First, there was always a Jewish presence in Palestine. Second, it was not Arab land, it was Turkish land, subsequently administered by the British under a League of Nations mandate. Third, the Yishuv, the term for the proto- Israeli government, accepted the partition, and the "Jabotinsky" elements were a minority without much influence in the councils of the Yishuv. Fourth, although there are incidents where it is likely that some Arabs were scared away, the main refugee population was created on the advice of the Arab Powers themselves, "temporarily", as they drove the Jews into the sea.
Why would you accept as gospel each and every element of the Palestinian "defense", even when it diverges from the best non- partisan record, as in the case of the main cause of Palestinian Arab flight? |
