Palestinians Refugees in 1947-48 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Palestinians Refugees in 1947-48 - Assignment Example the plan, it was approved and almost immediately fighting broke out between the two sides, both of whom were deeply attached to their homes and saw no reason to abandon it to the other (Price, 2003). Claims are in dispute over why almost 700,000 Arabs from Palestine became refugees, and from both sides accusations are contested even to this day. Arabs maintain that they were driven from their homes by Jewish forces which started out as fellow citizens of Palestine, but would later come from the recognized Jewish state of Israel (Price, 2003). Israel claims that no one ever forced Palestinians to abandon their homes; they left instead on instructions from trusted Arab leaders (Price, 2003). Regardless of the reasons, once-revered citizens were becoming refugees in great numbers. There is evidence that massacres and scare tactics were used on Arab settlements to drive out its inhabitants, causing them to become refugees. Threats were issued via posters and notecards by Jewish forces, soon followed by grenades and buildings being exploded on the pretense that they were being used as Arab military sites (Krystall, 1998). The city of Jerusalem and its surrounding villages were the site of many of these tactics, with 28,000 Arabs soon fleeing in order to avoid more fighting or the loss of their lives (Krystall, 1998). 50,000 Arabs were expelled from the villages of Lydda and Ramle (Benin & Hajjar). The town of Dayr Yasin saw the worst massacre, as on April 9, 1948, Jewish forces killed everyone in the village, even after they proclaimed surrender (Krystall, 1998). Thereafter, the name of the village was used as another scare tactic against Arabs, as loudspeakers proclaimed day and night â€Å"Unless you leave your homes, the fate of Dayr Yasin will be yours!â⠂¬  (Krystall, 1998, 10). Arabs were not alone in their refugee status. Jewish citizens became refugees as well, but under different circumstances. Theirs was a better fate as they had a new nation bordering the old