The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

This book is an honest and detailed account of how the Zionist movement planned and carried out the heinous crime of systematically forcing the Palestinian people out of Palestine and establishing Israel as a state for Zionist settlers coming from foreign lands. This was committed under a huge campaign of misinformation and coverup utilising the vast resources of the western governments who conspired to victimize the Palestinians. Humanity owes Ilan Pappe, the author of this book, a big favor for his efforts for finally setting the record straight, and documenting the facts of Palestinian 'Nakba' or catastrophe. This book unveils the true and ugly face of Zionism as a racist movement. It is quite clear now after over a hundred years since the first Zionist conference in Basel, Switzerland, that Zionism was a bad idea turned into a nightmare when implemented. So far, Israel is embattled and living in a state of continuous war with all its surroundings. Keeping Israel alive proved to be very costly undertaking both in terms of lives wasted everyday in fighting and in terms of financial cost to sustain the economy and military machine of Israel. The hefty financial cost is mostly carried by the USA but for how long? How can the wise people in Israel fail to see this failure of the Zionist idea? How can they not see that there are alternatives that will ensure peaceful coexistence with Palestinians in a democratic Palestine? The author represents the voice of conscience and fairness as well as academic honesty and professionalism. The atrocities committed by Zionists against the Palestinian people will never be forgotten and will come back to haunt the Israelis for generations to come. Nothing short of the full recognition of the Palestinian people's right to their homeland of Palestine, as well as full reparation for the enormous suffering and damages inflicted on them by the creation of the State of Israel, would bring closure to this problem. The area will not see peace before the Palestinians restore their full rights. The unconditional return of any and all Palestinians to Palestine is an unalienable right that may not be compromised. It is ironic to note that the Palestinians (generally Muslims and Christians) have never had any issues with jews as followers of another religion. Jews have never been mistreated or persecuted by the Palestinians. Jews, on the other hand, were persecuted in Europe. Why should the Palestinians pay the price? The advent of the Zionist movement appeared to have poisoned relations in the region as a whole. The wretched camps of Palestinian refugees scattered in various Middle Eastern countries and inside Palestine still stand for almost 60 years as a harsh reminder of the problems created by the creation of Israel at the expense of the Palestinian people. Inspite of all what happened, just and equitable peace is still possible. This is not to say that the Israelis should necessarily be forced out of the land they unlawfully usurped from the Palestinians. It only means that Israel as a Zionist i.e. racist state should be peacefully dismantled, and in its place a democratic state is established where all citizens are equal regardless of their religion or race. Any Israeli who accepts to live in a democratic Palestine as an equal citizen shall be welcome to stay. Those who do not accept equality with other citizens should find another place to live (perhaps return to the countries where they originally came to Palestine from). In its long history, Palestine has seen many invaders come and go. But the Palestinian people always emerged back and maintained its identity. The Israeli barbaric atrocities to obliterate, vilify, and eradicate the Palestinian people and its culture will not succeed despite the unprecedented savagery the Israelis used gainst the Palestinians. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine did not stop after achieving the massive depopulation of Palestine in the years 1948 and 1949. In fact, ethnic cleansing continued to the present time and is still ongoing. It takes various forms such as deportation of Palestinians, demolition of Palestinian houses, and denying the Palestinians permits to build houses or rebuild old ones. Israel also resorts to the strangulation of Palestinian economy forcing people to finally leave the country to seek jobs and settle abroad. If all that does not work, outright assassination is used to get rid of Palestinians. This is taking place under the watch of the whole world who gives lip service to human rights and Palestinian right to self-determination. History will not forgive the world which stood by totally oblivious to the Israeli crimes, and ignoring the suffering of the Palestinians. This book is must reading for anyone interested in peace and justice on Earth.

This is a stunning and relentless collection of evidence. Pappe uses things such as military archives (opened in the 1990s), diary entries from Ben-Gurion, and oral histories from Hagana soldiers and Palestinians. He gives lengthy, village-by-village accounts of the destruction of homes and expulsion of residents. The expulsions were guided by files of the Jewish National Fund, which had been gathering intelligence data on the demographics of the villages for decades. It is hard to think of a book that is more opposite of a commonly accepted history than this one. According to Pappe, 1948 was not a desperate fight for survival by a surrounded Jewish enclave, it was a Zionist attack on the countryside. Most of the fighting stemmed from the Hagana's systematic destruction of 400 Palestinian villages. Most refugees were driven out BEFORE the main war started on May 15, 1948. Arab armies did intervene in a haphazard attempt to defend Palestinian sections (as set by the UN partition plan), but they were always out gunned, out numbered and out coordinated by the Hagana. Jordan, in particular, had a secret agreement with the Zionists to annex the West Bank in return for not joining an invasion of Israel. So the most effective Arab army, (and a Jordanian also commanded the pan-Arab "Arab Liberation Army") was not trying to destroy Israel, only protect its own designs on the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Among many pieces of evidence, Pappe argues that the Arab attack on Israel was so weak (despite public pronouncements of impending doom from Ben-Gurion) that the Hagana never had to be diverted from its main task of ethnic cleansing. It was able to hold off the sporadic pan-Arab attacks, and depopulate the countryside at the same time. It was assisted in this by large shipments of arms from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, while Britain and France embargoed arms to the Arabs. The private conversations of Ben-Gurion and his associates show great confidence they could defeat the Arab attacks, which amounted to little more than face-saving gestures by Arab governments who were only recently independent themselves. There is also a very interesting chapter on the literal erasure of the existence of Palestine. Parks and newly planted forests in Israel now cover the foundations of numerous Palestinian villages. An Israeli "Naming Committee" was formed to give Hebrew names to the features of the countryside that were once Arab, with special attention to creating links to the Israel of 2,000 years ago, while ignoring last week's residents. The Byra forest tourist destination, for example, contains no reference to the six villages that were wiped from the map there. For decades, kids in Hebrew schools in the US collected coins to plant trees in Israel. Those same trees now hide stone foundations of nameless villages. Trees in Israeli forests are only 11% indigenous, the rest were planted in recent decades. So not just the people were cleansed, the memory too. This book deserves to be the center of an international discussion about Palestine, but a crushing silence is the more likely result.

I'm still reading it! Apparently written by an Israeli 9or Israel-based) Journalist, in the 2000s, yet sounds as if it is writing about precisely what is happening right now, (in 2025). This appears to be such a cyclical conflict--apparently without resolution. This book goes back to the very beginnings of the period before the "Zionist" movement began, in Europe, in the 1800s. It analyses the role of the Ottoman, then, the British empires, in the formation, and motivations of the Israelis, delving deeply into what the author says are "previously-unreleased documents". It is a very tough book to read, as it delves into difficult issues, on BOTH sides. Until both sides decide to let go of pre-conceived "destinies" and/or "victimhood" this story will continue to repeat itself, over and over again. This book was initially published in 2006, yet, as I read it, it seems as if it is a Real-time reel of what's been happening, since ça. 2022. Very well-researched, and written. (A sad note about this book: My copy was actually a barely-read, removed copy, from a state's public library system. I can't stop asking myself, why such a book would've been removed from the statewide library system, being that it is so contemporary). Both sides of the story must be looked at, not just the side this book concerns itself with.

Book received today in good condition, beginning of the preface and first chapter are absolutely captivating. Looking forward to reading it.

What really happened during Israel's War of Independence? Ilan Pappé attempts to answer this question in "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," which is, without a doubt, the most controversial book I have read in my life. In it, Pappé presents the controversial thesis that Palestine has been subject to a systematic ethnic cleansing policy pre-dating Israel's Independence Day on May 14, 1948. This policy, Pappé argues, continues up to the present day. For this review, it is important to note, and Pappé clarifies right off the bat, that he is not using the phrase ethnic cleansing in the colloquial sense in which it is a synonym for genocide. Instead, Pappé refers to formal definitions in which ethnic cleansing's goal is to rid a geographical area of people of a specific, often ethnic, group. This contrasts with genocide, in which the goal is to wipe them out of existence. Pappé notes that although the goal of ethnic cleansing is different, it is also generally accompanied by massacres to scare the population into fleeing. Pappé argues this is precisely what happened in Israel/Palestine during the 1947-8 War. Indeed, in the epigraphs preceding most chapters, there is a running comparison to Serbian ethnic cleansing in the 1990s. A Cleansing Plan Pre-Dating the 1947 UN Partition Resolution? Before the late 1980s, there was a notion in much of the West that the answer to the question of where all the Palestinian refugees came from was that they were told to flee their homes around the time Israel's Arab neighbors invaded on the very day of Israel's independence. Pappé is one of Israel's "new historians" who was granted some access to the IDF's archives from the 1947-8 War and began to challenge the notion that those fleeing generally did so voluntarily at the request of Arab leaders. Some more moderate historians, like Benny Morris, found evidence of massacres of Palestinians by Jewish force but did not feel there was a systematic plan behind them and the forced expulsions. Pappé, by contrast, disagrees. Pappé concluded that there was a systematic plan centering around Plan Dalet by considering other sources such as the diaries of key Israeli leaders, interviews, and other oral history. According to Pappé's research, Zionist leaders, especially Ben-Gurion, had decided well before 1947 that they should try to capture much more of Mandatory Palestine than was likely to be offered. Pappé describes how the planning included detailed Jewish intelligence on every village following the 1936 uprising in preparation for this effort. The Zionists' main fear, Pappé writes, was having too small a majority in Israel to protect Jewish interests. This was because, at the time of the 1947 resolution, the Jewish state had about 60% Jews, while nearly all the rest were Arabs. Pappé quotes Ben-Gurion saying that 80% Jews was needed for stability. Pappé further argues that while Ben-Gurion publically accepted the UN partition plan, he only did so knowing Arabs would reject it. This, he realized, would allow Israeli leaders to not recognize Palestinian land as other than "disputed." Pappé further recounts how Ben-Gurion felt it was a problem that Arabs did not react violently enough to the 1947 partition plan. Indeed, they just resigned themselves to living under another "foreign" ruler as they had adapted to others for centuries before. According to Pappé, Ben-Gurion and a cabal called "The Consultancy" worked to increase provocations against Arabs, hoping for reactions that could be used as pretexts for attacks, expulsions, and inevitable massacres. Pappé portrays this as not having the success hoped for initially, thus leading Israeli forces to become increasingly aggressive in their strategies and tactics, often deliberately crossing the line into war crimes. My Evaluation Evaluating this book is, unfortunately, rather difficult. The two main reasons are: 1. There is disagreement between Pappé and fellow new historian Benny Morris as to the proper historical methodology. Pappé criticizes Morris for confining his conclusions to IDF archives and treating them as gospel (or, perhaps, rather, Tanakh?) Morris, in turn, criticizes Pappé for over-reliance on oral history. Since Pappé, unfortunately, does not dive deeply into the methodological questions, it is hard for a non-professional to weigh the merits and detriments of the different approaches. 2. Much of Pappé's source material is not readily available, at least to non-professionals. This is either because it is IDF archival material, books that no longer appear to be in print or interviews. Fortunately, there is much that Pappé and Morris, who draws more conservative conclusions, agree on. The main points are: 1. Many Palestinians only left their homes involuntarily in 1947-8; Israeli forces were definitely pushing many of them out 2. Jewish forces did commit war crimes One thing Pappé and Morris disagree on significantly is the number of Palestinians massacred. Morris puts the figure around 800, whereas Pappé has it around a few thousand. Even more significant, however, is whether it was all part of a systematic plan or not. Pappé's quotes, especially from Ben-Gurion's diary, do seem compelling, however. With regard to the massacres, Pappé admits there is no smoking gun in official documents regarding a central directive. Instead, he argues that it was implicitly understood that they would be tolerated and necessary in the case of stubborn resistance. Pappé points out how those involved were generally careful not to leave a paper trail behind. Is a Systematic Plan Believable? I do believe that Pappé makes a compelling case that there was a systematic plan. Pappé's discussion of how Palestinians were treated after the war adds to the believability of his argument. Much of this post-war treatment is more open to verification. Remaining Palestinians were moved from their homes; the property of those who had fled was confiscated through some extraordinary legal machinations; those of Arab descent did not receive equal treatment under Israeli law; Palestinian history was systematically erased. However, even if things were not part of a Zionist grand strategy to permanently claim 80% of Mandatory Palestine, it is remarkable that they worked out, in practice, as if that were the plan all along. Sympathizers of Israel will argue that Israel simply wanted to live in peace, but their Arab neighbors kept attacking them unprovoked for no good reason. After reading this book, however, especially the parts most open to verification, and considering Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and denial of their right to return (or, if no longer practical, monetary compensation in lieu of it), the credibility of Israeli claims regarding history fell into even greater doubt for me. The Book's Style and Weaknesses A little over two-thirds of the book is highly engaging reading. Nevertheless, the book took me about twice as long to read as expected. Part of the reason this is a difficult book to read is that it is a very somber subject. Nor is it so far removed from the present as to provide the usual degree of detachment that studying more distant history allows. That contribution to making the book difficult is inevitable, given the subject. However, some of Pappé's choices made the book difficult and were not inevitable. For instance: - The Jews seemed very concerned about Arab aggression, given what happened in 1936. Pappé does not detail 1936 enough to understand why they were worried. - Too many massacres are detailed even once one gets the gist of what happened overall. Likely, Pappé is trying to ensure that the victims are not forgotten. Still, unfortunately, it leads to an emotional numbing and time spent here that could have been better spent on issues such as what happened in 1936 and discussing the debate over methodology. Finally, Pappé is clearly biased. For instance, he correctly states that Palestinians objected to Israel being given the majority of the land in the 1947 resolution, even though they were only one-third of the population. What Pappé omits is the Jewish position that they needed more land because of the large number of immigrants into Israel expected. Pappé also, although he does not omit it altogether, spends scant time discussing massacres by Arabs, for example, as retaliation for Deir Yassin. Conclusion Given the current war in Gaza, this book is vital reading to understand how we got to this point and what may lie ahead. Readers will be better able to evaluate whether the accusations of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and apartheid leveled against Israel are fair. At the same time, however, it is essential to check what sources Pappé uses, compare with others, and look up contrary interpretations of history, such as Benny Morris's.

This book is Horrific. It’s all you need to know about Israel and zionist logic.

Looking for more background on the most current conflict between Israel and Gaza, I decided to get this book along with the audible audio. Very thorough account based on historical records, Ben Gurion’s diary, eyewitness accounts from both sides of the issue etc. I found it very helpful in bringing me up to speed on the origins and truths about this conflict. If you have a curiosity about the topic, this one would be a good starting point. Read and make up your own mind with facts you will not get from the Israeli or U.S. media. After reading it, you will see why. I went through it with both the audible and written versions. Used the audio portion to speed up the reading by using it in the background during those times when I couldn’t read but could still listen such as meal preparation times etc. Found it a helpful adjunct to the reading.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine is a meticulously documented account of the campaign of the Jewish colonists in Palestine to forcibly expel the Arab population from the land now known as Israel. This conflict is obviously a hugely controversial subject, with a great deal of misinformation, ideology, and vicious ad hominem rhetoric poisoning most online review forums or discussions I've come across. I approach whatever I read with skepticism, and what I most enjoyed about this book was how its exhaustive referencing. I've read many smears against Pappe - ideologue, communist (as if that in and of itself invalidates his opinion?), 'revisionist' (a meaningless sloganeering term, really), and all manner of other horrible things. However, I've yet to read a single detractor who actually refuted (or even addressed, for that matter) the evidence compiled in his work. Ethnic Cleansing is full of references to Ben Gurion's own diary, declassified documents from Haganah/the IDF, accounts from British diplomats before they departed the region, reports from UN observers and the international red cross, testimony in Israeli courts, oral accounts from Israeli soldiers who participated in the cleansing, and oral testimonies from victims of the conflict. It's a mountain of evidence I've yet to see effectively refuted. Pappe uses these diverse sources to illuminate with heart wrenching clarity the crimes that the nascent state of Israel committed in 1948, continuing to the present day. He documents the development of a plan by senior Zionist/Israeli leaders to sieze, by force, as much of the territory of Mandatory Palestine as possible, while ethnically cleansing as many of the resident Arabs as possible to ensure an ethnically Jewish state. This violent, organized campaign, which began in earnest in March of (1948), used military night raids, massacres of women, children, and military age males, concentration camps to detain military age males, demolition of Arab houses/villages, shelling of Arab neighborhoods, and other methods to quickly and efficiently depopulate hundreds of Arab villages. It was only after hundreds of thousands of Arabs had been forcibily evicted in this way that the neighboring Arab countries decided to intervene to prevent these atrocities. Following their military victory, the Israelis continued the campaign until about 800,000 people had been cleansed, clearing the land for Jewish settlement. Pappe documents the subsequent attempts to Judaize the land, erasing all traces of its prior residents. He also discusses the fact that this initial crime is excluded from the so called "peace process" by the Israelis and their US benefactors, and contends the issue can never be solved until this is addressed. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to truly understand the roots of the conflict in this region and what must be addressed in order to solve it.

Ilan Pappé escreve em muitos detalhes os eventos antes, durante, e após a execução do plano de Ben Gurion para limpeza étnica da Palestina. É descrito não apenas a expulsão do povo palestino de suas terras, mas também o minucioso planejamento que antecedeu o evento e os grandes esforços para tentar esconder os crimes cometidos e apagar a memória dos palestinos.

An excellent and meticulously researched historical text. The level of cold, calculated brutality and unprovoked savagery used against a largely peaceful peasant population usually offering little or no resistance, a population quite unprepared for a war, who were usually just 'going about their business', is absolutely shocking. As is the clinical pre-planning and ruthless, cold efficiency with which the plan was then carried out. It is no exaggeration to compare what happened with the Nazi push into the Baltic states and Russia in the early 1940's. The reality of what actually happened during the years 1948-49, compared with the 'official' Israeli version, is astonishing. This is a subject I have had an interest in for some considerable time now, but despite my interest and knowledge of the subject, I was not prepared for the detail. The unnecessary nastiness and inhumanity of the jewish forces, is really hard to come to terms with. It is also interesting to compare the present day horror and outrage that is expressed at the actions of a 'suicide bomber' with events in early 1948 [when there was no war]. The Stern Gang and Hagana routinely threw bombs into CIVILIAN Palestinian gatherings and blew up houses with all the occupants asleep inside, often killing scores of people, simply to terrorise the population into fleeing Palestine. I am also deeply ashamed of the role [or non-role] played by the British forces, with one or two notable exceptions, [and the Bevin Government] who, until May 1948, were still officially charged with upholding law and order in Palestine. Anyone who still buys the notion that the events at Quana, the murder of the UN workers [despite hours of telephone conversations], the very high civilian casualty rates during the 2006 push into Lebanon, the deaths on the beach in Gaza and so on, were all REALLY accidental, should read this book. This particular brand of terror is long established practice by the Israelis. In fact, it is hard to understand how most of our media and politicians, people who have chosen to make a career informing the rest of us about what goes on, in and around the world, seem remarkably oblivious to this information. Well, there are no excuses now are there ? I am not sure how anyone could [intelligently] argue that this is 'a piece of anti-zionist fiction' as one of your reviewers suggests, it is far too factually based and closely referenced. It IS a testament to the power of the Israeli lobby and their campaign of distortion and misinformation that we are still presented by most of the media for most of the time the image of Israel as the victim in the Middle East. Now THAT is a piece of PRO-zionist fiction. Excellent, though disturbing book.

Excellent book

In “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” lo storico israeliano Ilan Pappé offre una ricostruzione profonda e documentata degli eventi del 1948 che portarono alla nascita dello Stato d’Israele e all’esodo forzato di centinaia di migliaia di palestinesi. Basandosi su fonti d’archivio storiche e testimonianze verificate, Pappé sfida le versioni “ufficiali” dimostrando come la “Nakba” non fu una semplice conseguenza del conflitto, ma il risultato di un piano sistematico volto all’espulsione della popolazione araba dalla propria terra. Il libro è uno sguardo coraggioso e provocatorio sulla storia del conflitto israelo-palestinese, che spinge il lettore a mettere in discussione ciò che crede di sapere e ad approfondire le complesse radici di una delle crisi geopolitiche più durature del nostro tempo.

A must read for anyone who wants to understand the history of this region and the reasons why things are how they are today. Ilan Pappe is one of the most eminent historians on the subject. I bought this book previously but this time for my brother's birthday.