The Nakba and 1948
Accusation: Israel is accused of stealing Palestinian land in 1948 and ethnically cleansing the Arab population in what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe.
The Short Answer
No. In 1947 the UN voted to create a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted.
Arab leaders rejected the plan, and five Arab armies invaded Israel the day after it was born. About 700,000 Arabs fled or were expelled during that war. In the years that followed, some 850,000 Jews were driven out of Arab countries, a story the world ignores.
There Was No Palestinian State to Steal From
Before 1948 the land was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for four centuries and then by the British Mandate. There was never an independent Palestinian Arab state with its own government in this land.
Before independence, Jews bought land legally, often at high prices from absentee landowners living in Beirut, Damascus or Cairo. The Jewish National Fund and private buyers drained swamps and built farms on land that others had abandoned.
The UN Partition Plan
On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181. It divided the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international control.
The Jewish leadership accepted the plan, even though it was small and difficult to defend. The Arab Higher Committee and the Arab League rejected it and launched attacks on Jewish communities the very next day.
The Arab Invasion of 1948
On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel. The next day the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded. Arab leaders openly promised a war of extermination.
Israel survived, but at a terrible cost. About 6,000 Israelis were killed, roughly one percent of the Jewish population at the time.
Why Arabs Left
Historians still debate the causes. Many Arabs fled the fighting, as civilians do in every war. Some left at the urging of Arab leaders who expected a quick victory. In some battles, Arab residents were expelled.
Those who stayed became citizens of Israel. About 150,000 Arabs remained in 1949. Today their descendants number more than two million, with full voting rights. Read more: Is Israel an Apartheid State?
The Forgotten Jewish Refugees
After 1948, Jewish communities that had lived in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Libya and Morocco for over two thousand years were persecuted and pushed out. Around 850,000 Jews became refugees. Israel absorbed most of them.
Meanwhile, Jordan ruled the West Bank and Egypt ruled Gaza from 1948 to 1967. Neither created a Palestinian state during those nineteen years.
Key Facts About 1948
The UN voted for a Jewish state and an Arab state on November 29, 1947.
The Jews accepted partition. The Arab leadership rejected it.
Five Arab armies invaded Israel on May 15, 1948.
About 700,000 Arabs became refugees, and about 850,000 Jews were later forced out of Arab lands.
Jordan and Egypt held the West Bank and Gaza until 1967 without creating a Palestinian state.
How to Respond
Ask why the Arab leadership rejected a Palestinian state in 1947.
Ask who started the war of 1948. Wars launched to destroy a neighbor have consequences.
Remind people of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, who were never compensated.
Point out that the Arabs who stayed in Israel are citizens with full rights today.
Conclusion
The tragedy of 1948 was the result of a war that Arab leaders chose to start against a UN approved Jewish state. Israel did not steal a country. It survived an invasion, and it built a democracy that includes Jews and Arabs alike.