Ruling Palestine

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Table 4: Destroyed and/or depopulated Palestinian localities (comparative figures) Reference: Towns Villages Tribes Total Morris 10 342 17 369 Khalidi 1 400 17 418 Abu Sitta 13 419 99 531 Note: For information on methodologies; see: Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987); Walid Khalidi (ed.), All that Remains. The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 (Washington, D.C: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992), App. IV, pp. xix, 585-586; and Salman Abu Sitta, The Palestinian Nakba 1948 (London: The Palestinian Return Centre, 2000). Morris’s list of affected localities, the shortest of the three, includes towns but excludes other localities cited by Khalidi and/ or Abu Sitta. The six sources compared in Khalidi’s study have in common 296 of the villages listed as destroyed and/or depopulated. Sixty other villages are cited in all but one source. Of the total of 418 localities cited in Khalidi, 292 (70 percent) were completely destroyed and 90 (22 percent) “largely destroyed”. Khalidi notes that in cases where habitations were not completely demolished or obliterated, Jewish families simply moved into homes belonging to Palestinians who had fled. He also notes that other sources refer to an additional 151 localities that are omitted from his study for various reasons (for example, major cities and towns that were depopulated, as well as some Bedouin encampments and villages ‘vacated’ before the start of hostilities). Abu Sitta’s list, which is the most comprehensive, includes tribes in Beersheba that lost lands; most of these were omitted from Khalidi’s work. 40 4.2.1 The creation of the Palestinian refugee issue For Palestinians, the return of the refugees to their homes and homeland is of paramount importance — indeed, it is an internationally recognised right. The State of Israel, however, continues to reject the return of Palestinian refugees. The exodus of Palestinian Arabs from their homeland has been explained in different ways. Historians generally cite one or more of six contributing factors: expulsion by Jewish/Israeli forces, military assault on the locality in question, fear of attacks, abandonment (on Arab orders), psychological warfare, and the effect or impact of similar actions in neighbouring villages and towns. According to Salman Abu Sitta, Jewish/Israeli forces launched as many as 30 identifiable military operations in the period 1948-49, resulting in the fleeing or expulsion of over 804 000 Palestinians and the destruction and/or depopulation of 531 Palestinian towns, villages and tribal localities. Abu Sitta identifies 35 major massacres that were perpetrated in the same period (many of which are also substantiated by Morris). Half of these took place before Arab armies entered the war. Abu Sitta, citing recently declassified material from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as eyewitness reports, sheds new light on that period. One of his contentions is that forced (Palestinian) labour was used to move along the process of demolition and expulsion. In Abu Sitta’s words: The village is [i.e. was] attacked and besieged from three sides leaving the fourth open to facilitate expulsion. Men and women were separated into two groups. The women with children were expelled to Lebanon, Jenin, Ramallah or Gaza (depending on location) after being stripped of their valuables. Young men, about 20-100 in number, were selected, shot and killed in groups of 4-6, after an earlier group had been ordered to dig mass graves for them. Other able-bodied men were taken to labour camps. Their immediate task was to bury the dead in other villages, to demolish Arab houses, to remove the debris from already demolished houses and carry salvaged items to Jewish homes. Generally they did arduous and dangerous jobs. They were fed a slice of bread daily. They were kept in crammed concentration camps. Their conditions improved after ICRC visits. 41 40 Another study, involving field research and comparisons with British and other documents, concludes that 472 Palestinian habitations (including towns and villages) were destroyed in 1948. It notes that the devastation was virtually complete in some sub-districts. For example, 96.0% of the villages in the Jaffa area were totally destroyed, as were 90.0% of those in Tiberias, 90.3% of those in Safad, and 95.9% of those in Beisan. It also extrapolates from 1931 British census data to estimate that over 70 280 Palestinian houses were destroyed in this period; see Abdul Jawad Saleh and Walid Mustafa, Palestine: The Collective Destruction of Palestinian Villages and Zionist Colonisation 1882-1982 (London: Jerusalem Centre for Development Studies, 1987), p. 30. 41 Salman Abu Sitta, Labour camps in Palestine, 19 May 2002 (posted on Al-Awda listserve). LAND ACQUISITION, LAND LAWS AND COLONISATION POLICIES WITHIN THE STATE OF ISRAEL (1948-1967) — SECTION 4 33
Relying on ICRC and other materials, Abu Sitta reveals instances where Jewish forces used lethal chemical and biological agents against Arabs during the 1948 War. Examples include the injection of typhoid into Acre’s water supply in the spring of 1948, and in Gaza soon after, and the planting of biological agents that caused an outbreak of cholera in Syria and Egypt around 1947. 42 Table 5, below, summarises Abu Sitta’s findings on eight distinct phases in the depopulation of Palestine between 1947-1949: Phase: Table 5: Summary of information on the depopulation of Palestinian towns and villages (1947-1949) 29 Nov. 1947 - Mar. 1948 Partition Plan to Plan Dalet Apr. - 13 May 1948 Plan Dalet to State of Israel (Tiberias, Jaffa, Haifa, Safad, etc.) 15 May - 11 June 1948 15 May to 1st Truce (an additional 90 villages) 12 June - 18 July 1948 (Lydda/Ramleh, Nazareth, etc.) 19 July - 24 Oct. 1948 (Galilee and southern areas) 24 Oct. - 5 Nov. 1948 (Galilee, etc.) 5 Nov. 1948 - 18 Jan. 1949 (Negev, etc.) No. of destroyed/ depopulated localities No. of refugees Jewish/Israeli lands (km 2 ) 30 >22 600 * 1 159.4 199 >400 000 3 363.9 290 >500 000 3 943.1 378 >628 000 5 224.2 418 >664 000 7 719.6 465 >730 000 10 099.6 481 >754 000 12 366.3 19 Jan. - 20 July 1949 (Negev, etc.) 531 >804 000 20 350.0 * Other sources put this figure at over 70 000. Note: Source: Salman Abu Sitta, From Refugees to Citizens at Home (London: Palestine Land Society and Palestinian Return Centre, 2001), which includes extensive maps and charts on all these phases. In contrast, Morris puts the number of displaced Palestinians at no more than 760 000. He identifies four ‘waves’ of Arabs fleeing Palestine: 1. December 1947 to March 1948; 2. April to June 1948; 3. 9 to 18 July 1948, and 18 July 1948 to 15 October 1948; and 4. October to November 1948. Morris also maintains that the majority of refugees, between 250 000 and 400 000 ‘went into exile’ between April and mid-June 1948, largely as a result of Jewish military and paramilitary attacks or due to fears of such attacks. 43 42 For a full account, see Salman Abu Sitta, Traces of Poison, http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/627/focus.htm. There is mounting evidence that Israel used an unknown type of nerve agent against Palestinians in Khan Yunis (Gaza) in 2001 and elsewhere in the West Bank. Victims suffered pain and uncontrollable convulsions. Abu Sitta and a few journalists refer to these incidents. Documentary filmmaker James Longley captures scenes of Palestinians affected by this gas in his film, The Gaza Strip (2002). 43 Morris (n. 36 above), pp. 21, 102. 34 SECTION 4 — LAND ACQUISITION, LAND LAWS AND COLONISATION POLICIES WITHIN THE STATE OF ISRAEL (1948-1967)
Page 1 and 2: A HISTORY OF THE LEGALLY SANCTIONED
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Page 7 and 8: Executive summary The purpose of th
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Page 55 and 56: The land specified in the First Sch
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Page 79 and 80: Table 6, below, summarises data on
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The requisition of privately owned
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5.4.2.3 Military Orders and regulat
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Another separate set of Military Or
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Under Jordanian rule, cultivators h
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In addition to this inequitable off
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Military Order 166, Order Concernin
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Certain Military Orders were issued
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within their own municipalities. Pa
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Military Order 448, Order Concernin
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ecoming invalidated. By so extendin
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MO 92 Order Concerning Jurisdiction
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2. The second stage, 1971-1979, was
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20 January 1986, stipulates that th
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Jewish settlements in the Occupied
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5.5.2 Jewish settlers and settlemen
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Table 8: Land controlled by Jewish
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As in the West Bank, accurate infor
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This regulation further provides th
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Israeli settlements are exempt from
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Art. 2(2): States Parties shall, wh
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According to United Nations General
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This disparity in housing provision
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Responsibility for overseeing home
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• A contract of purchase/lease of
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many of the expropriations for ‘u
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Notes: Adapted from Table No. 6,
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Current plans envisage Ma’ale Adu
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The Oslo Accords were the latest in
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7.2 Establishing ‘facts on the gr
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Building road networks Israel embar
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We conclude this study by summarisi
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Furthermore, the town of Qalqilya l
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e completely demilitarised. It will
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8.6 Final conclusions This study do
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Appendix 1 1-a The Balfour declarat
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Appendix 2 Laws of the State of Isr
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• Roads and Railways (Defence and
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• Negev Land Acquisition (Peace T
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Nevertheless, the Occupying Power m
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Art. 13: 1. Everyone has the right
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or acts of, such discrimination and
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Art. V. Persons charged with the ac
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12. The Committee rejects the State
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the continued Israeli policies of b
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01/03/1980 S/RES/465: Israeli settl
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“Directs the Chief of Staff to co
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event of non-compliance by Israel w
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It calls upon “all States not to
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2. SC Resolution 259 (1968) of 27 S
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9. SC Resolution 471 (1980) of 5 Ju
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14. SC Resolution 605 (1987) of 22
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21. SC Resolution 681 (1990) of 20
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4. Requests the co-sponsors of the
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2. Affirms further the necessity (a
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06/05/2004 A/RES/58/292 Status of t
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08/12/2000 A/RES/55/131 Israeli pra
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16/12/1996 A/RES/51/190 Sovereignty
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13/12/1990 A/RES/45/83(A-C) Mideast
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13/12/1983 A/RES/38/58(A-E) Palesti
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28/10/1977 A/RES/32/5 Israeli measu
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27/11/1953 A/RES/720(VIII) (A+B) Pa
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10. Instructs the Conciliation Comm
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4. A/RES/56/52 of 10 Dec. 2001 (Ass
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5. Calls upon all the parties conce
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2. Deplores the transfer by some St
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Selected UN General Assembly resolu
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3. A/RES/ES-10/8 of 20 Dec. 2001 (i
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Regretting that the obligations und
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1. Acknowledges the proclamation of
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3-e International Court of Justice,
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incumbent upon it (see paragraphs 1
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157. With regard to international h
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Glossary of terms Dunum (or dunam):
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Central to Zionist thought is the c
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Bibliography and recommended readin
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BEN, Aluf, and ALON, Gideon, ‘PM
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FARSAKH, Leila, ‘Palestinian Labo
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KAMEN, Charles S., ‘After the Cat
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______, The Palestine Question in M
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UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGE
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Ruling Palestine

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