The 1948 Palestinian exodus, known in Arabic as the Nakba occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left , fled or were expelled from their homes, during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War and the
Civil War that preceded it.
[2] The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute.
[3] The causes remain the subject of fundamental disagreement between Arabs and Israelis...
Nur-eldeen Masalha writes that over 80 percent of the Arab inhabitants left their towns and villages in 1948, while
Rashid Khalidi puts the percentage at 50.
[4][5] Factors involved in the flight include the voluntary self-removal of the wealthier classes,
[6] the collapse in Palestinian leadership,
[7] an unwillingness to live under Jewish control,
[8] Jewish military advances, and fears of massacre after
Deir Yassin,
[9]:239–240 which caused many to leave out of panic. Later,
a series of laws passed by the first Israeli government prevented them from returning to their homes, or claiming their property. They and many of their descendants remain
refugees.
[10][11] Later in the war, Palestinians were expelled as part of
Plan Dalet.
[12] The expulsion of the Palestinians has since been described by some historians as
ethnic cleansing,
[13][14][15] while others dispute this charge.
[16][17]
During the
1949 Lausanne conference, Israel proposed allowing the return of 100,000 of the refugees as a goodwill gesture prior to negotiation for the whole refugee population,
[18] though not necessarily to their homes, and including 25,000 who had returned surreptitiously and 10,000 family-reunion cases.
[9]:577 "Israel formally informed the PCC of its readiness to take back '100,000' refugees on 3 August, making it conditional on 'retaining all present territory' and on the freedom to resettle the returnees where it saw fit."
[9]:577 The proposal was conditional on a peace treaty that would allow Israel to retain the territory it had taken, and on the Arab states absorbing the remaining 550,000–650,000 refugees. "The Arab states rejected the proposal on both moral and political grounds."
[19]
The status of the refugees, and in particular whether Israel will grant them their claimed
right to return to their homes or be compensated, are key issues in the ongoing
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The events of 1948 are commemorated by Palestinians on 15 May, now known as
Nakba Day