ALAN GORDON CUNNINGHAM

When the United Nations partitioned Palestine into a Jewish and a Palestinian State the Arab Countries all jointly militarily attacked the fledgling Jewish State of Israel. Despite the Israeli’s being overwhelmingly outnumbered they beat back the invaders. However while many Arabs stayed on their Israeli land and some helped the Jews defend against the Arab Armies, some others abandoned their homes and land and went to neighboring Arab Counties. This is what they had been asked to do by the Arab governments who wanted to be able to militarily attack communities without worrying about killing Arabs. To spur the evacuation the Arab leadership spread false propaganda about Israeli atrocities and frightened them into leaving. As a motivation to leave they were told that they could move into the Jewish lands and property when the Jews had been driven out. To make matters worse, some Israeli radicals repeated the lies to induce the Arabs to abandon their lands. In at least one case, Arabs who stayed were subjected to Jewish violence. Each side has since railed about what the other side did at that point in time and each fails to mention how they contributed to the refugee problem.

When the United Nations partitioned Palestine into a Jewish and a Palestinian State the Arab Countries all jointly militarily attacked the fledgling Jewish State of Israel. Despite the Israeli’s being overwhelmingly outnumbered they beat back the invaders. However while many Arabs stayed on their Israeli land and some helped the Jews defend against the Arab Armies, some others abandoned their homes and land and went to neighboring Arab Counties. This is what they had been asked to do by the Arab governments who wanted to be able to militarily attack communities without worrying about killing Arabs. To spur the evacuation the Arab leadership spread false propaganda about Israeli atrocities and frightened them into leaving. As a motivation to leave they were told that they could move into the Jewish lands and property when the Jews had been driven out. To make matters worse, some Israeli radicals repeated the lies to induce the Arabs to abandon their lands. In at least one case, Arabs who stayed were subjected to Jewish violence. Each side has since railed about what the other side did at that point in time and each fails to mention how they contributed to the refugee problem.