Who’s afraid to reveal the Palestinian ‘secrets’ of 1948?
JVL Introduction
One of the enduring myths of 1948 is that the Arabs wanted to throw the Jews into the sea.
Nothing in the archives bears this out, as historian Shay Hazkani, author of the recent “Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War”, makes clear after 15 years of searching.
But what he has found is that vast quantities of Palestinian documents, confiscated from individuals and institutions in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1982, are still locked away for decades to come.
“The biggest secret”, says Hazkani, “is the very existence of these documents, which are a memorial to a destroyed Palestinian civilization.”
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Sun 4 Dec 2022. Read the original here.
Who’s Afraid to Reveal the Palestinian ‘Secrets’ of 1948?
When the Israel State Archives refuses to release material looted from the Palestinians on the pretext that this would “undermine national security,” it’s clear that this is cover for a completely different fear
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It is essential that the facts about 1948 are revealed and openly discussed. But on the other hand we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be bogged down in an argument with Zionists about the motivation for the departure of 750,000 Palestinians from Israel in 1948. As we see in Ukraine it is completely normal for civilians to flee and armed conflict. But Israel’s intention to ethnically cleanse 85 percent of the indigenous Palestinian population is proved conclusively by the refusal of Israel to allow a Palestinian Right of Return to Israel. This is absolutely crucial because without this ethnic cleansing a predominantly Jewish State would not exist.
No Ethnic Cleansing, No Israel it’s as simple as that. Without Ethnic Cleansing there would be a Palestinian State with a large Jewish population but they would almost certainly not be a majority. But one thing is certain without the deliberate Ethnic Cleansing in 1948 the history of the area would be completely different. For one thing without that Ethnic Cleansing large numbers of Jews would have remained in Arab countries as the reason for their expulsion was the Ethnic Cleansing of 1948.
I have never been into a Betting shop but if it could be proven, I would bet that any sensitive material, that’s negative to Israeli actions or positive towards the Palestinian actions, will never see the light of day.
“One of the enduring myths of 1948 is that the Arabs wanted to throw the Jews into the sea.”
This reminds me of the constant claim that Iran wanted to acquire nuclear weapons in order to ‘wipe Israel off the face of the earth.’
That much-hyped claim was later shown to be false but not before much damage was done:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2012/04/18/israels-deputy-prime-minister-admits-ahmadinejad-never-said-israel-should-be-wiped