Editing Palestinian refugees (section)

===Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Palestine War===
{{Main|1948 Palestinian exodus|Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus|Palestinian Exodus 1949 to 1956}}
During the [[1948 Palestine War]], some 700,000{{sfn|Morris|2001|pp=252–258}}<ref group=fn name="number">The exact number of refugees is disputed. See [[List of estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948]] for details.</ref> Palestinian Arabs or 85% of the Palestinian Arab population of territories that became Israel [[1948 Palestinian exodus|fled or were expelled from their homes]].{{sfn|Morris|2001|pp=252–258}} Some 30,000<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2012|ps=: According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – the main body tasked with providing assistance to Palestinian refugees – there are more than 5 million refugees at present. However, the number of Palestinians alive who were personally displaced during Israel’s War of Independence is estimated to be around 30,000. }}</ref> to 50,000{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} were alive by 2012.

The causes and responsibilities of the exodus are a matter of controversy among historians and commentators of the conflict.<ref>[[Avi Shlaim|Shlaim, Avi]], [http://ccas.georgetown.edu/research-articles.cfm?id=96 "The War of the Israeli Historians."] ''[[Center for Arab Studies]]'', 1 December 2003 (retrieved 17 February 2009) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903084029/http://ccas.georgetown.edu/research-articles.cfm?id=96|date=3 September 2006}}</ref> While historians agree on most of the events of the period, there remains disagreement as to whether the exodus was the result of a plan designed before or during the war or was an unintended consequence of the war.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], 1989, ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949'', Cambridge University Press; [[Benny Morris]], 1991, ''1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians'', Clarendon Press, Oxford; [[Walid Khalidi]], 1992, ''All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948'', Institute for Palestine Studies; [[Nur Masalha]], 1992, ''Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought'', Institute for Palestine Studies; [[Efraim Karsh]], 1997, ''Fabricating Israeli History: The "New Historians"'', Cass; [[Benny Morris]], 2004, ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', Cambridge University Press; [[Yoav Gelber]], 2006, ''Palestine 1948: War, Escape and the Palestinian Refugee Problem'', Oxford University Press; [[Ilan Pappé]], 2006, ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'', OneWorld</ref> According to historian [[Benny Morris]], the expulsion was planned and encouraged by the Zionist leadership.<ref name="MorrisMorris2004">{{cite book|author1=Research Fellow Truman Institute Benny Morris|author2=Benny Morris|author3=Morris Benny|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA597|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6|pages=597–|quote=But no expulsion policy was ever enunciated and Ben-Gurion always refrained from issuing clear or written expulsion orders; he preferred that his generals 'understand' what he wanted. He probably wished to avoid going down in history as the 'great expeller' and he did not want his government to be blamed for a morally questionable policy.}}</ref>

According to Morris, between December 1947 and March 1948, around 100,000 Palestine Arabs fled. Among them were many from the higher and middle classes from the cities, who left voluntarily, expecting to return when the Arab states won the war and took control of the country.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], pp. 138–139.</ref> When the [[Haganah]] and then the emerging [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli army]] (Israel Defense Forces or IDF) went on the defensive, between April and July, a further 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinian Arabs left or were expelled, mainly from the towns of [[Operation Bi'ur Hametz|Haifa]], [[Tiberias]], [[Beit-Shean]], [[Safed]], [[Jaffa]] and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], which lost more than 90 percent of their Arab inhabitants.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], p. 262</ref> Expulsions took place in many towns and villages, particularly along the [[Tel Aviv]]–[[Jerusalem]] road<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], pp. 233–240.</ref> and in Eastern [[Galilee]].<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], pp. 248–252.</ref> About 50,000–70,000 inhabitants of [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle|Lydda and Ramle]] were expelled towards [[Ramallah]] by the IDF during [[Operation Danny]],<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], pp. 423–436.</ref> and most others during operations of the IDF in its rear areas.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], p. 438.</ref> During [[Operation Dekel]], the Arabs of [[Nazareth]] and South Galilee were allowed to remain in their homes.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], pp. 415–423.</ref> Today they form the core of the [[Arab Israeli]] population. From October to November 1948, the IDF launched [[Operation Yoav]] to remove [[Egyptian forces]] from the [[Negev]] and [[Operation Hiram]] to remove the [[Arab Liberation Army]] from North Galilee during which at least nine events named massacres of Arabs were carried out by IDF soldiers.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''Righteous Victims'', p. 245.</ref> These events generated an exodus of 200,000 to 220,000 Palestinian Arabs. Here, Arabs fled fearing atrocities or were expelled if they had not fled.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], p. 492.</ref> After the war, from 1948 to 1950, the IDF resettled around 30,000 to 40,000 Arabs from the borderlands of the new Israeli state.<ref>[[#morris birth revisited|Benny Morris (2003)]], p. 538</ref>