The UN appointed a United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) to consider a destination for the disputed land. Delegates from 11 nations suggested a partition of the territory, an Arab state (not a “Palestinian” one) and a Jewish one (with economic relations and an internationalized Jerusalem). Guatemala, Uruguay and Peru participated in UNSCOP. The Jews were not happy with the partition but accepted it. The Arabs rejected it and demanded the establishment of an Arab state alone. The recommendation for partition was adopted by the UN General Assembly (181) by a vote of 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions (29/11/1947).

According to the partition plan of Palestine, 538,000 Jews and 397,000 Arabs would live within the Jewish state (note that more than half a million Jewish refugees were waiting to enter Israel). Approximately 92,000 Arabs lived in Tiberias, Safed, Haifa and Beit-Shean and another 40,000 were Bedouins living in the desert. The Arab state would have a population of 804,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews. Jerusalem was to remain an international zone, isolating another 100,000 Jews from Jerusalem. The plan was lousy for the Jews, but they accepted it while the Arabs rejected it, starting the war.

Between the two world wars, the Jews developed a state within the British Mandate so the declaration of partition (1947) and the recognition of Israel as a UN member state was a confirmation of “effective” Jewish control over certain territories. The Arabs did not possess this infrastructure and were annexed by other Arabs. The Arabs rejected partition and demanded that only one Arab state be established. The partition recommendation was adopted by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions (11/29/1947). These are facts.

The partition of Palestine was established according to the principle: “where Jews lived (those territories bought by them with money) would be part of the Jewish state”, and in addition, other territories should be added to settle the Jews who would arrive after the declaration of independence and who had survived the Holocaust. Almost 60% of the Jewish state contained the arid Negev desert (which the Jews now develop and protect) while the Arabs occupied most of the agricultural lands. The good Jewish (agricultural) land was land bought by Jews and developed by Jews. Why would the Arabs take it?

The resolution to partition Palestine was never suspended or rescinded. Consequently, Israel, the Jewish state in Palestine, came into being on 14/5/1948, at the same time as the British were leaving the country. The Arab state was not created by Arab decision. Six Arab armies (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq) immediately invaded Israel. Their intentions were declared by Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League: “This will be a war of extermination and great massacres, which will be spoken of as the Mongol and Crusader massacres”. The Arabs wanted another Jewish Holocaust, another new WAR OF EXTERMINATION, but they did not succeed.

We can divide this conflict into two parts. The first part begins after the partition of Palestine at the UN (11/29/1947) until the Declaration of Independence of Israel (5/14/1948), during which time the Arabs of the British Mandate attack the Jews in a kind of civil war. The second part begins with the invasion of six Arab armies eager to destroy the newborn Jewish state. On both occasions the aggressors were the same: the Arabs. Mahmoud Abbas (Palestinian Authority) acknowledged that the Arabs were wrong not to accept partition. Now you rewrite history and contradict Abbas.

When Israel declared its independence (14/5/1948), the Jewish army had not a single cannon, not a tank. Its air force consisted of nine obsolete aircraft. While the Haganah had 60,000 trained fighters, only 18,900 were fully mobilized, armed and ready for war. On the eve of the start of hostilities, the chief of operations, Yigal Yadin, told David Ben Gurion, “The best we can tell you is that we have a 50-50 chance.” Do you know why Israel won the 1948 war? Because the Jews had no choice. It was either to assert themselves or be annihilated by the Arabs.

For Israel the 1948 war was terrible. Much of its most productive land was ruined, its citrus groves which were the basis of the Yishuv’s (Jewish community) economy were largely destroyed. Military expenditures amounted to $500 million. Worse still, 6,373 Israelis died, almost one percent of the Jewish population of 650,000. In the Arab countries, almost 1,000,000 Jews were expelled or fled, losing their property and disconnecting from friends and family (Jewish Nakba). If only the Arabs had accepted peace and the Arab state.

What is Plan Dalet? It was an order of the Haganah (10/3/1948) ordering to take control of all the territories allocated by the UN for the Jewish state, the access routes of the immediate Arab attack and certain specific territories outside those allocated to Israel. In other words, from November 1947 to April 1948 the Jews took a defensive posture while the Arabs attacked. The decision to counterattack to protect your civilians in the framework of a war is a logical and fully accepted and legal measure. “Unfortunately” for them, the Arabs attacked and lost.

Palestinian historians speak of a plan to execute an “ethnic cleansing” by means of systematic expulsion, looting, burning, etc. Plan Dalet (D) was not that, it was elaborated to control all the areas designated to the Jewish State by the Partition Plan in order to prepare for an invasion by the Arab countries once independence was declared. It was a reaction of the Jewish leadership to two challenges: the rise of ideas such as the Trusteeship (freezing or postponing the declaration of independence) and the terrible casualties after the convoy attacks (March 1948).

In early January 1948, the first detachments of the Arab Liberation Army began infiltrating into Palestine from Syria. Some came through Jordan, via Amman. The British commander of the Jordan Arab Legion, John Baggot Gubb, recognized the invasion. Finding themselves attacked and invaded, the Jews began to take the initiative to ensure their survival (Plan Dalet). The Jews were fewer, less organized and less well armed. Between 1/4/1948 until the Declaration of Independence on 5/14/1948, the Haganah captured several important cities such as Tiberias and Haifa, and temporarily opened the road to Jerusalem.

The 1948 war was divided into stages: 1) 30/11/1947 to April 1948: The Arabs attacked mainly on the roads and the Jews adopted a defensive policy. It was a war between civilians in which the Arabs attacked. 2) From 3/4/1948 to May 1948: The Jews went on the attack in the framework of Plan Dalet (D), and succeeded in taking control of large areas of the coast, in the Galilee. They conquer the mixed cities. The Arab countries announced that they would attack and annihilate the Jews and Israel, and on the ground, the Arabs were already doing so. These are demonstrable facts.

In the framework of Plan Dalet from April to May 1948, the Jews succeeded in taking control of Tiberias, Haifa, Tzfat and a dozen Arab villages. They then succeeded in gaining control of Acco. Plan Dalet made the Jews better positioned to be able to face the attack and invasion of the Arab countries. After several months in which the Arabs attacked and murdered Jews (comboyes Yechiam, Dan), they announced that they would annihilate the state to be created (Israel). If the Arabs had not attacked the Jews, if they had accepted the partition of Palestine (1947), Plan Dalet would not have been decided.

The idea of population transfer was widely accepted between the wars and after WWII as a good way to avoid ethnic wars in the future. Moreover, the “Permanent Court for International Justice” issued, in 1930, its opinion on the transfer of citizens between Bulgaria and Greece saying: “The aim of mutual emigration is to reduce the causes of irredentist conflicts, and it is the most effective method for pacification in Eastern Europe”. Many Arab leaders, such as Jordan’s King Abdullah, agreed with this methodology for solving the Palestinian problem.

The Zionist leaders (nor any Zionist party) were not in favor of the exchange of populations since they did not wish to force Jews living in Arab countries to leave their homes and properties. They were forced to leave anyway after the 1948 war (almost 1,000,000). Jordanian Prime Minister Ibrahim Hashem clearly stated what many Arab leaders thought: “The only just and permanent solution is based on the complete partition (of Palestine) with exchange of populations: the maintenance of Jews in Arab countries or of Arabs in the Jewish state will irremediably lead to another confrontation”.

In the Middle East today, there is clear talk of the possibility of “transferring” Sunni or Shiite populations in Syria or Iraq to create ethnically homogeneous states. When a million Jews were expelled from the Arab countries where they had been living for centuries, nobody raised their voices because it was “understood” that it was another “transfer” of population in the framework of a war, although it was an aberrant crime. When more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled, most of them of their own free will, then there is talk of an “unprecedented Nakba”. The manipulation is obvious.

The six British diplomats who drew up the Peel plan for the partition of Palestine (1939) proposed a population movement to ethnically homogenize the two states to be created. The most important Arab-Palestinian leader of the time rejected any compromise. “The Mufti of Jerusalem said that there is no possibility of a coexistence in a land where there are two peoples so different from each other, and any attempt to forge it will harm one as well as the other” (Tom Seguev; “Israel during the Mandate”; p.326). The Mufti refused to guarantee the lives and property of Jews remaining under Arab-Palestinian control.

Let’s understand the context about Dir Yassin. The UN resolved that Jerusalem would be an international city separate from the Arab and Jewish states, but while 150,000 Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem with the 2,500 in the Old City were victims of an Arab blockade that lasted five months before they were forced to surrender (29/5/1948). Before the surrender, Jewish convoys tried to bring food into Jerusalem and, by April 1948, the situation was critical. The Arabs attacked the roads and dominated Dir Yassin, a high area at the entrance of the road to Jerusalem, from where they fired on the convoys.

Dir Yassin was a legal military target, from where Jewish convoys attempting to enter Jerusalem were attacked. As on many occasions today, armed Arab forces used the 750 civilians as human shields. Although the Etzel-Leji forces tried to warn them with a truck and loudspeakers to leave the war zone, the truck fell into a ditch and was probably not heard. A study by the Palestinian Bir Zeit University, based on Arab testimonies, states that 107 Arab civilians were killed and 12 wounded, in addition to the 13 “fighters”. Four Jews were killed.

The official Jewish leadership approved the attack on Dir Yassin (9/4/1948). David Shaltiel, commander of the Haganah, wrote to the leaders of the Leji and Irgun: “I learned that you plan to attack Dir Yassin. I want to point out that the capture of the position is a stage in our general plan. I have no objection to your carrying out the operation, provided you can occupy the village.” 132 Etzel-Leji soldiers attacked dozens of armed Arabs hiding among 750 civilians. Many Arab fighters disguised themselves as women to shoot at the Jewish soldiers. 120 Arabs and 4 Jews were killed. Massacre?