1948 Palestinian exodus from Lydda and RamleFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1948 Palestinian exodus from Lydda and Ramle

An Israeli soldier accepts a cigarette from an Arab resident in Lydda after

the fall of the city

Other names Lydda death march

Participants Israel Defense Forces, Arab Legion, Arab residents

of Lydda and Ramle

Location Lydda, Ramle, and surrounding villages, then part of

the Mandate for Palestine, now part ofIsrael

Date July 1948

Result 50,000–70,000 residents fled from, or were expelled by, the

IDF

The 1948 Palestinian exodus from Lydda and Ramle was the expulsion of 50,000–70,000 Palestinian Arabs

whenIsraeli troops captured the towns in July that year. The military action occurred within the context of

the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The towns, which were predominately Arab areas in Palestine at the time, and

which the UN partition resolution had designated to be in the Arab nation, became predominantly Jewish areas

in the new State of Israel, known as Lodand Ramla.[1]

The decision of the Arab governments to renew the fighting and ignore the UN call for a truce prompted Israel

to try to improve its control over the Jerusalem road and its coastal route which were under pressure from the

Jordanian Arab Legion, Egyptian and Palestinian forces. From the Israeli perspective, the conquest of the

towns averted an Arab threat to Tel Aviv, thwarted an Arab Legion advance by clogging the roads with

refugees, and helped demoralize nearby Arab cities.[2]

Ramle surrendered immediately, but the conquest of Lydda took longer and led to an unknown number of

deaths; Israeli historian Benny Morris suggests up to 450 Arabs and 9–10 Israeli soldiers died.[3] Once the

Israelis were in control of the towns, an expulsion order signed by Yitzhak Rabin was issued to the Israel

Defense Forces (IDF) stating, "1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age.

…",[4] Ramle's residents were bussed out, while the people of Lydda were forced to walk miles during a

summer heat wave to the Arab front lines, where the Arab Legion,Transjordan's British-led army, tried to

provide shelter and supplies.[5] Quite a few of the refugees died from exhaustion and dehydration. Estimates

ranged from a handful to a figure of 350 based on hearsay reason why the events are also referred as

the Lydda death march.[6]

The events in Lydda and Ramle accounted for one-tenth of the overall Arab exodus from Palestine, known in

the Arab world as al-Nakba ("the catastrophe"). Many Jews who came to Israel between 1948 and 1951 settled

in the refugees' empty homes, both because of a housing shortage and as a matter of policy to prevent former

residents from reclaiming them. One of the key issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is whether the refugees

and their descendants ought to have either compensation for their loses or the right of return, a concession that

would threaten Israel's identity as aJewish state.[7]

Contents

  [hide]

1 Background

o 1.1 1948 Arab-Israeli War

o 1.2 Strategic importance of Lydda and Ramle

o 1.3 Operation Dani

o 1.4 Lydda's defenses

2 Fall of the cities

o 2.1 Air attacks and surrender of Ramle

o 2.2 Moshe Dayan raid on Lydda

o 2.3 Surrender and unexpected shooting in Lydda by Arab legionnaires

o 2.4 Alleged Massacre in Lydda

3 Exodus

o 3.1 Expulsion orders

o 3.2 Shitrit/Shertok intervention

o 3.3 The exodus

o 3.4 The march

o 3.5 Looting of refugees and the towns

4 Aftermath

o 4.1 In Ramallah, Amman, and elsewhere

o 4.2 Situation of the refugees

o 4.3 Resettlement of the cities

o 4.4 Artistic reception

o 4.5 Four figures after the exodus

5 Historiography

6 Lod and Ramla today

7 Notes

8 References

9 Further reading

[edit]Background

[edit]1948 Arab-Israeli War

Palestine in 1947, showing Lydda and Ramle

Palestine was under British rule from 1917 to 1948. After 30 years of conflict between the country's Jews and

Arabs, the British decided to pull out of the area and on 30 November 1947 the United Nations voted to divide

it into a Jewish and an Arab state, with Lydda and Ramle to form part of the latter.

The proposal was welcomed by Palestine's Jewish community but rejected by the Arabs and civil war broke out

between the communities triggering the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The British rule ended on 14 May 1948, the

State of Israel declared its independence.[8] Arab League intervened and Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Transjordan

forces invaded Palestine and engaged Israeli troops. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war started.

[edit]Strategic importance of Lydda and Ramle

Lydda (Arabic: Al-Ludd د��� �ل �ل three kilometers ,(الرملة ar-Ramlah) dates back to at least 5600–5250 BCE. Ramle (ا

away, was founded in the 8th century CE. Both towns were strategically important because they sat at the

intersection of Palestine's main north–south and east–west roads. Palestine's main railway junction and its

airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport) were in Lydda, and the main source of Jerusalem's water supply

was 15 kilometers away.[9] Jewish and Arab fighters had been attacking each other on roads near the towns

since hostilities broke out in December 1947. Israeli geographer Arnon Golan writes that the Arabs had blocked

Jewish transport to Jerusalem at Ramle, forcing the Israelis to build a bypass called the Burma Road. Israel

had launched several ground or air attacks on Ramle and Latrun in May 1948, and Israel's prime minister,

David Ben-Gurion, developed what Benny Morris calls an obsession with the towns; he wrote in his diary that

they had to be destroyed, and on 16 June referred to them during an Israeli cabinet meeting as the "two

thorns".[10] Lydda's local Arab authority that was officially subordinated to the Arab Higher Committee assumed

local civic and military powers. The records of Lydda's military command discuss military training, constructing

obstacles and trenches, requisitioning vehicles and assembling armored cars armed with machine-guns, and

attempts at arms procurement. In April 1948, Lydda had become an arms supply center, and a provided

military training and security coordination for the neighboring villagers.[2]

[edit]Operation Dani

Israel subsequently launched Operation Dani to secure the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road and neutralize any threat

to Tel Aviv from the Arab Legion, which was stationed in Ramallah and Latrun, with a number of men in Lydda.

[11] On 7 July the IDF appointed Yigal Allon to head the operation, and Yitzhak Rabin, who became Israel's

prime minister in 1974, as his operations officer; both had served in the Palmach, an elite fighting force of the

pre-Israel Jewish community in Palestine. The operation was carried out between 9 July 1948, the end of the

first truce in the Arab-Israeli war, and 18 July, the start of the second truce, a period known in Israeli

historiography as the Ten Days. Morris writes that the IDF assembled its largest force ever: the Yiftah brigade;

the Eighth Armored Brigade's 82nd and 89th Battalions; three battalions of Kiryati and Alexandroni infantry

men; an estimated 6,000 men with around 30 artillery pieces.[12][13]

[edit]Lydda's defenses

Lydda in 1920 with St. George's Church in the background

In July 1948 Lydda and Ramle had a joint population of 50,000–70,000 Arabs, 20,000 of them refugees

from Jaffa and elsewhere.[14]Several Arab towns had already fallen to Jewish or Israeli advances since April,

but Lydda and Ramle had held out. There are differing views as to how well-defended the towns were. In

January 1948, John Bagot Glubb, the British commander of Transjordan's Arab Legion, had toured Arab towns,

including Lydda and Ramle, urging them to prepare to defend themselves. The Legion had distributed barbed

wire and as many weapons as could be spared.[15] Lydda had an outer line of defense and prepared positions,

an antitank ditch and field artillery as well as a heavily fortified and armed line northeast of central Lydda.[2]

Israeli historians Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that the Arab National Committee—a local emergency

Arab authority that answered to the Arab Higher Committee run by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem—had

assumed civic and military control of Lydda, and had acquired arms, conducted training, constructed trenches,

requisitioned vehicles, and organized medical services. By the time of the Israeli attack, they say the militia in

Lydda numbered 1,000 men equipped with rifles, submachine guns, 15 machine guns, five heavy machine

guns, 25 anti-tank launchers, six or seven light field-guns, two or three heavy ones, and armored cars with

machine guns. The IDF estimated that there was an Arab Legion force of around 200-300 men. Lydda

contained several hundred Bedouin volunteers and a large-sized force of the Arab Legion. They argue that the

deaths in Lydda occurred during a military battle for the town, not because of a massacre.[16]

King Abdullah of Jordan (1882–1951) with John Bagot Glubb (1897–1986), the British commander of the Arab Legion

Against this view, Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi writes that just 125 Legionnaires from the Fifth Infantry

Company were in Lydda—the Arab Legion numbered 6,000 in all—and that the rest of the town's defense

consisted of civilian residents acting under the command of a retired Arab Legion sergeant.[17] According to

Morris, a number of Arab Legion soldiers, including 200–300 Bedouin volunteers, had arrived in Lydda and

Ramle in April, and a company-sized force had set itself up in the old British police stations in Lydda and on the

Lydda-Ramle road, with armored cars and other weapons. He writes that there were 150 Legionnaires in the

town in June, though the Israelis believed there were up to 1,500. An Arab Legion officer was appointed military

governor of both towns, signaling the desire ofAbdullah I of Jordan to stake a claim in the parts of Palestine

allotted by the UN to an Arab-Palestinian state, but Glubb advised him that the Legion was overstretched and

could not hold the towns. As a result, Abdullah ordered the Legion to assume a defensive position only, and

most of the Legionnaires in Lydda withdrew during the night of 11–12 July.[18]

Kadish and Sela write that the National Committee stopped women and children from leaving, because their

departure had acted elsewhere as a catalyst for the men to leave too. They say it was common for Arabs to

leave their homes under threat of Israeli invasion, in part because they feared atrocities, particularly rape, and

in part because of a reluctance to live under Jewish rule. In Lydda's case, they argue, the fears were more

particular: a few days before the city fell, a Jew found in Lydda's train station had been publicly executed and

his body mutilated by residents, who, according to Kadish and Sela, now feared Jewish reprisals.[16]

[edit]Fall of the cities

[edit]Air attacks and surrender of Ramle

The IDF took control of Lydda airport on 10 July.

The Israeli air force began bombing the towns on the night of 9–10 July, intending to induce civilian flight, and it

seemed to work in Ramle: at 11:30 hours on 10 July, Operation Dani headquarters (Dani HQ) told the IDF that

there was a "general and serious flight from Ramla." That afternoon, Dani HQ told one of its brigades to

facilitate the flight from Ramle of women, children, and the elderly, but to detain men of military age.[14] On the

same day, the IDF took control of Lydda airport.[19] The Israeli air force dropped leaflets over both towns on 11

July telling residents to surrender.[20] Ramle's community leaders, along with three prominent Arab family

representatives, agreed to surrender, after which the Israelis mortared the city and imposed a curfew. The New

York Times reported at the time that the capture of the city was seen as the high point of Israel's brief

existence.[21]

Two different images emerged of Ramle under occupation. Khalil Wazir, who later joined the PLO and became

known as Abu Jihad, was evicted from the town with his family, who owned a grocer's store there, when he

was 12 years old. He said there was fear of a massacre, as there had been at Deir Yassin, and that there were

bodies scattered in the streets and between the houses, including the bodies of women and children.[22] Against

this, the writer Arthur Koestler (1905–1983), working for The Times, visited Ramle a few hours after the

invasion, and said people were hanging around in the streets as usual. A few hundred young men had been

placed in a barbed wire cage, and were being taken in lorries to an internment camp. Women were bringing

them food and water, he wrote, arguing with the Jewish guards and seemingly unafraid. He said the prevailing

feeling seemed to be relief that the war was over.[23]

[edit]Moshe Dayan raid on Lydda

Moshe Dayan (1915–1981) led a raid on Lydda "blasting at everything that moved."[24]

During the afternoon of 11 July, Israel's 89th (armored) Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Moshe Dayan, moved into

Lydda. Israeli historian Anita Shapira writes that the raid was carried out on Dayan's initiative without

coordinating it with his commander. Using a column of jeeps led by a Marmon Harrington armored vehicle with

a cannon—taken from the Arab Legion the day before—he launched the attack in daylight,[25] driving through

the town from east to west machine-gunning anything that moved, according to Morris, then along the Lydda-

Ramle road firing at militia posts until they reached the train station in Ramle.[26] Kadish and Sela write that the

troops faced heavy fire from the Arab Legion in the police stations in Lydda and on the Lydda-Ramle road and

Dayan described "The town's [southern] entrance was awash with Arab combatants ... Hand grenades were

thrown from all directions. There was a tremendous confusion."[16] A contemporaneous account from Gene

Currivan for The New York Times also said the firing met with heavy resistance. Dayan's men advanced until

the train station where the wounded were treated, and returned to Bet Shemen under continued enemy fire

from the police stations. Six of his men were killed and 21 were wounded.[2][27]

Kenneth Bilby, a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune was in the city at the time. He wrote: "[The

Israeli jeep column] raced into Lydda with rifles, Stens, and sub-machine guns blazing. It coursed through the

main streets, blasting at everything that moved ... the corpses of Arab men, women, and even children were

strewn about the streets in the wake of this ruthlessly brilliant charge."[24] The raid lasted 47 minutes, leaving

100–150 Arabs dead, according to Dayan's 89th Battalion. Six died and 21 were wounded on the Israeli side.

[28] Kadish and Sela write that the high casualty rate was caused by confusion over who Dayan's troops were.

The IDF were wearing keffiyehs and were led by an armored car seized from the Arab Legion. Residents may

have believed the Arab Legion had arrived, only to encounter Dayan's forces shooting at everything as they ran

from their homes.[16]

[edit]Surrender and unexpected shooting in Lydda by Arab legionnaires

Ruins of Lydda after Israeli offensive

Although no formal surrender was announced in Lydda, people gathered in the streets waving white flags. On

the evening of 11 July, 300–400 Israeli soldiers entered the town. Not long afterwards, the Arab Legion forces

on the Lydda–Ramle road withdrew, though a small number of Legionnaires remained in the Lydda police

station. More Israeli troops arrived at dawn on 12 July. According to a contemporaneous IDF account: "Groups

of old and young, women and children streamed down the streets in a great display of submissiveness, bearing

white flags, and entered of their own free will the detention compounds we arranged in the mosque and church

—Muslims and Christians separately." The buildings soon filled up, and women and children were released,

leaving several thousand men inside, including 4,000 in one of the mosque compounds.[29]

The Israeli government set up a committee to handle the Arab refugees and their abandoned property. The

committee issued an explicit order that forbade "to destroy, burn or demolish Arab towns and villages, to expel

the inhabitants of Arab villages, neighborhoods and towns, or to uproot the Arab population from their place of

residence" without having previously received, a specific and direct order from the Minister of Defense.

Regulations ordered the sealing off of Arab areas to prevent looting and acts of revenge and stated that

captured men were to be treated as POWs with the Red Cross notified. Arabs who wished to remain were

allowed to do so and the confiscation of their property was prohibited.[2]

The town dignitaries were assembled and after discussion, decided to surrender. Lydda's inhabitants were

instructed to leave their weapons on the doorsteps to be collected by soldiers but did not do so. A curfew for

that evening was announced over loudspeakers. A delegation of town dignitaries, including Lydda's mayor, left

for the police station to prevail upon the Legionnaires there to also surrender. They refused and fired upon the

party, killing the mayor and wounding several others. Despite this, the third battalion decided to accept the

town's surrender. Israeli historian Yoav Gelber writes that the Legionnaires still in the police station were

panicking, and had been sending frantic messages to their HQ in Ramallah: "Have you no God in your hearts?

Don't you feel any compassion? Hasten aid!"[19] They were about to surrender, but were told by HQ to wait to

be rescued.[2][30]

On 12 July, at 11:30 hours, two or three Arab Legion armored cars entered the city, led by Lt. Hamadallah al-

Abdullah from the Jordanian 1st Brigade. The Arab Legion armored cars opened fire on the Israeli soldiers

combing the old city which created the impression that the Jordanians had staged counterattack. The exchange

of gunfire led residents and Arab fighters to believe the Legion had arrived in force, and those still armed

started firing at the Israelis too. Local militia once again renewed hostilities and an Israeli patrol were set upon

by a rioting mob in the market place. The Israeli military sustained many casualties, and viewing the renewed

resistance as a surrender agreement violation, quickly quelled it, and many civilians died.[2][31] Kadish and Sela

write that, according to the Third Battalion's commander, Moshe Kelman, the Israelis came under heavy fire

from thousands of weapons from every house, roof and window. Morris argues against this that only a few

dozen townspeople took part in what turned out to be a brief firefight. Brief or not, the Israeli soldiers were

unnerved by it: there were only 300–400 of them to quell tens of thousands of residents, and they had been

under the impression the locals had surrendered, albeit informally.[32]

[edit]Alleged Massacre in Lydda

The Dahmash mosque just after occupation

Gelber describes what followed as probably the bloodiest massacre of the Arab–Israeli war. Shapira writes that

the Israelis had no experience of governing civilians and panicked.[33] Kelman ordered troops to shoot at any

clear target, including at anyone seen on the streets.[34] He said he had no choice; there was no chance of

immediate reinforcements, and no indication of where the attacks were coming from.[16] Israeli soldiers threw

grenades into houses they suspected snipers were hiding in. Residents ran out of their homes in panic and

were shot. Yeruham Cohen, an IDF intelligence officer, said around 250 died between 11:30 and 14:00 hours.

[35]

However, Kadish and Sela state that there is no direct first-hand evidence that a massacre took place, other

than a few dubious Arab sources. They say that a reconstruction of the battle suggests a "better, albeit more

complex, explanation of the Arab losses" which also "casts severe doubt on, if it does not completely refute, the

argument for the massacre in the al-'Umari Mosque."[2]

Palestinian historian Aref al-Aref placed the death toll at 426, including 179 he said were later killed in one of

the mosques, during a confusing incident that sources variously refer to as a massacre or a battle.

[36] Thousands of male Muslim detainees had been taken to two of the mosques the day before. Christian

detainees had been taken to the church or a nearby Greek Orthodox monastery, leaving the Muslims in fear of

a massacre.[17] Morris writes that some of them tried to break out, thinking they were about to be killed, and in

response the IDF threw grenades and fired anti-tank rockets into one of the mosque compounds. Kadish and

Sela say it was a firefight that broke out between armed militiamen inside the mosque and Israeli soldiers

outside and responding to attacks originating from the mosque, the Israelis fired an anti-tank shell into it, then

stormed it, killing 30 militia men inside.[2] According to Morris, dozens died, including unarmed men, women and

children; an eyewitness published a memoir in 1998 saying he had removed 95 bodies from one of the

mosques.[37]

When the shooting was over, bodies lay in the streets and houses in Lydda, and on the Lydda–Ramle road;

Morris writes that there were hundreds. The Red Cross was due to visit the area, but the new Israeli military

governor of Ramle issued an order to have the visit delayed. The visit was rescheduled for 14 July; Dani HQ

ordered Israeli troops to remove the bodies by then, but the order seems not to have been carried out. Dr.

Klaus Dreyer of the IDF Medical Corps complained on 15 July that there were still corpses lying in and around

Lydda, which constituted a health hazard and a "moral and aesthetic issue." He asked that trucks and Arab

residents be organized to deal with them.[38]

[edit]Exodus

[edit]Expulsion orders

Benny Morris writes that David Ben-Gurion and the IDF were largely left to their own devices to decide how

Arab residents were to be treated, without the involvement of the Cabinet and other ministers. As a result, their

policy was haphazard and circumstantial, depending in part on the location, but also on the religion and

ethnicity of the town. The Arabs of Western and Lower Galilee, mainly Christian and Druze, were allowed to

stay in place, but Lydda and Ramle, mainly Muslim, were almost completely emptied.[39]There was no official

policy to expel the Palestinian population, he writes, but the idea of transfer was "in the air", and the leadership

understood this.[40]

Yitzhak Rabin (1922–95) signed the expulsion order.[41]

As the shooting in Lydda continued, a meeting was held on 12 July at Operation Dani headquarters between

Ben-Gurion, Yigael Yadin and Zvi Ayalon, generals in the IDF, and Yisrael Galili, formerly of the Haganah, the

pre-IDF army. Also present were Yigal Allon, commanding officer of Operation Dani, and Yitzhak Rabin.[42] At

one point Ben-Gurion, Allon, and Rabin left the room. Rabin has offered two accounts of what happened next.

In a 1977 interview with Michael Bar-Zohar, Rabin said Allon asked what was to be done with the residents; in

response, Ben-Gurion had waved his hand and said, "garesh otam"—"expel them."[43] In the manuscript of his

memoirs in 1979, Rabin wrote that Ben-Gurion had not spoken, but had only waved his hand, and that Rabin

had understand this to mean "drive them out."[42] The expulsion order for Lydda was issued at 13:30 hours on

12 July, signed by Rabin.[44]

In his memoirs Rabin wrote: "'Driving out' is a term with a harsh ring. Psychologically, this was one of the most

difficult actions we undertook. The population of Lod did not leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the

use of force and warning shots in order to make the inhabitants march the 10 to 15 miles to the point where

they met up with the legion." An Israeli censorship board removed this section from his manuscript, but Peretz

Kidron, the Israeli journalist who translated the memoirs into English, passed the censored text to David Shipler

of The New York Times, who published it on 23 October 1979.[42]

In an interview with The New York Times two days later, Yigal Allon took issue with Rabin's version of events.

"With all my high esteem for Rabin during the war of independence, I was his commander and my knowledge

of the facts is therefore more accurate," he told Shipler. "I did not ask the late Ben-Gurion for permission to

expel the population of Lydda. I did not receive such permission and did not give such orders." He said the

residents left in part because they were told to by the Arab Legion, so the latter could recapture Lydda at a later

date, and in part because they were panic-stricken.[45] Yoav Gelber also takes issue with Rabin's account. He

writes that Ben-Gurion was in the habit of expressing his orders clearly, whether verbally or in writing, and

would not have issued an order by waving his hand; he adds that there is no record of any meetings before the

invasion that indicate expulsion was discussed. He attributes the expulsions to Allon, who he says was known

for hisscorched earth policy. Wherever Allon was in charge of Israeli troops, Gelber writes, no Palestinians

remained.[46]

[edit]Shitrit/Shertok intervention

The Israeli cabinet reportedly knew nothing about the expulsion plan until Bechor Shitrit, Minister for Minority

Affairs, appeared unannounced in Ramle on 12 July. He was shocked when he realized troops were organizing

expulsions. He returned to Tel Aviv for a meeting with Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok, who met with Ben

Gurion to agree on guidelines for the treatment of the residents, though Morris writes that Ben Gurion

apparently failed to tell Shitrit or Shertok that he himself was the source of the expulsion orders. Gelber

disagrees with Morris's analysis, arguing that Ben-Gurion's agreement with Shitrit and Shertok is evidence that

expulsion was not his intention, rather than evidence of his duplicity, as Morris implies.[46] The men agreed the

townspeople should be told that anyone who wanted to leave could do so, but that anyone who stayed was

responsible for himself and would not be given food. Women, children, the old, and the sick were not to be

forced to leave, and the monasteries and churches must not be damaged, though no mention was made of the

mosques. Ben-Gurion passed the order to the IDF General Staff, who passed it to Dani HQ at 23:30 hours on

12 July, ten hours after the expulsion orders were issued; Morris writes that there was an ambiguity in the

instruction that women, children and the sick were not to be forced to go: the word "lalechet" can mean either

"go" or "walk". Satisfied that the order had been passed on, Shertok believed he had managed to avert the

expulsions, not realizing that, even as he was discussing them in Tel Aviv, they had already begun.[47]

[edit]The exodus

Refugees being escorted from Ramle

Thousands of Ramle residents began moving out of the town on foot, or in trucks and buses, between 10 and

12 July. The IDF used its own vehicles and confiscated Arab ones to move them.[48] Morris writes that, by 13

July, the wishes of the IDF and those of the residents in Lydda had dovetailed. Over the past three days, the

townspeople had undergone aerial bombardment, ground invasion, had seen grenades thrown into their homes

and hundreds of residents killed, had been living under a curfew, had been abandoned by the Arab Legion, and

the able-bodied men had been rounded up. Morris writes they had concluded that living under Israeli rule was

not sustainable.[49] Spiro Munayyer, an eyewitness, wrote that the important thing was to get out of the city.[17] A

deal was reached with an IDF intelligence officer, Shmarya Guttman, normally an archeologist, that the

residents would leave in exchange for the release of the prisoners; according to Guttman, he went to the

mosque himself and told the men they were free to join their families.[50] Town criers and soldiers walked or

drove around the town instructing residents where to gather for departure.[51]

Notwithstanding that an agreement may have been reached, Morris writes that the troops understood that what

followed was an act of deportation, not a voluntary exodus. While the residents were still in the town, IDF radio

traffic had already started calling them "refugees" (plitim).[52] Operation Dani HQ told the IDF General

Staff/Operations at noon on 13 July that "[the troops in Lydda] are busy expelling the inhabitants [oskim

begeirush hatoshavim]," and told the HQs of Kiryati, 8th and Yiftah brigades at the same time that, "enemy

resistance in Ramle and Lydda has ended. The eviction [pinui]" of the inhabitants... has begun."[53]

[edit]The march

Refugees from Lydda and Ramle after the three-day exodus[54]

Lydda's residents began moving out on the morning of 13 July. They were made to walk, perhaps because of

their earlier resistance, or simply because there were no vehicles left. They walked six to seven kilometers

to Beit Nabala, then 10–12 more to Barfiliya, along dusty roads in temperatures of 30–35°C, carrying their

children and portable possessions in carts pulled by animals or on their backs.[55] According to Shmarya

Guttman, an IDF soldier, warning shots were occasionally fired.[56] Some were stripped of their valuables en

route by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints.[56] Another IDF soldier described how possessions and people were

slowly abandoned as the refugees grew tired or collapsed: "To begin with [jettisoning] utensils and furniture,

and in the end, bodies of men, women, and children, scattered along the way."[56]

Haj As'ad Hassouneh, a survivor of the death march, shared his recollection in 1996:

The Jews came and they called among the people: "You must go." "Where shall we go?" "Go to Barfilia." ... the

spot you were standing on determined what if any family or possession you could get; any to the west of you

could not be retrieved. You had to immediately begin walking and it had to be to the east. ... The people were

fatigued even before they began their journey or could attempt to reach any destination. No one knew where

Barfilia was or its distance from Jordan. ... The people were also fasting due to Ramadan because they were

people of serious belief. There was no water. People began to die of thirst. Some women died and their babies

nursed from their dead bodies. Many of the elderly died on the way. ... Many buried their dead in the leaves of

corn.[57]

After three days of walking, the refugees were picked up by the Arab Legion and driven to Ramallah.[58] Reports

vary regarding how many died. Many were elderly people and young children who died from the heat and

exhaustion.[42] Morris has written that it was a "handful and perhaps dozens."[59] Glubb wrote that "nobody will

ever know how many children died."[56] Nimr al Khatib estimated that 335 died based on hearsay.[56] Walid

Khalidi gives a figure of 350, citing Palestinian historian Aref al-Aref.[17] The expulsions clogged the roads

eastward. Morris writes that IDF thinking was simple and cogent. They had just taken two major objectives and

were out of steam. The Arab Legion had been expected to counter-attack, but the expulsions thwarted it: the

roads were now cluttered, and the Legion was suddenly responsible for the welfare of an additional tens of

thousands of people.[56]

[edit]Looting of refugees and the towns

George Habash(1926–2008) who later led the PFLP, was among those expelled from Lydda.

The Sharett-Ben Gurion guidelines to the IDF had specified there was to be no robbery, but numerous sources

spoke of widespread looting. The Economist wrote on 21 August that year: "The Arab refugees were

systematically stripped of all their belongings before they were sent on their trek to the frontier. Household

belongings, stores, clothing, all had to be left behind."[60] Aharon Cohen, director of Mapam's Arab Department,

complained to Yigal Allon months after the deportations that troops had been told to remove jewellery and

money from residents so that they would arrive at the Arab Legion without resources, thereby increasing the

burden of looking after them. Allon replied that he knew of no such order, but conceded it as a possibility.[61]

George Habash, who later founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was born in Lydda to a

Greek Orthodox family. He was in his second year at medical school in Beirut at the time, but returned to Lydda

when he heard the Israelis had arrived in Jaffa, and was subsequently one of those expelled. Recalling the

events of 1948 in 1990, he said that the Israelis took watches, jewellery, gold, and wallets from the refugees,

and that he witnessed a neighbor of his shot and killed because he refused to be searched; he said the man's

sister, who also saw what happened, died during the march from the shock, exposure and thirst.[62]

As the residents left, the sacking of the cities began. The Yiftah brigade commander, Lt. Col. Schmuel "Mula"

Cohen, wrote of Lydda that, "the cruelty of the war here reached its zenith."[63] Bechor Sheetrit, the Minister for

Minority Affairs, said the army removed 1,800 truckloads of property from Lydda alone. Dov Shafrir was

appointed Israel's Custodian of Absentee Property, supposedly charged to protect and redistribute Palestinian

property, but his staff were inexperienced and unable to control the situation.[64] The looting was so extensive

that the 3rd Battalion had to be withdrawn from Lydda during the night of 13–14 July, and sent for a day to Ben

Shemen for kinus heshbon nefesh, a conference to encourage soul-searching. Cohen forced them to hand

over their loot, which was thrown onto a bonfire and destroyed, but the situation continued when they returned

to town. Some were later prosecuted.[65]

There were also allegations that Israeli soldiers had raped Palestinian women. Ben-Gurion referred to them in

his diary entry for 15 July 1948: "The bitter question has arisen regarding acts of robbery and rape [o'nes ("

in the conquered towns ..."[66] Israeli writer Amos Kenan, who served as a platoon commander of the [("אונס

82d Regiment of the Israeli Army brigade that conquered Lydda told The Nation on 6 February 1989: "At night,

those of us who couldn't restrain ourselves would go into the prison compounds to fuck Arab women. I want

very much to assume, and perhaps even can, that those who couldn't restrain themselves did what they

thought the Arabs would have done to them had they won the war."[67] Kenan said he heard of only one woman

who complained. A court-martial was arranged, he said, but in court, the accused ran the back of his hand

across his throat, and the woman decided not to proceed.[67] The allegations were given little consideration by

the Israeli government. Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling told the Cabinet on 21 July: "It has been said that

there were cases of rape in Ramle. I could forgive acts of rape but I won't forgive other deeds, which appear to

me much graver. When a town is entered and rings are forcibly removed from fingers and jewellery from necks

—that is a very grave matter."[68]

Stuart Cohen writes that central control over the Jewish fighters was weak. Only Yigal Allon, commander of the

IDF, made it standard practice to issue written orders to commanders, including that violations of the laws of

war would be punished. Otherwise, trust was placed, and sometimes misplaced, in what Cohen calls intuitive

troop decency. He adds that, despite the alleged war crimes, the majority of the IDF behaved with decency and

civility.[69] Yitzhak Rabin wrote in his memoirs that some refused to take part in the evictions.[70]

[edit]Aftermath

[edit]In Ramallah, Amman, and elsewhere

John Bagot Glubb, British commander of the Arab Legion, was spat on as he drove through the West Bank for having

handed Lydda and Ramle to the Jews.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians from Lydda and Ramle poured into Ramallah. For the most part, they had no

money, property, food, or water, and represented a health risk, not only to themselves. The Ramallah city

council asked King Abdullah to remove them.[71]Some of the refugees reached Amman, the Gaza Strip,

Lebanon, and the Upper Galilee, and all over the area there were angry demonstrations against Abdullah and

the Arab Legion for their failure to defend the cities. People spat at Glubb, the British commander of the Arab

Legion, as he drove through the West Bank, and wives and parents of Arab Legion soldiers tried to break into

King Abdullah's palace.[72] Alec Kirkbride, the British ambassador in Amman, described one protest in the city

on 18 July:

A couple of thousand Palestinian men swept up the hill toward the main [palace] entrance ... screaming abuse

and demanding that the lost towns should be reconquered at once ... The King appeared at the top of the main

steps of the building; he was a short, dignified figure wearing white robes and headdress. He paused for a

moment, surveying the seething mob before, [then walked] down the steps to push his way through the line of

guardsmen into the thick of the demonstrators. He went up to a prominent individual, who was shouting at the

top of his voice, and dealt him a violent blow to the side of the head with the flat of his hand. The recipient of

the blow stopped yelling ... the King could be heard roaring: so, you want to fight the Jews, do you? Very well,

there is a recruiting office for the army at the back of my house ... go there and enlist. The rest of you, get the

hell down the hillside!" Most of the crowd got the hell down the hillside.[73]

Morris writes that, during a meeting in Amman on 12–13 July of the Political Committee of the Arab League,

delegates—particularly from Syria and Iraq—accused Glubb of serving British, or even Jewish, interests, with

his excuses about troop and ammunition shortages. Egyptian journalists said he had handed Lydda and Ramle

to the Jews. Perie-Gordon, Britain's acting minister in Amman, told the Foreign Office there was a suspicion

that Glubb, on behalf of the British government, had lost Lydda and Ramle deliberately to ensure that

Transjordan accept a truce. King Abdullah indicated that he wanted Glubb to leave, without actually asking him

to—particularly after Iraqi officers alleged that the entire Hashemite house was in the pay of the British—but

London asked him to stay on. Britain's popularity with the Arabs reached an all-time low.[74] The United Nations

Security Council called for a ceasefire to begin no later than 18 July, with sanctions to be levelled against

transgressors. The Arabs were outraged: "No justice, no logic, no equity, no understanding, but blind

submission to everything that is Zionist," Al-Hayat responded, though Morris writes that cooler heads in the

Arab world were privately pleased that they were required not to fight, given Israel's obvious military superiority.

[75]

[edit]Situation of the refugees

Morris writes that the situation of the 400,000 Arabs who became refugees that summer—not only those from

Lydda and Ramle—was dire, camping in public buildings, abandoned barracks, and under trees.[76] Count Folke

Bernadotte, the United Nations mediator in Palestine, visited a refugee camp in Ramallah and said he had

never seen a more ghastly sight.[77] Morris writes that the Arab governments did little for them, and most of the

aid that did reach them came from the West through the Red Cross and Quakers. A new UN body was set up

to get things moving, which in December 1949 became the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for

Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which many of the refugees and their descendants, now

standing at four million, still depend on.[76] Bernadotte's mediation efforts—which resulted in a proposal to split

Palestine between Israel and Jordan, and to hand Lydda and Ramle to King Abdullah—ended on 17

September 1948, when he was assassinated by four Israeli gunmen from Lehi, an extremist Zionist faction.

[78] The United Nations convened the Lausanne Conference from April to September 1949 in part to resolve the

refugee question. Israel offered to allow 100,000 to return in exchange for peace, including 25,000 who had

already returned illegally. Ben-Gurion opposed it, and the Americans felt it too low: they wanted to see 250,000

refugees re-absorbed. The issue became moot because the Arabs rejected the proposal. They maintained that

there were one million refugees overall, and that the Israeli offer was "less than token."[79]

[edit]Resettlement of the cities

Further information: Absentees' Property Laws and Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands

Power is handed from the military governor of Lydda, now called Lod, to the first mayor, Pesach Lev, April 1949.

On 14 July 1948 the IDF told Ben-Gurion that "not one Arab inhabitant" remained in Ramla or Lod, as they

were now called. In fact, several hundred remained, including the elderly, the ill and some Christians, and

others managed to sneak back in over the following months. In October 1948 the Israeli military governor of

Ramla-Lod reported that 960 Palestinians were living in Ramla, and 1,030 in Lod. Military rule in the towns

ended in April 1949.[80]

Nearly 700,000 Jews immigrated to Israel between May 1948 and December 1951 from Europe, Asia and

Africa, doubling the state's Jewish population; in 1950 Israel passed the Law of Return, offering Jews automatic

citizenship.[81] The immigrants were assigned Palestinian homes—in part because of the inevitable housing

shortage, but also as a matter of policy to make it harder for former residents to reclaim them—and could buy

refugees' furniture from the Custodian for Absentees' Property.[82] Jewish families were occasionally placed in

houses belonging to Palestinians who still lived in Israel, the so-called "present absentees," regarded as

physically present but legally absent, with no legal standing to reclaim their property.[81] By March 1950 there

were 8,600 Jews and 1,300 Palestinian Arabs living in Ramla, and 8,400 Jews and 1,000 Palestinians in Lod.

Most of the Jews who settled in the towns were from Asia or North Africa.[83]

The Palestinian workers allowed to remain in the cities were confined to ghettos. The military administrator split

the region into three zones—Ramla, Lod, and Rakevet, a neighborhood in Lod established by the British for rail

workers—and declared the Arab areas within them "closed," with each closed zone run by a committee of three

to five members.[84] Many of the town's essential workers were Palestinians. The military administrators did

satisfy some of their needs, such as building a school, supplying medical aid, allocating them 50 dunams for

growing vegetables, and renovating the interior of the Dahmash mosque, but it appears the refugees felt like

prisoners; Palestinian train workers, for example, were subject to a curfew from evening until morning, with

periodic searches to make sure they had no guns.[85] One wrote an open letter in March 1949 to the Al

Youm newspaper on behalf of 460 Muslim and Christian train workers: "Since the occupation, we continued to

work and our salaries have still not been paid to this day. Then our work was taken from us and now we are

unemployed. The curfew is still valid ... [W]e are not allowed to go to Lod or Ramla, as we are prisoners. No

one is allowed to look for a job but with the mediation of the members of the Local Committee ... we are like

slaves. I am asking you to cancel the restrictions and to let us live freely in the state of Israel.[86]

[edit]Artistic reception

Ismail Shammout's

Where to ..? (1953)

The Palestinian artist Ismail Shammout (1930–2006) was 19 years old when he was expelled from Lydda. He

created a series of oil paintings about the march, the best known of which is Where to ..? (1953), which enjoys

iconic status among Palestinians. A life-size image of a man dressed in rags holds a walking stick in one hand,

the wrist of a child in the other, a toddler on his shoulder, with a third child behind him, crying and alone. There

is a withered tree behind him, and in the distance the skyline of an Arab town with a minaret. Gannit

Ankori writes that the absent mother is the lost homeland, the children its orphans.[87]

By November 1948 the IDF had been accused of atrocities in a number of towns and villages, to the point

where David Ben-Gurion had to appoint an investigator. Israeli poet Natan Alterman (1910–1970) wrote about

the allegations in his poem Al Zot ("On This"), published in Davar on 19 November 1948, about a soldier on a

jeep machine-gunning an Arab, referring to the events in Lydda, according to Morris. Two days later Ben-

Gurion sought Alterman's permission for the Defence Ministry to distribute the poem throughout the IDF:[88]

Let us sing then also about "delicate incidents"

For which the true name, incidentally, is murder

Let songs be composed about conversations with sympathetic interlocutors

who with collusive chuckles make concessions and grant forgiveness.[89]

[edit]Four figures after the exodus

Yitzhak Rabin's historic handshake withYasser Arafat at the White House, 1993

Yigal Allon, who led Operation Dani and may have ordered the expulsions, became Israel's deputy prime

minister in 1967. He was a member of the war cabinet during the 1967 Arab Israeli Six-Day War, and the

architect of the post-war Allon Plan, a proposal to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank. He died in 1980.[90]

Yitzhak Rabin, Allon's operations officer, who signed the Lydda expulsion order, became Chief of Staff of the

IDF during the Six-Day War, and Israel's prime minister in 1974 and again in 1992. He was assassinated in

1995 by a right-wing Israeli radical opposed to making peace with the PLO.[41]

Khalil al-Wazir, the grocer's son expelled from Ramle, became one of the founders of Yasser

Arafat's Fatah faction within the PLO, and specifically of its armed wing, Al-Assifa. He organized the PLO's

guerrilla warfare and the Fatah youth movements that helped spark the First Intifada in 1987. He was

assassinated by Israeli commandos in Tunis in 1988.[91]

George Habash, the medical student expelled from Lydda, went on to lead one of the best-known of the

Palestinian militant groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In September 1970 he

masterminded the hijacking of four passenger jets bound for New York, an attack that put the Palestinian cause

on the map. The PFLP was also behind the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, in which 27 people died, and the 1976

hijacking of an Air France flight to Entebbe, which famously led to the IDF's rescue of the hostages. Habash

died of a heart attack in Amman in 2008.[92]

[edit]Historiography

Israeli historian Anita Shapira argues that the scholars who wrote the early history of 1948 censored themselves, because

they saw the 1948 war as the tragic climax of the Holocaustand the Second World War.[93]

Benny Morris argues that Israeli historians from the 1950s throughout the 1970s—who wrote what he calls the

"Old History"—were "less than honest" about what had happened in Lydda and Ramle.[94] Anita Shapira calls

them the Palmach generation: historians who had fought in the1948 Arab-Israeli War, and who thereafter went

to work for the IDF's history branch, where they censored material other scholars had no access to. For them,

Shapira writes, the Holocaust and the Second World War—including the experience of Jewish weakness in the

face of persecution—made the fight for land between the Arabs and Jews a matter of life and death, the 1948

war the "tragic and heroic climax of all that had preceded it," and Israeli victory an "act of historical justice." [93]

The IDF's official history of the 1948 war, Toldot Milhemet HaKomemiyut ("History of the War of

Independence"), published in 1959, said that residents of Lydda had violated the terms of their surrender, and

left because they were afraid of Israeli retribution. The head of the IDF history branch, Lt. Col Netanel Lorch,

wrote in The Edge of the Sword (1961) that they had requested safe conduct from the IDF; American political

scientist Ian Lustick writes that Lorch admitted in 1997 that he left his post because the censorship made it

impossible to write good history.[95]Another employee of the history branch, Lt. Col. Elhannan Orren, wrote a

detailed history of Operation Dani in 1976 that made no mention of expulsions.[94]

Arab historians published accounts, including Aref al-Aref's Al Nakba, 1947–1952 (1956–1960), Muhammad

Nimr al-Khatib's Min Athar al-Nakba(1951), and several papers by Walid Khalidi, but Morris writes that they

suffered from a lack of archival material; Arab governments have been reluctant to open their archives, and the

Israeli archives were at that point still closed.[96] The first person in Israel to acknowledge the Lydda and Ramle

expulsions, writes Morris, was Yitzhak Rabin in his 1979 memoirs, though that part of his manuscript was

removed by government censors.[94] The 30-year rule of Israel's Archives Law, passed in 1955, meant that

hundreds of thousands of government documents were released throughout the 1980s, and a group calling

itself the "New Historians" emerged, most of them born around 1948. They interpreted the history of the war,

not in terms of European politics, the Holocaust, and Jewish history, but solely within the context of the Middle

East. Shapira writes that they focused on the 700,000 Arabs who were uprooted by the war, not on the 6,000

Jews who died during it, and assessed the behavior of the Jewish state as they would that of any other.

[97] Between 1987 and 1993, four of these historians in particular—Morris himself,Simha Flapan, Ilan Pappé,

and Avi Shlaim—three of them Oxbridge-trained, published a series of books that changed the historiography

of the Palestinian exodus. According to Lustick, although it was known in academic circles that the Palestinians

had left because of expulsions and intimidation, it was largely unknown to Israeli Jews until Morris's The Birth

of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949 appeared in 1987.[98]

Their work is not without its critics, most notably Israeli historian Efraim Karsh, who writes that there was more

voluntary Palestinian flight than Morris and the others concede. He acknowledges that there were expulsions,

particularly in Lydda, though he argues—as does Morris—that they resulted from decisions made in the heat of

battle, and account for a small percentage of the overall exodus.[99] Karsh argues that the New Historians have

turned the story of the birth of Israel upside down, making victims of the Arab aggressors, though he

acknowledges that the New History is now widely accepted.[100] The positions of Karsh and Morris, though they

disagree, contrast in turn with those of Ilan Pappé and Walid Khalidi, who argue not only that there were

widespread expulsions, but also that they were not the result of ad hoc decisions. Rather, they argue, the

expulsions were part of a deliberate strategy, known as Plan Dalet and conceived before Israel's declaration of

independence, to transfer the Arab population and seize their land.[101]

[edit]Lod and Ramla today

Ramla in 2006

As of 2009 around 66,000 people were living in Ramla, which became briefly known around the world in 1962,

when former SS officer Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Ramla prison in May that year.[102] The population in Lod

as of 2010 was officially around 45,000 Jews and 20,000 Arabs; its main industry is its airport, renamed Ben

Gurion International Airport in 1973.[103] Beth Israel immigrants from Ethiopia were housed there in the 1990s,

increasing the ethnic tension in the city which, together with the economic deprivation, make the town "the most

likely place to explode," according to Arnon Golan, an Israeli expert on ethnically-mixed cities.[citation needed] In 2010

a three-meter-high wall was built to separate the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.[103]

Eitan Bronstein of Zochrot places a sign on the former Lydda ghetto.

The Arab community has complained that, when Arabs became a majority in Lod's Ramat Eshkol suburb, the

local school was closed rather than turned into an Arab-sector school, and in September 2008 it was re-opened

as a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school. The local council acknowledges that it wants Lod to become a more

Jewish city. In addition to the Arabs officially registered, a fifth of the overall population are Bedouin, who

arrived in Lod in the 1980s when they were moved off land in the Negev, according to Nathan Jeffay.They live

in dwellings deemed illegal by Israeli authorities on agricultural land, unregistered and with no municipal

services.[104]

The refugees are occasionally able to visit their former homes. Zochrot, an Israeli group that researches former

Palestinian towns, visited Lod in 2003 and 2005, erecting signs in Hebrew and Arabic depicting its history,

including a sign on the wall of the former Arab ghetto. The visits are met with a mixture of interest and hostility.

[105] Father Oudeh Rantisi, a former mayor of Ramallah who was expelled from Lydda in 1948, visited his

family's former home for the first time in 1967:

As the bus drew up in front of the house, I saw a young boy playing in the yard. I got off the bus and went over

to him. "How long have you lived in this house?" I asked. "I was born here," he replied. "Me too," I said ... [106]

[edit]Notes

1.  For population figures, see Morris 2004, p. 425, 434. He writes that, in July 1948 before the invasion,

Lydda and Ramle had a population of 50,000–70,000, 20,000 of whom were refugees from Jaffa and the

surrounding area (p. 425). All were expelled, except for a few elderly or sick people, some Christians, and

some who were retained to work; others managed to sneak back in, so that by mid-October 1948 there

were around 2,000 Arabs living in both towns (p. 434).

For the name change, see Yacobi 2009, p. 29. Yacobi writes that Lod was Lydda's biblical name.

The Arabs called Lydda al-Ludd. Lydda was the Latin form of its name, which it was widely known by.

See Sharon 1983, p. 798.

Ramle can also be written as Ramleh; it known as Ramla by the Israelis, and should not be confused

with Ramallah, the administrative center of the Palestinian National Authority.

2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kadish, Alon, and Sela, Avraham (2005). "Myths and historiography of the 1948 Palestine War

revisited: the case of Lydda".

3.  The death toll in Lydda:

Morris 2004, p. 426 : 11 July—Six dead and 21 wounded on the Israeli side, and "dozens of Arabs

(perhaps as many as 200)".

Morris 2004, p. 452 , footnote 68: Third Battalion intelligence puts the figure at 40 Arabs dead, but

perhaps referring only to the numbers they had killed themselves.

Morris 2004, p. 428 : 12 July—Israeli troops were ordered to shoot at anyone seen on the streets:

during that incident, 3–4 Israelis were killed and around a dozen wounded. On the Arab side, 250 dead

and many wounded, according to the IDF.

4.  Morris, Benny (1987). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949. Cambridge Middle East

Library. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 207. ISBN 0 521 33889.

5.  Morris 2004, pp. 432–434.

Also see Gilbert 2008, pp. 218–219.

6.  For the use of the term "Lydda death march," see, for example, Fraser 2001, p. 64.

For the number of refugees who died during the march:

Morris 1989, pp. 204–211: "Quite a few refugees died – from exhaustion, dehydration and disease."

Morris 2003, p. 177 : "a handful, and perhaps dozens, died of dehydration and exhaustion."

Morris 2004, p. 433 : "Quite a few refugees died on the road east," attributing a figure of 335 dead

to Muhammad Nimr al Khatib, who Morris writes was working from hearsay.

Khalidi 1998 , pp. 80–98: 350 dead, citing an estimate from Aref al-Aref.

Nur Masalha 2003, p. 47  writes that 350 died.

For the IDF and Ben-Gurion's analysis of the effect of the conquest of the towns and the expulsions,

see Morris 2004, pp. 433–434.

7.  That it was one-tenth of the overall exodus, see Morris 1986, p. 82.

That most of the immigrants to Lydda and Ramle were from Asia and North Africa, see Golan 2003.

That refugees were settled in the empty homes to stop them from being reclaimed, see Morris 2008, p.

308, and Yacobi 2009, p. 45.

8.  Morris 2008, p. 37ff.

9.  For Lydda's age, see Schwartz 1991, p. 39.

According to Christian legend, Lydda was the birth place and burial ground ofSaint George (ca. 270–

303 CE), the patron saint of England; see Sharon 1983, p. 799. Sharon (p. 798) writes that the town

may date back to King Thutmos III of Egypt. Also see Gordon 1907, p. 3.

For Ramle, see Golan 2003.

10.  For Golan's article about Ramle being a focal point, see Golan 2003.

For the siege of Jerusalem, see Gelber 2006, p. 145.

See Schmidt, 12 June 1948 for the temporary lifting of the siege. The siege was also broken by the

opening in June of the Burma Road.

For the attacks on Ramle and Lydda, see Morris 2004, p. 424.

For Ben-Gurion and the two thorns, see Morris 2004, pp. 424–425, and Segev 2000. Segev writes that,

just after Ben-Gurion's "two thorns" statement to the cabinet, six lines have been erased from the

transcript. Segev interprets this to mean that expulsions were discussed.

For the primary source, see Ben-Gurion 1982, "16 June 1948," p. 525.

11.  Morris 2004, pp. 423–424.

12.  Kimche, Jon and David (1960) A Clash of Destinies. The Arab-Jewish War and the Founding of the State

of Israel. Frederick A. Praeger. Library of Congress number 60-6996. Page 225. (number of men).

13.  For the launching of Operation Dani and the forces assembled, see Morris 2008, p. 286.

For the hiring of Allon and Rabin, see Shipler, The New York Times , 23 October 1979 .

For the period known as the Ten Days, see Morris 2008, p. 273ff.

14. ^ a b Morris 2004, p. 425.

15.  Morris 2003, p. 118.

16. ^ a b c d e Kadish and Sela 2005.

17. ^ a b c d Khalidi, Walid (1998). "The Fall of Lydda". p. 81. Retrieved 27 August 2012..

18.  Morris 2008, pp. 286, 289.

That the IDF ignored that the Legion was "on a defensive footing," see Gelber 2006, p. 158.

19. ^ a b Gelber 2006, p. 159.

20.  Morris 1986, p. 86: The leaflets said: "You have no chance of receiving help. We intend to conquer the

towns. We have no intention of harming persons or property. [But] whoever attempts to oppose us—will die.

He who prefers to live must surrender.

21.  Formal surrender discussed in a telephone message from Dani HQ, 12 July 1948, 10:30 am, cited

in Morris 2004, p. 427.

For the New York Times account of the surrender, see Currivan, The New York Times , 12 July 1948 .

22.  Dimbleby and McCullin 1980, pp. 88–89. He said: "The whole village went to the church. ... I remember

the archbishop standing in front of the church. He was holding a white flag. ... Afterwards we came out and

the picture will never be erased from my mind. There were bodies scattered on the road and between the

houses and the side streets. No one, not even women or children, had been spared if they were out in the

street. ..."

23.  Koestler 1949, pp. 270–271. He wrote: "The Arabs were hanging about in the streets much as usual,

except for a few hundred youths of military age who have been put into a barbed wire cage and were taken

off in lorries to an internment camp. Their veiled mothers and wives were carrying food and water to the

cage, arguing with the Jewish sentries and pulling their sleeves, obviously quite unafraid. ... Groups of

Arabs came marching down the main street with their arms above their heads, grinning broadly, without any

guards, to give themselves up. The one prevailing feeling among all seemed to be that as far as Ramleh

was concerned the war was over, and thank God for it."

24. ^ a b Bilby 1950, p. 43.

25.  Shapira 2007, p. 225.

26.  Morris 2004, p. 426.

27.  Currivan, The New York Times , 12 July 1948 .

28.  The casualty figures vary widely. The figure from Dayan is cited in Kadish and Sela 2005.

There were dozens dead and wounded, "perhaps as many as 200," according toMorris 2004, p.

426 and p. 452, footnote 68, citing Kadish, Sela, and Golan 2000, p. 36.

"[A]bout 40 dead and a large number of wounded," according to Third Battalion intelligence, though it is

not clear whether they meant 40 killed by the Third Battalion alone; see Morris 2004, p. 452, footnote

68.

Six died and 21 were wounded on the Israeli side, according to Morris 2004, p. 426, again citing

Kadish, Sela, and Golan 2000, p. 36.

29.  For the IDF quote, see Morris 2004, p. 427.

For the 4,000 in the Great Mosque, see Kadish and Sela 2005.

30.  Gelber 2004, p. 23.

31.  Arnon Golan ((Oct. 2003). "Lydda and Ramle: From Palestinian-Arab to Israeli Towns, 1948-67". Vol. 39

No. 4. Middle Eastern Studies,. pp. 121–139.

32.  Kadish and Sela 2005.

Morris 2004, footnote 78, p. 453 .

33.  Gelber 2006, p. 162.

Shapira 2007, p. 227 .

Khalidi, Walid (1998). "The Fall of Lydda". p. 81. Retrieved 27 August 2012..calls it "an orgy of

indiscriminate killing."

Kadish and Sela 2005  call it "an intense battle where the demarcation between civilians, irregular

combatants and regular army units hardly existed."

34.  Morris 2004, p. 427.

35.  Morris 1986, p. 87.

36.  Morris 2004, p. 428, 453, footnote 81. For more casualty figures, see Kadish and Sela 2005.

37.  For a discussion about which mosque this happened in, and for the 95 bodies, seeKadish and Sela 2005,

particularly footnote 40.

Morris 2004, p. 428 : "dozens" were shot and killed

Morris 2004, p. 453 , footnote 81, cites Kadish, Sela and Golan's The Conquest, who say it was a battle

that took place in the mosque, not a massacre. He adds that Kadish et al acknowledge that women,

children, and unarmed older men were among the dead.

An eyewitness, Fayeq Abu Mana, 20 years old at the time, told an Israeli group in 2003 that he had

been involved in removing the bodies; see Zochrot 2003.

38.  Morris 2004, p. 434.

39.  Morris 2004, p. 415.

40.  Shavit 2004.

41. ^ a b For his having signed the order, see Morris 2004, p. 429.

42. ^ a b c d Shipler, The New York Times , 23 October 1979 .

43.  Morris 1986, p. 90, footnote 31.

44.  Morris 2004, p. 429.

The orders for Lydda were from Dani HQ to Yiftah Brigade HQ and 8th Brigade HQ, and to Kiryati

Brigade at around the same time.

"1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age. They should be directed

towards Beit Nabala. Yiftah [Brigade HQ] must determined the method and inform Dani HQ and 8th

Brigade HQ.

"2. Implement immediately (Prior 1999, p. 205).

The IDF archives holds two nearly identical copies of the expulsion order. According to Morris 2004, p.

454, footnote 89, Yigal Allon denied in 1979 that there had been such an order, or an expulsion, saying

that the order to evacuate the civilian population of Lydda and Ramle came from the Arab Legion.

A telegram from Kiryati Brigade HQ to Zvi Aurback, its officer in charge of Ramle, read:

1. In light of the deployment of 42nd Battalion out of Ramle – you must take [over responsibility] for the

defence of the town, the transfer of prisoners [to PoW camps] and the emptying of the town of its

inhabitants.

2. You must continue the sorting out of the inhabitants, and send the army-age males to a prisoner of

war camp. The old, women and children will be transported by vehicle to al Qubab and will be moved

across the lines – [and] from there continue on foot.." (Kiryati HQ to Aurbach, Tel Aviv District HQ

(Mishmar) etc., 14:50 hours, 13 July 1948, Haganah Archive, Tel Aviv), cited in Morris 2004, p. 429.

45.  Shipler, The New York Times , 25 October 1979 .

Shapira 2007, p. 232 : Allon gave a lecture on the war in 1950, during which Anita Shapira writes that

he was uncharacteristically frank. He said he blamed the Palestinian exodus on three factors. First,

they fled because they were projecting: the Arabs imagined that the Jews would do to them what they

would do to the Jews if positions were reversed. Second, Arab and British leaders encouraged people

to leave their towns so as not to be taken hostage, so they could return to fight another day. Third,

there were some cases of expulsion, though these were not the norm. In Lydda and Ramle, the Arab

Legion continued to attack Israeli outposts in the hope of reconnecting with their troops in Lydda, he

said. When the expulsions started, the attacks died down. To leave the towns' hostile populations in

place would be to risk their use by the Legion to coordinate further attacks. Allon said he had no

regrets: "War is war." Allon described it elsewhere as a "provoked exodus," rather than an expulsion;

see Kadish and Sela 2005.

Also see Morris 2004, p. 454, footnote 89.

46. ^ a b Gelber 2006, pp. 162–163.

47.  Morris 2004, p. 430.

Also see Morris 1986, p. 92.

Gelber 2006, pp. 161–162 , also says the residents were already on their way out when this order was

given.

48.  Morris 2004, p. 429.

That the Ramle residents were supplied buses by the Kiryati brigade, see Morris 1988.

49.  Morris 2004, p. 431.

50.  Morris 1986, pp. 93–4. Morris finds Guttman's account subjective and impressionistic (p. 94, footnote 39).

Guttman later wrote about Lydda under the pseudonym "Avi-Yiftah".

51.  Morris 2004, p. 432.

52.  Morris 2004, p. 455, footnote 96.

53.  Morris 2004, p. 432: At 18:15 hours that day, Dani HQ asked Yiftah Brigade: "Has the removal of the

population [hotza'at ha'ochlosiah] of Lydda been completed?"

54.  Glubb 1957, plate 8, between pp. 159 and 161. The caption says: "Arab refugee women and children

from Lydda and Ramle, resting after their arrival in the Arab area."

55.  Morris 1986, pp. 93–4; see p. 97 for the temperature.

56. ^ a b c d e f Morris 2004, pp. 433–4.

57.  Abdel Jawad in Benvenisti et al. 2007

58.  Morris 2008, p. 291.

59.  Morris 2003, p. 177.

60.  Pappé 2006, p. 168.

61.  Morris 1986, p. 97.

62.  Brandabur 1990. Habash said: "The Israelis were rounding everyone up and searching us. People were

driven from every quarter and subjected to complete and rough body searches. You can’t imagine the

savagery with which people were treated. Everything was taken—watches, jewelery, wedding rings, wallets,

gold. One young neighbor of ours, a man in his late twenties, not more, Amin Hanhan, had secreted some

money in his shirt to care for his family on the journey. The soldier who searched him demanded that he

surrender the money and he resisted. He was shot dead in front of us. One of his sisters, a young married

woman, also a neighbor of our family, was present: she saw her brother shot dead before her eyes. She

was so shocked that, as we made our way toward Birzeit, she died of shock, exposure, and lack of water on

the way."

63.  Morris 1986, p. 88.

64.  Segev 1986, pp. 69–71

65.  Morris 2004, p. 454, footnote 86.

66.  Ben-Gurion, Volume 2, p. 589.

67. ^ a b Kenan 1989; courtesy link.

68.  Morris 1986, p. 105.

See also Segev 1986, pp. 71–72.

For a discussion of Ben-Gurion's concern, see Tal 2004, p. 311.

69.  Cohen 2008, p. 139.

70.  Shipler, The New York Times , 23 October 1979 . Rabin wrote: "Great suffering was inflicted upon the men

taking part in the eviction action. Soldiers of the Yiftach brigade included youth movement graduates, who

had been inculcated with values such as international fraternity and humaneness. The eviction action went

beyond the concepts they were used to. There were some fellows who refused to take part in the expulsion

action. Prolonged propaganda activities were required after the action, to remove the bitterness of these

youth movement groups, and explain why we were obliged to undertake such harsh and cruel action."

71.  IDF Intelligence Service/Arab Department, 21 July 1948, cited in Morris 2008, p. 291.

72.  Morris 2008, pp. 290–291.

73.  Kirkbride 1976, p. 48, cited in Morris 2008, p. 291.

74.  Morris 2008, pp. 291–292.

For Perie-Gordon, see Abu Nowar 2002, p. 208.

75.  Morris 2008, p. 295.

76. ^ a b Morris 2008, p. 309ff.

77.  Sayigh 2007, p. 84.

78.  "Bernadotte Murder Stuns Whole World", Ottawa Citizen, 18 September 1948.

79.  Morris 2004, pp. 573–577.

80.  For "not one inhabitant," and the hundreds remaining, see Morris 2004, p. 434.

For the numbers in October 1948, see Morris 2004, p. 455, footnote 110.

For military rule ending, see Yacobi 2009, p. 39.

81. ^ a b Yacobi 2009, p. 42.

82.  Morris 2008, p. 308, for a general discussion of the issue.

Yacobi 2009, p. 45 , for specific mention of this in relation to Lydda.

83.  For the figures, and that most were from Asia and North Africa, see Golan 2003.

Also see Yacobi 2009, p. 39.

84.  Yacobi 2009, p. 33.

85.  Yacobi 2009, p. 34.

86.  Yacobi 2009, pp. 35–36.

87.  Ankori 2006, pp. 48–50.

For the image on Shammout's website: "Where to ..?", shammout.com. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

88.  For the atrocities in general, see Morris 2004, p. 486ff; for reference to the poem and Ben-Gurion writing

to Alterman, see p. 489.

Morris writes that the poem is about Lydda in Morris 2004, pp. 426, 489 (on p. 489 he writes it was

"apparently" about Lydda), and Morris 2008, p. 473, footnote 85.

89.  Cohen 2008, p. 140.

Al Zot  in Hebrew, www.education.gov.il, accessed 1 December 2010.

90.  Jewish Agency for Israel."Allon, Yigal (1918–1980)". Retrieved 25 September 2009.

91.  As'ad Abu Khalil 2005, p. 529ff.

92.  Andrews and Kifner, The New York Times , January 27, 2008 .

Habash spoke to Robert Fisk in 1993 about Lydda: "I will never rest until I can go back. The house is

still there and a Jewish family lives in it now. Some of my friends tried to find it and some relatives

actually went there and sent me a message that the trees are still standing in the garden, just as they

were in 1948. ... It's my right to go directly to my house and live there." See Fisk 1993.

93. ^ a b Shapira 1995, pp. 12–13.

94. ^ a b c Morris 1988.

95.  For Lorch's book, see Morris 1988.

For Lustick, see Lustick 1997.

96.  Morris 2004, pp. 1–2.

97.  Shapira 1995, pp. 9, 16–17.

98.  Morris 1988, and Lustick 1997, pp. 157–158.

Simha Flapan (1911–1987) is the exception to the rule that the New Historians were born around

1948.

The key texts are:

Simha Flapan 's The Birth of Israel (1987)

Benny Morris 's The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949 (1987),1948 and After: Israel

and the Palestinians (1990), and Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956 (1993)

Ilan Pappé 's Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: 1948–1951 (1988) and The Making of the Arab-Israeli

Conflict, 1947–1951 (1992)

Avi Shlaim 's Collusion across the Jordan (1988) and The Politics of Partition(1990)

Other writers engaged in the "New History," according to Lustick (p. 157), include Uri Bar-

Joseph, Mordechai Bar-On, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Motti Golani, Uri Milstein, and Tom Segev.

That the New Historians focus on the 700,000 uprooted, see Shapira 1995, p. 13.

99.  Karsh 2003, pp. 160–161.

Kadish and Sela 2005 .

100.  Karsh 1999.

101.  Pappé 2007.

Khalidi 1961 , and Khalidi 1988.

102.  For the population, see Population figures, Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 26 November

2010.

For Eichmann, see Weitz 2007.

103.^ a b "Pulled apart", The Economist, 14 October 2010.

104.  Jeffay 2008.

105.  "Remembering Al-Lydd 2005", "Tour and signposting in Al-Lydd (Lod), 2003".

Also see "Testimonies on the Nakba of Lod".

Booklet about Lydda  in Arabic and Hebrew, Zochrot.

Booklet about Ramla , also in Arabic and Hebrew, Zochrot, all accessed 28 November 2010.

106.  Rantisi and Amash 2000.

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[edit]Further reading

Alterman, Nathan  (1948). "Al Zot", www.education.gov.il, accessed 23 November 2010.(Hebrew)

Abdel Jawad, Saleh (2007). Israel and the Palestinian refugees. Eyāl Benveniśtî, Chaim Gans, Sārī Ḥanafī, ed.

Springer.

Aref al-'Aref  (1959). Al-Nakba: Nakbat Filsatin wal-Firdaws al-Mafqud 1947–1952 [The Catastrophe: The

Catastrophe of Palestine and the Lost Paradise 1947–1952]. Sidon and Beirut, A1-Maktab al-'Sariyya lil-Tiba'a

wal-Nashr.

Dayan, Moshe  (1976). Moshe Dayan: story of my life. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-

03076-9.

El-Asmar, Fouzi (1975). To be an Arab in Israel. Institute for Palestine Studies.

Guttman, Shmarya ("Avi-Yiftah") (November 1948). "Lydda," Mibifnim.

Kadish, Alon; Sela, Avraham; and Golan, Arnon (2000). The Occupation of Lydda, July 1948. Tel Aviv: Israel

Ministry of Defense and Hagana Historical Archive. (Hebrew)

Karsh, Efraim  (1997). Fabricating Israeli History: The 'New Historians'. Routledge.

Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, 2002.

Kelman, Moshe (1972). "Ha-Hevdel bein Deir Yasin le-Lod" ["The Difference between Deir Yasin and

Lydda"], Yedi'ot Aharonot, 2 May 1972. (Hebrew)

Khalidi, Walid (1992). "All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948".

Institute for Palestine Studies.

Kanafani, Ghassan  (1956). "Paper from Ramleh". "Palestine's Children. Short stories by Ghassan Kanafani".

Three Continents Press. ISBN 0-89410-431-4.

Lorch, Netanel (1997). "A Word from an Old Historian," Haaretz, 23 June 1997.

Monterescu, Daniel and Rabinowitz, Dan (2007). Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Morris, Benny (1986b). "The Causes and Character of the Exodus from Palestine" in Pappé, Ilan. The

Israel/Palestine Question. Routledge, 1999.

Morris, Benny (1987). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949. Cambridge University Press.

Munayyer, Spiro (1997). Lydda During the Mandate and Occupation Periods. Institute for Palestine Studies.

Masalha, Nur  (2003). The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Pluto Press.

Rantisi, Audeh G. Would I ever see my home again?, Al-Ahram, accessed 14 December 2010.

Rantisi, Audeh G. and Beebe, Ralph K. (1990). Blessed are the peacemakers: the story of a Palestinian

Christian. Eagle.