A lot of opinions have been written expressing both points of view. I for one, believe that it is a “combination of ingredients”, as complex as any relationship in the Middle East always is.

The Palestinian propaganda machine has spared no effort in presenting the Palestinians as a downtrodden people, driven from their ancestral homes, their rightful land stolen, occupied by a brutal occupier and under constant threat of genocide. This, at least, is the picture presented to the West in English and European languages. There is, however, another side to this story: the side that appears only in the Arabic media and rarely, if ever, reaches other audiences.

Only a few brave Arab individuals have dared to speak out in other languages for fear of reprisals, but there are also organizations devoting their efforts to translating some of the mountain of material coming daily from the Arab world.

Here are a few examples:

Mahmud Al-Habbash, writes in a recent column that in 1948 the Arabs left their homes willingly under the instruction of their own Arab leaders and their false promises of a prompt return. He refers to these promises as “Arkuvian,” after Arkuv – a figure from Arab tradition - who was known for breaking his promises and for his lies – and states that the Arabs who left their homes, and became refugees did so believing their leaders’ deceptive promises. He places the blame and the responsibility on the shoulders of the Arab leaders and does not mention any so-called “Israeli expulsion.”

Following is this most recent article, as well as earlier statements by Arab “refugees” that have appeared in the PA press, all of which corroborate Israel’s historical narrative. The latter two testimonials are significant because they were corroborated by still other more public Palestinians, indicating that the responsibility of the Arab leaders is known in the Palestinian world. One was confirmed by Arab Member of Knesset, Ibraham Sarsur, who was then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and the other by a Palestinian journalist, Fuad Abu Higla, in the official PA daily.

The following are four statements corroborating that Arabs fled Israel under the instruction and the encouragement of Arab leaders:

1. Journalist writing about the events of 1948

Mahmud Al-Habbash, a regular writer in the official PA paper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, indicates in his column “The Pulse of Life” that the Arabs left Israel in 1948 only after political Arab leaders persuaded them to do so by promising the Arabs a speedy return to their homes in Palestine:
“…The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the “Catastrophe” (the establishment of Israel and the creation of refugee problem) in 1948, that the duration of the exile will not be long, and that it will not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees will return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they put their trust in those “Arkuvian” promises made by the leaders and the political elites. Afterwards, days passed, months, years and decades, and the promises were lost with the strain of the succession of events…” (Term “Arkuvian,” is after Arkuv – a figure from Arab tradition - who was known for breaking his promises and for his lies.”).”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 13, 2006]

2. Woman who fled Israel in 1948
“We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer in the year of the “Catastrophe” [The establishment of Israel and the expulsion from the land in 1948]. They told us: The Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return, after the battle is over. And indeed there were among us [who fled Israel] those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flock [of sheep] and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours.”
[Asmaa Jabir Balasimah Um Hasan, Woman who fled Israel, Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006]

3. Son and grandson of those who fled in 1948

An Arab viewer called Palestinian Authority TV and quoted his father and grandfather, complaining that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. In response, Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsur, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, cursed the leaders who ordered Arabs to leave, thus, acknowledging Israel’s assertion.

Statement of son and grandson of man who fled:

“Mr. Ibrahim [Sarsur]. I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather told me that during the “Catastrophe” [establishment of Israel in 1948 and the expulsion from the land], our district officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon – Southern Israel] is a traitor, he is a traitor.”
Response from Ibrahim Sarsur, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel:
“The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection Day.”
[PA TV April 30, 1999]

4. Article by senior PA journalist

Fuad Abu Higla, then a regular columnist in the official PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida, wrote an article before an Arab Summit, which criticized the Arab leaders for a series of failures. One of the failures he cited, in the name of a prisoner, was that an earlier generation of Arab leaders “forced” them to leave Israel in 1948, again placing the blame for the flight on the Arab leaders.

“I have received a letter from a prisoner in Acre prison, to the Arab summit:

To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents, Poverty is killing us, the symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians... So what will your summit do now?”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, March 19, 2001]

(Courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch)

In addition, there are a large number of quotes on record by Arab persona suggesting that the Arab states realize that they are just as culpable, if not more so, than Israel is for the “Palestinian Problem”.

“The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, imposed upon them a political and ideological blockade and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live in Eastern Europe.”— Mahmoud Abbas to “Falastin al-Thrawa”, official journal of the PLO in Beirut, 1975.

“Since 1948 Arab leaders have approached the Palestine problem in an irresponsible manner.... they have used the Palestine people for selfish political purposes. This is ridiculous and, I could say, even criminal.”—King Hussein of Jordan, 1960

“Since 1948 it is we who demanded the return of the refugees... while it is we who made them leave.... We brought disaster upon... Arab refugees, by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave.... We have rendered them dispossessed... We have accustomed them to begging... We have participated in lowering their moral and social level... Then we exploited them in executing crimes of murder, arson, and throwing bombs upon... men, women and children-all this in the service of political purposes...” – Khaled Al-Azm, Syria’s Prime Minister after the 1948 war

“It is shameful that the Arab governments should prevent the Arab refugees from working in their countries and shut the doors in their faces and imprison them in camps” (Musa Alami, “The Lesson of Palestine,” Middle East Journal, October 1949, p. 386)

The second main fiction presented is the concept of Palestinian nationalism, which is denied by the following quotes, all from Arab notables of their day, is the claim that “Palestine was a thriving nation with a vibrant culture, economy and identity”:

“We consider ‘Palestine’ as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic, and geographical bonds.” – Resolution passed by the first Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations in Jerusalem, February 1919, prior to their appearance at the Paris Peace Conference

In 1937, a local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Israel: “There is no such country [as Palestine]! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.”

The representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations submitted a statement to the general assembly in May 1947 that said “‘Palestine’ was part of the province of Syria” and that, “politically, the Arabs of Israel were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity.”

On May 31, 1956, Ahmed Shukairy had no hesitation, as current head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in announcing to the UN Security Council the observation, “It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria.”

Hafez al-Assad, then president of Syria, stated on March 8, 1974, “Palestine is a principal part of Southern Syria, and we consider that it is our right and duty to insist that it be a liberated partner of our Arab homeland and of Syria.”

“The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.

“For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.”—Zahir Muhsein, PLO executive committee member, in a March 31, 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper “Trauw”

Is it possible that ALL of these notables were wrong?

“The people are in great need of a ‘myth’ to fill their consciousness and imagination...” – Musa Alami, 1948

Is the claim of a Palestinian people the realization of Musa Alami’s statement? Is it a “myth to fill their consciousness and imagination?