760, 24 May 1948.
Zuk Fauqani & Zuk Tahtani - 1050, 11-21 May 1948.
Tiberias sub-district
Dalhamiya - 410, probably late April.
Ghuweir Abu Shusha - 1240, 21-28 April 1948.
Hadatha - 520-550, 30 March-12 May 1948.78
Hittin - 1190, 17 July 1948.79
Kafr Sabt - 480, 22 April 1948.
Khirbat Qadish - 410, 19-20 April 1948.80
Khirbat Wa'ra Sauda - 1870 (Mawasi & Wuheib), not known.
Lubiya - 2350, 17 July 1948.81
Ma'dhar - 480-510, 16 April-12 May 1948.82
Majdal - 240-360, 22 April 1948.
Manara - 490, 10 April 1948.83
Mansura - 360, 25 May 1948.
Nasr al-Din - 90, 12 April 1948.84
Nimrin - 320, 17-18 July 1948.85
Nuqeib (includes Samra) - 290-320, 23-24 April 1948.86
Samakh - 3460-3660, 29 April 1948.87
Samakiya - 380, 4 May 1948.
Samra - see Nuqeib.
Shajara, 720-770, 21 April-6 May 1948.
Tabigha - 330, 1 May 1948.
Ubeidiya - 870-920, 5 March-21 April 1948.88
Ulam - 720, 30 March-12 May 1948.89
Yaquq - 210, 18 July 1948.90
Haifa District Haifa sub-district
Abu Shusha - 720, 9-12 April 1948.91
92
Abu Zueriq - 550, 12 April 1948.
Arab Fuqara - 310-340, 10 April 1948.93
Arab Nufeiat - 820-910, 30 March-10 April 1948.
Atlit - 150, not known.
Balad Sheikh - 4120-4500, 7 January-25 April 1948.
Bureika - 290, 6 March-26 April 1948.94
Buteimat - 110, 12 April-13 May 1948.95
Daliyat Ruha - 280-310, 12 April 1948.96
Dumeira - 620, not known.
Ein Ghazal - 2170-2410, 25 April-26 July 1948.97
Ein Haud - 650, 17 July 1948.98
Ghubaiyat, 1130-1260 (includes Naghnagiya), 9-13 April 1948.99
Hawsha - n.a., 4-19 April 1948.100
Ijzim - 2970, 25 April-26 July 1948.
Jaba - 1140, 25 July 1948.101
Jalama - n.a., 1 June 1948.102
Kabara - 120, apparently late April-early May 1948.
Kafr Lam - 340-380, 13-15 May-16 July 1948.103
Kafrin - 920, 12 April 1948.104
Khirbat Damum - 340, late April 1948.
Khirbat Kasayir - n.a., 27 April 1948.
Khirbat Lid - 640, mid-April-mid-May, 1948.105
Khubbeiza - 290, apparently in mid-May 1948.
Mansi - 1200, 12-15 April 1948.106
Mazar - 210, 17 May 1948.107
Mazra'a - 460, 6 February 1948.
Naghnagiya - see Ghubaiyat.
Qannir - 750, 5-25 April 1948.108
Qisariya - 930-1240, 12 January-15 February 1948.109
Rihaniya - 240-340, 12 April 1948.110
Sabbarin - 1700-1880, 14 May 1948.
Sarafand - 290, early May 1948-17 July 1948.111
Sarkas - n.a., 15-26 April 1948.
Sindiyana - 1250-1390, 2-14 May 1948.
Tantura - 1490-1650, 6-21 May 1948.
Tira - 5270, 22 April-16 July 1948.112
Umm Shauf - 480, 14 May 1948.
Umm Zinat - 1470, 26 April-15 May 1948.113
Wadi Ara - 260, 27 February 1948
Yajur - 610 -18 February-25 April 1948.
Samaria District
Jenin sub-district
Ein Mansi - 90, not known. Kufeir - 140, 27 April 1948.
Lajjun - 600, 16 April-30 May 1948.114 Mazar - 270-350, 30 May 1948.115 Nuris - 570-700, May 30, 1948.116 Zir'in - 1300-1420, 28 May 1948.
Tulkarm sub-district
Arab Balawina - 31 December 1947.
Arab Huweitat - 15 March 1948.
Arab Zubeidat (Kafr Zibad) - 1590, 16 April 1948.
Kafr Saba - 1270-1370, 15 May 1948.
Khirbat Azzun (Tabsur) - 50, 21 December 1947-3 April 1948.
Khirbat Beit Lid - 460-500, 20 March-5 April 1948.
Khirbat Jalama - 70, early February 1948.117
Khirbat Manshiya - 260-280, 15 April 1948.
Khirbat Zalafa - 210-370, 15 April 1948.
Miska - 650-880 - April 15, 1948.
Qaqun - 1970, 4 May, 4 June 1948.118
Umm Khalid - 970-1050, 20 March 1948.
Wadi Hawarith - 1330-1440, 15 March 1948.
Jerusalem District
Hebron sub-district
Ajjur - 3720 (including Khirbat Ammuriya), 22-24 October 1948.119
Barqusiya - 330, 9-10 July 1948.120
Beit Jibrin - 2430, 13-14 July-27 October 1948.121
Beit Nattif - 2150, 22 October 1948.122
Dawayima - 3710, 29 October 1948.123
Deir Dubban - 730, 22-23 October 1948.124
Deir Nakh-Khas - 600, 29 October 1948.125
Kidna - 450, 22-24 October 1948.126
Mughallis - 540, 16 July 1948.127
Qubeiba - 1060, 28 October 1948.128
Ra'na - 190, 22-23 October 1948.129
Tell Safi - 1290, 9 July 1948.130
Zakariya - 1180, 22/23 July-22/24 October 1948.131
Zeita - 330, 9-18 July 1948.132
Zikrin - 330-960, 22-24 October 1948.133
Jerusalem sub-district
Allar - 440, 22 October 1948.134 Aqqur - 40, 13 July 1948.135
Artuf - 350, 17-18 July 1948.136 Beit Itab - 540, 21 October 1948.137 Beit Mahsir - 2400, 10 May 1948.138
Beit Naqquba - 240, 8 July 1948.139
Beit Thul - 260, not known.
Beit Umm Meis - 70, 15 July 1948.140
Buerij - 720, 15-16 July 1948.141
Deir Aban - 19 October 1948.142
Deir Amr - 10, 14 July 1948.143
Deir Hawa - 60, 19 October 1948.144
Deir Rafat - 430, 17-18 July 1948.145
Deir Sheikh - 220, 21 October 1948.146
Deir Yasin - 610-650, 9-10 April 1948.
Ein Karim - 3,180-3,390, 10-21 April and 10-17 July 1948.147
Ishwa - 620, 10-18 July 1948.148
Islin - 260, 10 July 1948.149
Jarash - 190, 21 October 1948.150
Jura - 420, late July 1948.151
Kasla - 280, 14 July 1948.152
Khirbat Ismallah - 20, not known.
Khirbat Lauz - 450, 13-14 July 1948.153
Khirbat Umur - 270, 21 October 1948.154
Lifta - 2550-2730, 31 December 1947-early January 1948.
Maliha - 1940-2070, 21 April-6 May 1948 and 14 July 1948.155
Nataf - 40, 15 April 1948.156
Qabu - 260, 21 October 1948.157
Qaluniya - 910-970, 10 April-3 May 1948.
Qastel - 90-100, late March 1948-3 May 1948.158
Ras Abu Ammar - 620, 21 October 1948.159
Sar'a - 340, 10-14 July 1948.160
Saris - 560-600, 16 April-3 May 1948.161
Sataf - 540, 13-14 July 1948.162
Suba - 620, 12/13 July 1948.163
Sufla - 60, 21 October 1948.164
Walaja - 1650, 21 October 1948.165
Lydda District
Jaffa sub-district
Abbasiya - see Yahudiya.
Abu Kishk - 1900 -30 March 1948.
Beit Dajan - 3840, 25 April-1 May 1948.166
Biyar Adas - 300, April 12, 1948.
Fajja - 1200-1570, 17 March-15 May 1948.167
Haram - see Saiduna Ali.
Jalil - 600-1020, 23 March-3 April 1948.168
Jammasin - 1810-2050, 7 January-17 March 1948.
Kafr Ana - 2000-3020, 17-25 April 1948.
Kheiriya - 1420-1600, 25 April 1948.
Mas'udiya - 850, 25 December 1947.
Mirr - 170-190, 3-15 February 1948.
Muweilih - 360, 9 July 1948.169
Rantiya - 590, 28 April-13 May 1948.170
Safiriya - 3070, apparently in late April 1948.
Saiduna Ali - 520-880, 3 February 1948.171
Salama - 6730-7610, 25 April 1948.
Saqiya - 1100-1240, 25 April 1948.
Sawalima - 800, 20 April 1948.
Sheik Muwannis - 1930-2000, 1 December 1947-30 March 1948.
Sumeil - see Mas'udiya.
Yahudiya - 5650-6560, 4 May-10 July 1948.172
Yazur - 4030, 1 May 1948.
Ramle sub-district
Abu Fadl (Sautariya) - 510, 7 April-9 May 1948.
Abu Shusha - 870-950, 14-20 May 1948.
Aqir - 2480-2710, 4-6 May 1948.173
Barfiliya - 730, 15-17 July 1948.174
Barriya - 510, 1 May-10-11 July 1948.175
Bashshit - 510-1770, 12-13 May 1948.176
Beit Jiz - 550-600, 20 April 1948.
Beit Nabala - 630-2310, 13 May 1948.
Beit Shanna - 210, not known.
Beit Susin - 210, 20 April 1948.
Bir Ma'in - 510, 15-16 July 1948.177
Bir Salim - 410-950, 9 May 1948.
Burj - 480, 15-16 July 1948.178
Daniyal - 410, 9-10 July 1948.
Deir Abu Salama - 60, 13 July 1948.179
Deir Aiyub - 320, 16 May 1948.180
Deir Muheisin - 460-500, 7-20 April 1948.181
Deir Tarif - 1750, 9-11 July 1948.182
Haditha - 760, 10-12 July 1948.183
Idnibba - 490, 9-16 July 1948.184
Innaba - 1420, 10-16 July 1948.185
Jilya - 330, 16 July 1948.186
Jimzu - 1510, 10 July 1948.187
Kharruba - 170, 11 July 1948.188
Kheima - 190, 16 July 1948.189
Khirbat Beit Far - 300, not known.
Khirbat Buweira - 190, not known.
Khirbat Dhuheiriya - 100, 10-11 July 1948.190
Khirbat Zakariya - not known.
Khulda - 260-300, 7-21 April 1948.191
Latrun - 190, 16 May 1948.192
Majdal Yaba - 1520, 12 July 1948.193
Mansura - 90-100, 22-29 December 1947-20 April 1948.194
Mughar - 1740-1900, 15-18 May 1948.195
Mukheizin - 200-310, 29 December 1947.196
Muzeiri'a - 1160, 16-18 July 1948.197
Na'ana - 1470-2270, 14 May-12 June 1948.198
Nabi Rubin - 1420, 1 June 1948.199
Qatra - 1210-1320, 17 May 1948.
Qazaza - 940, 17 April-16 July 1948.200
Qubab - 1980-2160, 20 April-4 June 1948.201
Qubeiba - 1720-1870, 27 May-9-10 July 1948.202
Qula - 1010, 11-18 July 1948.203
Sajad - 370, 9-10 July 1948.204
Salbit - 510, 16-17 July 1948.205
Sarafand Amar - 1950, probably in mid-May 1948.
Sarafand Kharab - 1040-1130, 20 April 1948.206
Seidun - 210-230, 1 January 1948.207
Shahma - 280-310, 14 May 1948.
Shilta - 100, 17-18 July 1948.208
Tina - 750, 9-10 July 1948.209
Tira - 1290, 10 July 1948.210
Umm Kalkha - 60, not known.
Wadi Hunein - 1620-1770, 5 January-17 April 1948.211
Yibna - 5400-5920, 4-5 June 1948.212
Zarnuqa - 2380-2600, 27 May 1948.213
Gaza District
Gaza sub-district
Arab Sukreir - 390-430, 25 January 1948.
Barbara - 2410, 30 November 1948.214
Barqa - 890-980, 13 May 1948.
Batani Sharqi - 650-710, 11-13 May 1948.215
Batani Gharbi - 980, 10-11 June 1948.216
Beit Affa - 700, 23 May -10 November 1948.217
Beit Daras - 2750-3010, 11-12 May 1948.
Beit Jirja - 940, 5 November 1948.218
Beit Tima - 1060, 29-31 May 1948.219
Bi'lin - 180, 9-10 July 1948.220
Bureir - 2740-4000, 12 May 1948.
Deir Suneid - 730, late October-early November 1948.
Dimra - 520, late October-early November 1948.
Faluja - 4670, 16 October 1948.221
Hamama - 5000, 9 June-30 November 1948.222
Hatta - 970, 17-18 July 1948.223
Hirbiya - 2240, 5-30 November 1948.224
Huj - 800-810, 28 May 1948.
Huleiqat - 420, 12 May-29 October 1948.225
Ibdis - 540, 23 May 1948.226
Iraq Manshiya - 2010, 16-17 October 1948.227
Iraq Suweidan - 660, 9 July-10 November 1948.228
Isdud - 4620, 30 November 1948.229
Jaladiya - 360, 23 May-9--10 July 1948.230
Jiya - 1230, 5-30 November 1948.231
Julis - 1030-1130, 23 May-10-11 June 1948.232
Jura - 2420, 5 November 1948.233
Juseir - 1180, late May or early June 1948.234
Karatiya, 1370, 23 May 1948.235
Kaufakha - 500, 16 August-24 September 1948.236
Kaukaba - 680, 12 May-18 October 1948.237
Khirbat Khisas - 150, 30 November 1948.238
Masmiya Kabira - 2520, 9-10 July 1948.239
Masmiya Saghira - 530, 9-10 July 1948.
Muharraqa - 580-1100, 25-28 May 1948.240
Najd - 600-620, 12 May 1948.
Ni'ilya - 1310, 5-30 November 1948.241
Qastina - 890, 9-10 July 1948.242
Sawafir Gharbiya - 1000-1030, 15-18 May 1948.243
Sawafir Shamaliya, 680, 11-18 May 1948.244
Sawafir Sharqiyya - 970, 15-18 May 1948.
Sumsum - 1200-1360, 12 May 1948.
Summeil - 950, 9-10 July 1948.245
Tell Turmus - 760, 9 July 1948.246
Yasur - 1070, 10-11 June 1948.247
Beersheba sub-district
Bir Asluj - n.a., 11 June 1948.248 Jammama - 150, 22 May 1948.249
Galilee District
Acre sub-district 20,950-21,860
Beisan sub-district 9960-13,640
Nazareth sub-district 7230-7540
Safad sub-district 34,320-36,030
Tiberias sub-district 17,430-17,940
Haifa District
Haifa sub-district 35,290-37,120
Samaria District
Jenin sub-district 2970-3300
Tulkarm sub-district 8830-9570
Jerusalem District
Hebron sub-district 19,040-19,670
Jerusalem sub-district 22,260-22,930
Lydda District
Jaffa sub-district 39,060-43,670
Ramle sub-district 47,940-54,410
Gaza District
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 30,510250
Refugees settled in Israeli localities 19,072251
other than their original sites
Palestine Grand Total 583,121-609,071

Notes
1. Asher Goren (Israel's Foreign Ministry's Middle East Department), 'The Palestinian Arab Refugee Problem', September 27, 1948, CZA A457/113, p. 2; 'Refugees Strain Arab Towns', New York Times, July 26, 1948; 'Official Puts Arab Refugees at 300,000', New York Times, July 24, 1948; 'Disease Threatens Refugees', New York Times, August 3, 1948.
2. David Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama Tashah-Tashat (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense Publishing House, 1983), Vol. 2, 487 (diary entry for June 5, 1948).
3. Tene (Hagana Intelligence Service), 'Migration of the Palestinian Arabs in the Period 1.12.47-1.6.48. Annex 1: Vacated Arab Villages', June 30, 1948, IDFA, 1957/100001/781, pp. 1-2; Y. Weitz, E. Danin and Z. Lifshitz, 'Memorandum on the Settlement of the Arab Refugees. Submitted to the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government', October 31, 1948, HA 80/58/13, p. 4.
4. UN General Assembly, 'Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine Submitted to the Secretary-General for Transmission to the Members of the United Nations in Pursuance of Paragraph 2, Part II, of Resolution 186 (S-2) of the General Assembly of 14 May 1948' (General Assembly Official Records: Third Session Supplement No. 11; A/648, September 16, 1948)', 78; Beirut to Foreign Office, October 1, 1948, FO 371/68679; 'Plight of 472,000 Arab Refugees', Times, October 21, 1948.
5. 'Refugees Put at 700,000', New York Times, August 17, 1948; Rony E. Gabbay, A Political Study of the Arab-Jewish Conflict. The Arab Refugee Problem (A Case Study) (Geneva: Librairie E. Droz, 1959), 167-8.
6. Beirut to Foreign Office, October 1, 3, 1948, FO 371/68679; 'The Number of Arab Refugees (Revised Version)', Israel State Archives (ISA), FM 347/2 (apparently written in August/September 1949); W. de St. Aubin, 'Peace and Refugees in the Middle East', Middle East Journal 3, no. 3 (July 1949): 249.
7. Sir J. Troutbeck, 'Summary of General Impressions Gathered during Week-end Visit to the Gaza District', June 16, 1949, FO 371/75342/E7816.
8. Palestine Office of Statistics, Village Statistics 1945 (Jerusalem: Palestine Office of Statistics, 1945), 'Explanatory Note', p. 2 (A5).
9. Government for Palestine, Supplement to Survey of Palestine: Notes compiled for the information of the United Nations Special Committee of Palestine (London: HMSO, June 1947; reprinted in full permission by the Institute for Palestine studies, Washington DC), 14.
10. Ibid., 10-11; Israeli Foreign Ministry, Middle East Department, 'The Palestinian Refugee Problem (Report No. 3)', February 2, 1949, ISA FM 347/23; idem, 'Notes on Arab Refugees, the Boundaries of Israel, and Jerusalem', August 22, 1949, idem; 'The Number of Arab Refugees (Revised Version)'; Military Government HQ, 'Tables of the Arab Population Categorized by Settlements and Religions, February 15, 1950', IDFA 1960/28/29, May 9, 1959; Walter Pinner, How Many Arab Refugees? A Critical Study of UNRWA's Statistics and Reports (London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1959), Part III.
In its report, submitted to the General Assembly on December 28, 1949, the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine estimated the number of arab refugees outside Israel's territory at 726,000, of whom 627,000 were eligible for relief from the United Nations. See: 'Final Report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East: An Approach for Economic Development in the Middle East' (Lake Success: United Nations, December 28, 1949), A/AC.25/6, pp. 18, 22-4.
11. Urban population figures are taken from Supplement to Survey of Palestine, 12-13.
12. Ministry of Minorities Affairs & Central Bureau of Statistics, 'List of City Residents', September 26, 1948, FM 2564/22.
13. 'Survey of the Arab Situation in Haifa', September 22, 1948, IDFA 1954/219/240.
14. 'Protocol of a Meeting to Discuss the Problems in the Occupied Cities of Jaffa, Lydda, and Ramle', August 16, 1948, IDFA 1949/1331/54; Ministry of Minorities Affairs & Central Bureau of Statistics, 'List of City Residents', September 26, 1948, FM 2564/22.
15. Tene, 'Migration'.
16. 'Protocol of a Meeting to Discuss the Problems in the Occupied Cities of Jaffa, Lydda, and Ramle'.
17. Unless otherwise indicated, rural population figures are based on the Village Statistics 1945 and Tene, 'Migration of the Palestinian Arabs', Annex 1: Vacated Arab Villages. Departure dates are based on the latter study, unless indicated otherwise.
18. Tzadok Eshel, Hativat Carmeli Bemilhemet Haqomemiut (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1973), 291.
19. Hagana Operational Directorate, 'Logbook of the War of Independence, 3.1.48- 14.5.48', IDFA, 1954/464/2, p. 291.
20. Intercepted communications from the ALA forces in north Palestine and the residents of Birwa, June 14, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 91; Hiram to Tene, 'The Battle for Birwa According to Acre Residents', July 4, 1948, ibid., p. 159.
21. Seventh Brigade/Intelligence, 'News Logbook 8', July 14, 1948 and 7th Brigade/ Operational HQ, 'Dekel Operational Order', July 18, 1948, IDFA 1952/273/5.
22. Front A, 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4: 300800-302000', IDFA 1992/164/1.
23. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 290.
24. 'Operation Hiram - Intelligence Report, October 28-31, 1948', IDFA 1992/164/1.
25. Agam/Matkal, 'Hanes Hagadol (General Staff's operational logbook), May 22, IDFA 1975/922/1175, p. 48.
26. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
27. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 291.
28. Ibid., 290.
29. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
30. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 290.
31. Ibid., 292.
32. Front A, 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 3: 292000-300600', IDFA 1992/164/1.
33. 'Logbook of the War of Independence, 3.1.48-14.5.48', 291.
34. Ibid.
35. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
36. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 290.
37. 'Logbook of the War of Independence, 3.1.48-14.5.48', 291.
38. Beisan National Committee (mid-March 1948), IDFA 1975/922/648.
39. Tzefa to Tene, 'Evacuation of Arab Villages', April 6, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 24.
40. Beisan National Committee; Tene, 'Migration'.
41. Beisan National Committee.
42. 'Carmeli Brigade: News Summary No. 6 for May 25, 1948', IDFA 1949/6127/117.
43. Beisan National Committee.
44. Ibid.; Golani/Intelligence, 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands. Captured by the 12th Battalion', June 25, 1948, IDFA 1951/84/128.
45. Beisan National Committee.
46. Golani/Intelligence, 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands. Captured by the 12th Battalion', June 25, 1948, IDFA 1951/84/128.
47. Ibid.
48. Tene, 'Migration'.
49. Galilee Front, 'List of Villages (and Cities) that Fell to Our Hands on July 15-18, 1948', IDFA 1949/7249/119.
50. Ibid.
51. 'First Brigade: Operational Logbook', May 16, 1948, IDFA 1951/665/1; Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 291.
52. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
53. Ibid.; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 265.
54. 'Operation Hiram - Intelligence Report, October 28-31, 1948'.
55. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 283.
56. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
57. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
58. Front A, 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 5: 302000-310000', IDFA 1992/164/1.
59. IDF History Branch, Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1975; first published 1959), 243-4.
60. 'Operation Hiram - Intelligence Report, October 28-31, 1948.
61. Golani-Intelligence, 'Daily Summary', November 6, 1948, IDFA 1951/128/84; 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
62. Bulgarim to Matkal, 'Daily Report', May 2, 1948, 1975/922/1044, p. 313; Tene, 'Migration'.
63. 'Logbook of the War of Independence'.
64. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
65. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 285.
66. 'Tene News', April 24 and 28, 1948, HA 105/98, pp. 89, 93; Tene, 'Migration'; Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
67. Tene, 'Migration'.
68. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 5'.
69. Bulgarim to Matkal, 'Daily Report', May 29, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1214; 'Operation Hiram - Intelligence Report, October 28-31, 1948.
70. Bulgarim to Matkal, 'Daily Report', May 2, 1948, IDFA, 1975/922/1044, p. 313; Tene, 'Migration'.
71. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
72. 'Operation Hiram - Intelligence Report, October 28-31, 1948'.
73. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
74. Ibid.
75. Front A, 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 3: 292000-300600', IDFA 1992/164/1.
76. 'Hiram Operational Report, No. 4'.
77. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 291.
78. Tzefa to Tene, 'Evacuation of Arab Villages', April 6, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 24; Golani/Intelligence, 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands. Captured by the 12th Battalion', June 25, 1948, IDFA 1951/84/128; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 280.
79. Golani/Intelligence, 'Daily Summary', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1951/128/84.
80. 'Tene News', April 24, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 89; 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands. Captured by the 12th Battalion'.
81. Golani/Intelligence, 'Daily Summary', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1951/128/84.
82. Tzefa to Tene, 'Evacuation of Arab Villages'; 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands'; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', p. 280.
83. 'List of Arab Villages in Our Hands. Captured by the 12th Battalion'.
84. Ibid.
85. Golani/Intelligence, 'Daily Summary', July 18, 1948, IDFA 1951/128/84.
86. 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands'.
87. Ibid.
88. Tzuri to Tene, Ubeidiya Arabs Vacated their Village and Moved to Transjordan', April 21, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 3.
89. Tzefa to Tene, 'Evacuation of Arab Villages'; 'List of the Arab Villages in Our Hands'; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', p. 291.
90. Galilee Front, 'List of Villages (and Cities) that Fell to Our Hands on July 15-18, 1948', IDFA 1949/7249/119.
91. Golani/Intelligence, 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion', June 25, 1948, IDFA, 1951/128/84; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', p. 251.
92. 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'.
93. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
94. Tiroshi to Tene, 'Evacuation of Bureika', April 26, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 11; 'Tene News', April 24, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 89.
95. 'Hanes Hagadol', 9; 'Tene News', April 24, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 89; 'List of the Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'.
96. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 255.
97. Alexandroni Report, July 25, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176.
98. Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 291.
99. 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 248, 255, 257.
100. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 296.
101. Alexandroni Report, July 25, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176.
102. Golani/Intelligence, 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 13th Battalion', June 25, 1948, IDFA, 1951/128/84.
103. 'Tene News', May 13, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 107; 'Hanes Hagadol', May 17, 1948, 26; IDF, Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 252.
104. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 253-4.
105. Golani to Matkal, May 15, 1948, IDFA 1954/464/1.
106. 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'; 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 257.
107. 'Hanes Hagadol', May 17, 1948, 26.
108. Tiroshi to Tene, 'Qannir', April 26, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 16; 'Tene News', April 29, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 95.
109. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
110. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 255.
111. 'Tene News', May 13, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 107; Eshel, Hativat Carmeli, 291.
112. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 68', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9.
113. Tirsohi to Tene, 'Evacuation of Umm Zinat', April 26, 1948, HA 105/257, p. 16; 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'.
114. Tene, 'Migration'; 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 14th Battalion'; Bulgarim to Matkal, 'Daily Report', April 16, 1948, 1975/922/1044, p. 317.
115. 'List of Arab Villages Captured by the 13th Battalion'.
116. 'Hanes Hagadol', 93.
117. 01132 to Tene, 'The Evacuation of Jalama', February 8, 1948, HA 105/215, p. 44.
118. 'Qaqun in the Triangle and Arab Yibna in the South Captured by Our Armies', Haaretz, June 6, 1948.
119. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations', October 24, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/900; Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 15- December 9', ibid.
120. Avraham Ayalon, Hativat Givati Mul Hapolesh Hamitsri (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1963), 254.
121. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 65', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 557-8; Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama, Vol. 3, 779 (diary entry for October 27, 1948).
122. Netanel Lorch, The Edge of the Sword. Israel's War of Independence 1947-1949 (Jerusalem: Massada, 1961), 431.
123. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 558.
124. Ibid., 550.
125. Ibid., 558.
126. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 22/23, 1948', IDFA 1975/922/900; Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 15- December 9', ibid.
127. Agam to Givati, July 16, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1226.
128. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 558.
129. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 22/23, 1948' and 'Summary of Operations, October 15-December 9'.
130. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
131. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 22/23, 1948'.
132. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254; 'Hanes Hagadol', 48.
133. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'; Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 22/23, 1948', IDFA 1975/922/900; Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 15-December 9', ibid.
134. Salim Tamari, ed., Jerusalem 1948. The Arab Neighborhoods and their Fate in the War (Jerusalem: Institute of Jerusalem Studies, 1999), 86.
135. Ibid.
136. 'Arab News Bulletin', July 18, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75.
137. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
138. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 289.
139. 'Arab News Bulletin', July 8, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75.
140. Elhannan Orren, Baderekh el Hair: Mivtsa Danny (Tel Aviv: IDF Publishing House, 1976), 133.
141. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 260.
142. Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama, Vol. 3, 753 (diary entry for October 19, 1948).
143. Yeruham, 'Weekly Report of Jerusalem District Departments', July 14-20, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/7.
144. Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama, Vol. 3, 753 (diary entry for October 19, 1948).
145. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 263.
146. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
147. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 65', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9; Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama, Vol. 2, 589 (entry for July 15, 1948); Yeruham, 'Weekly Report of Jerusalem District Departments', July 14-20, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/7.
148. Harel to General Staff, July 10, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237; Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 263.
149. Harel to General Staff, July 10, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237.
150. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
151. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 76', July 26, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/49.
152. 'Arab News Bulletin', July 14, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75.
153. Orren, Baderekh, 133.
154. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
155. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 65', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9; Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama, Vol. 2, 589 (entry for July 15, 1948); Yeruham, 'Weekly Report of Jerusalem District Departments', July 14-20, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/7.
156. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
157. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 311.
158. 'Evacuation of the Qastel', March 25, 1948, IDFA 1948/500/28; Tene, 'Migration'.
159. Tamari, Jerusalem 1948, 86.
160. Harel to General Staff, July 10, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237; 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 65', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9.
161. 'Logbook of the War of Independence', 258; Tene, 'Migration'.
162. Orren, Baderekh, 133.
163. Intercepted Arab military communications, July 13, 1948, HA 105/92a, 58; 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 63', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75.
164. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 311.
165. Lorch, The Edge, 432.
166. 'Tene News', May 9, 1948, HA 105/98, 102.
167. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
168. Ibid.; Tiroshi to Tene, 'Vacation of Jalil', March 23, 1948, HA 105/257.
169. Gershon Rivlin and Zvi Sinai, eds., Hativat Alexandroni Bemilhemet Haqomemiut (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1964), 285.
170. Tiroshi to Tene, 'The Rantiya Villagers on the Move', April 28, 1948, HA 105/257, 64; 'Tene News', May 14, 1948, HA 105/98, 110.
171. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'.
172. Ibid.; 'Arab News Bulletin', July 10, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75.
173. 'Flight from Aqir', May 5, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 244.
174. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 68', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9; Agam report, July 15, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1226.
175. Yiftach to General Staff, May 1, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1226; Yiftach HQ, 'Daily Report', July 11, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237.
176. Tene, May 12, 1948 HA 105/92a, p. 252.
177. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 68', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9; Danny HQ to General Staff, July 16, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176, p. 42.
178. Ibid.; Danny HQ to General Staff, July 16, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176, p. 42.
179. Yiftach/Intelligence, 'Daily Report', July 13, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237.
180. Harel to Matkal, May 16, 1948, IDFA 1954/464/1.
181. Naim to Tene, 'Operation Nahshon', April 7, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 181; 'Tene News', April 22, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 87.
182. 'Arab News', July 11, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 141.
183. Rivlin and Sinai, Hativat Alexandroni, 280; Allon to General Staff, July 13, 1948, 1975/922/1176; 'More Villages Captured', Palestine Post, July 14, 1948.
184. Givati to General Staff, July 16, 1948, 1975/922/1176, p. 43; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
185. 'Arab News Bulletin', July 10, 1948, IDFA 1949/5254/75; Givati Operational Logbook, July 16, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1226.
186. Givati Operational Logbook, July 16, 1948.
187. Debriefing of a Jimzu resident, July 13, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 77.
188. Yiftach/Intelligence, 'Daily Report', July 11, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1237.
189. Givati Operational Logbook, July 16, 1948.
190. Orren, Baderekh, 147.
191. Naim to Tene, 'Operation Nahshon', April 7, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 181; 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector up to June 11, 1948', HA 105/92b, p. 149.
192. 'Hanes Hagadol', 18.
193. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 258.
194. Tene, 'Migration from December to the End of February', HA 105/102, p. 14; Village Files, HA 105/134, p. 76; 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector up to June 11, 1948', HA 105/92b, p. 149.
195. Ibid.; Givati to Matkal, May 15, 1948, IDFA 1954/464/1.
196. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'; Tene, 'Migration from December to the End of February', 14.
197. Orren, Baderekh, 178-83.
198. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'; Agam/Hashmonai, 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 17', June 14, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/6.
199. 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector', 149.
200. Doron to Tene, 'Qazaza Evacuation', HA 105/257, 10; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
201. Village Files, HA 105/134, p. 208; 'The Qubab Village is Captured', Haaretz, June 4, 1948.
202. Doron to Tene, 'Report on the Qubeiba Operation', May 30, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 55; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
203. Rivlin and Sinai, Hativat Alexandroni, 288, 291-9.
204. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
205. 'Hashmonai Bulletin No. 68', July 17, 1948, IDFA 1949/2504/9.
206. 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector', 149.
207. Ibid.
208. Toldot Milhemet Haqomemiut, 262.
209. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 263.
210. Rivlin and Sinai, Hativat Alexandroni, 288.
211. 02117 to Tene, 'In Wadi Hunein', January 5, 1948, HA 105/148, p. 195; 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector', 149.
212. 'Qaqun in the "Triangle" and Arab Yibna in the South Captured by Our Armies', Haaretz, June 6, 1948.
213. Doron to Tene, 'The Zarnuqa Village', May 30, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 225.
214. Operational Headquarters to General Staff/operations, 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain', December 2, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1025.
215. Doron to Tene, 'Batani Sharqi', May 13, 1948 HA 105/92a, p. 47; 'Tene News', May 12, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 106.
216. 'Capture of Villages', June 14, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 91.
217. 'Tene News', May 23, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 121; Arif al-Arif, al-Nakba: Nakbat Bait al-Maqdis wa-l-Firdaws al-Mafqud (Beirut: al-Maktaba al-Asriya, 1956), Vol. 3, 720.
218. 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'; Front D to General Staff, November 5, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176, p. 136; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 571.
219. 'Hanes Hagadol', 95.
220. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
221. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations', October 18, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/900.
222. Doron to Tene, 'An Attack on Hamama', June 9, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 193; 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
223. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 324.
224. Ibid., 571; 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
225. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 15-December 9', IDFA 1975/922/900; Benjamin Magen to General Staff, October 20, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176, p. 118.
226. 'Tene News', May 23, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 121.
227. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations', October 16-17, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/900.
228. Ibid., November 10, 1948; Arif Arif, al-Nakba, Vol. 3, 718.
229. 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
230. 'Tene News', May 23, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 121; Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 263.
231. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 571; 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
232. Weitz et al., 'Memorandum'; 'Capture of Villages', June 14, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 91; 'Tene News', May 23, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 121.
233. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 571.
234. 'Interrogation of Khalil Hajj Ahmad Muslih', June 21, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 102.
235. 'Tene News', May 23, 1948, HA 105/98, p. 121.
236. Sergei to General Staff, August 16, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1176; Yiftah/Intelligence to General Staff, September 24, 1948, IDFA 1975/922/1214.
237. Fifth Brigade/Intelligence, 'Summary of Operations, October 15-December 9', IDFA 1975/922/900.
238. 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
239. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 263.
240. Sergei to Matkal, May 28, 1948, IDFA 1954/464/1.
241. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 571; 'Evacuation of the Coastal Plain'.
242. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 262.
243. 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector', 149; Doron to Tene, 'Capture of the Sawafirs', May 19, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 14.
244. Doron to Tene, 'Capture of the Sawafirs'; Doron to Tene, 'The Capture of Beit Daras', May 13, 1948, HA 105/92a, p. 46; Village Files, HA 105/143, pp. 39, 46; 'Summary of Conquests in the Southern Sector', 149.
245. Ayalon, Hativat Givati, 254.
246. Ibid., 263.
246 E. Karsh
247. 'Capture of Villages', June 14, 1948, HA 105/92b, p. 91.
248. Bulgarim to Matkal, 'Daily Report', June 12, 1948, IDFA, 1975/922/1214.
249. Tene, 'Migration'.
250. The Village Statistics set the number of the Negev Bedouins on 47,980; 17,470 of these, according to Israeli figures, remained in situ. See: Military Administration HQ, 'Table of the Arab Population by Settlements and Religions, February 15, 1950', IDFA 1960/28/29.
251. Ibid.