In the 1980s Israel and United-Kingdom opened up part of their archives for investigation by historians. This favored a more critical and factual analysis of the 1948 events. As a result more detailed and comprehensive description of the Palestinian exodus was published, notably Morris’
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem.
Morris distinguishes
four waves of refugees, the second, third and fourth of them coinciding with Israeli military offensives, when Arab Palestinians fled the fights or were expelled. The initial Israeli position has been replaced by a new version : the exodus was caused by neither Israeli nor Arab policies, but rather was a by-product of the
1948 Palestine War.
[5]
A document produced by the Israeli Defence Forces Intelligence Service entitled "The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period 1/12/1947/- 1/6/1948" was dated June 30, 1948 and became widely known around 1985.
The document details 11 factors which caused the exodus, and lists them "in order of importance"
Direct, hostile Jewish [
Haganah/
IDF ] operations against Arab settlements
The effect of our [Haganah/IDF] hostile operations against nearby [Arab] settlements...... (... especially -the fall of large neighbouring centers)
Operation of [Jewish] dissidents [
Irgun Tzvai Leumi and
Lohamei Herut Yisrael]
Orders and decrees by Arab institutions and gangs [irregulars]
Jewish whispering operations [psychological warfare], aimed at frightening away Arab inhabitants
Ultimate expulsion orders [by Jewish forces]
Fear of Jewish [retaliatory] response [following] major Arab attack on Jews
The appearance of gangs [irregular Arab forces] and non-local fighters in the vicinity of a village
Fear of Arab invasion and its consequences [mainly near the borders]
Isolated Arab villages in purely [predominantly] Jewish areas
Various local factors and general fear of the future
[6