Palestinian Journalist Remembers: Arab Forces Told Us to Leave
While Palestinian propagandists like Elias Khoury continue to insist to the Western world that Israel is to blame for the Palestinian refugee problem, some Palestinian journalists writing in Arabic have a different story. Palestinian Media Watch translates an excerpt by Jawad Al Bashiti, a Palestinian journalist writing in Jordan’s Al-Ayyam May 18, 2008:
Remind me of one real cause from all the factors that have caused the “Palestinian Catastrophe” [the establishment of Israel and the creation of refugee problem], and I will remind you that it still exists… The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our Catastrophes today.
During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe the following happened: the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the “Arab Salvation Army” came and told the Palestinians: ‘We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won’t be hurt.’ It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. Arabs fought as if intending to cause the “Palestinian Catastrophe”.
Al Bashiti’s recollection is consistent with recently declassified documents from the Mandate period.
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