The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited

Morris' earlier work exposed the realities of how 700,000 Palestinians became refugees during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. While the focus of this edition remains the war and exodus, new archival material considers what happened in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa, and how these events led to the collapse of urban Palestine. Revealing battles and atrocities that contributed to the disintegration of rural communities, the story is harrowing. The refugees now number four million and their cause remains a major obstacle to regional peace. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-33028-9 First Edition Pb (1989): 0-521-33889-1

Benny Morris is Professor of History in the Middle East Studies Department, Ben-Gurion University. He is an outspoken commentator on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and is one of Israel's premier revisionist historians. His publications include Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 (2001), and Israel's Border Wars, 1949-56 (1997).

Introduction; 1. Background; 2. 'Transfer': thinking in Zionism before 1948; 3. The first stage of the exodus, November 1947-March 1948; 4. The second stage of the exodus, April-June, 1948; 5. The third stage of the exodus,'The Ten Days', July 1948; 6. Deciding against a return of the refugees; 7. Preventing a return; 8. The fourth stage of the exodus, October- November 1948; 9. Clearing the borders; 10. Solving the refugee problem: the failure to reach agreement and a solution, 1949; Conclusion.