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The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 (Cambridge Middle East Library) Reprint. Edition

by Benny Morris (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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This book is the first full-length study of the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem. Based on recently declassified Israeli, British and American state and party political papers and on hitherto untapped private papers, it traces the stages of the 1947–9 exodus against the backdrop of the first Arab-Israeli war and analyses the varied causes of the flight. The Jewish and Arab decision-making involved, on national and local levels, military and political, is described and explained, as is the crystallisation of Israel's decision to bar a refugee repatriation. The subsequent fate of the abandoned Arab villages, lands and urban neighbourhoods is examined. The study looks at the international context of the war and the exodus, and describes the political battle over the refugees' fate, which effectively ended with the deadlock at Lausanne in summer 1949. Throughout the book attempts to describe what happened rather than what successive generations of Israeli and Arab propagandists have said happened, and to explain the motives of the protagonists.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0521338891
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0521338899
  3. Edition
    Reprint.
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    February 24, 1989
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    400 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'This excellent myth-debunking book … deserves a wide readership among those who want to understand what has happened in Israel over the last 40 years rather than repeat discredited propaganda which serves only to prolong the war.' The Spectator

'This latest addition to the Cambridge Middle East Library is a book of exceptional importance. It will be required reading for anyone who professes a serious interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict over Palestine. Its conclusions, which invalidate many of the assumptions commonly made about the origins of the conflict, need to be taken into account in any attempt to devise a solution to it.' Arab Affairs

'… the most comprehensive and detailed study yet published on the Palestinian refugees.' The Economist

Book Description

This book is the first full-length study of the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; Reprint. edition (February 24, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521338891
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521338899
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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Benny Morris

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4 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Seems to be Unbiased History
    Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Historical book about facts on the topic.
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  • "nukemind"
    5.0 out of 5 stars Morris hits another home run with this superb effort!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2002
    What makes this and other similar works by Israel's "new" historians significant is that they are coming around to what academics in Europe and some even in America have known for decades, that Israel forced the majority of Palestinians out of Israel through the use of terrorism, mass murder, and forced expulsions. Morris has joined the growing number of Israelis and Jewish Americans who are coming out and looking at Israel's past without rose colored glasses and this is, of course, angering Israel's supporters who hold to such laughable notions that the Arabs left of their own accord or were instructed to leave by other Arab leaders for some reason that remains mysterious. One might as well claim that the Native Americans moved to reservations because they wanted a change of scenery. The criticism aimed at this book is part of the usual obfuscation process to make it seem as if "there are two truths" or that Morris and the multitude of Israeli historians like him are all prone to hyperbole." This is nonsensical to say the least. Neutral academics who aren't involved in this conflict and Israeli Jews such as Morris receive nothing but constant "criticism" for revealing the truth about this conflict to wider audiences in Israel and America (the Europeans and others in the world don't require "new" or "revisionist" history as they have been aware of the Palestinian refugee problem and what caused it since it happened). The declassified information found in Israeli official archives is nothing new to much of the world, but it does help those people who know very little about this conflict or have the wrong idea in Israel and the US. Many of the critics who have attempted to "pan" Benny Morris' work are the same "academics" who support such charlatans as Joan Peters. They don't want people to learn the obvious truth and see past the propoganda. This is especially important here in the United States where pro-Israeli sentiments run high and blind support for that apartheid regime is unwavering. Also, the critics don't note some of the interesting insights Morris gives such as pointing to some Israeli actions as purely military and not meant to drive out Palestinians (and thus supporting pro-Israeli views), but they still had that effect anyway. Morris doesn't protray the Zionists as some evil army, just a well organized one that planned for and carried out an expansionist campaign designed to disenfranchise the Palestinians of their lands. The war was fought weeks before an Arab armies even announced their intentions to "attack" Israel and yet strangely all the fighting took place in Palestinian designated regions. We also get some interesting insights into the major players like David Ben-Gurion who was one of the master planners of the Zionist plot to conquer Palestine. Morris, contrary to what some reviewers claim, is actually quite balanced and neutral and isn't as harsh towards the Israeli side as purported (he's actually a Zionist himself). Morris is just not interested in living in some fantasyland that has been built up largely in Israel and the United States that the Arabs were all rabid anti-Jewish masses waiting to attack the Jews and that the fledgling Zionists did what they had to do to survive. It was not survival which they sought, it was conquest and expansion. And even many Israeli academics have arrived at what has been obvious to the rest of the world. Highly recommended.
    39 people found this helpful
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  • Eric Maroney
    5.0 out of 5 stars history as it should be written: to upset comfortable notions
    Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2007
    The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947-1949, is the work which started a new trend in Israeli historiography 30 years ago. I believe the book has aged well, and if read without an overarching agenda for either side, appears to be a fair assessment of the creation of what would become one of the most difficult and long lasting problems in Arab-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian relations: the creation of nearly 700,000 Palestinian refugees during the Israeli War of Independence. Morris explains, in exacting detail, how the decision to expel Arabs from what would become Israel was nearly always an ad hoc procedure, and nearly always guided by what was believed to be military necessity. Morris does what every good historian should do: he complicates what most people believe to be a rather simple picture of the past. For the Zionist myth, that Arabs fled from Israel without force because they did not have a firm commitment to their land; for the Palestinian side, that they were expelled because of an overarching policy of ethnic cleansing by the Yishuv and later the State of Israel. The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem shows that both sides are wrong in the purity of their assumptions. The motivations for Arabs to flee and Jews to expel ran a full spectrum, and in many cases had multiple motivations. Like all good history, this work shows not that events that occurred were inevitable, but that they were accidents, and inevitable only in so far as life is marred by the unexpected.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • J.T.
    1.0 out of 5 stars Changing History for the sake of changing it
    Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2010
    As Qouted in the book:
    David Ben Gurion: "[We] must expel Arabs and take their places" Appearing in this book, p. 25.

    Original:
    We do not wish, we do not need to expel the Arabs and take their place. All our aspirations are built upon the assumption -- proven throughout all our activity in the Land -- that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.
    We do not wish, we do not need to expel the Arabs and take their place. All our aspirations are built upon the assumption -- proven throughout all our activity in the Land -- that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.

    Beware of political agenda interfering with the Science of History and post-modern trends of "breaking myths" for the sake of it!
    15 people found this helpful
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