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==Background== |
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==Brief background== |
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{{also|1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|1948 Arab-Israeli War|1948 Palestinian exodus}} |
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After [[World War I]] and until the outbreak of the [[1948 Arab-Israeli war]], Lydda and Al-Ramla were towns in the District of Ramla in [[British Mandate Palestine]]. |
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In the immediate aftermath of the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|1947 United Nations' approval of the Partition plan]], expression of discontent amongst the Arab community of the Mandate grew leading to violent breakouts. Murders, reprisals, and counter-reprisals came one after the other, killing dozens of victims on both sides in the process. The Jerusalem [[Grand Mufti]], [[Mohammad Amin al-Husayni]] arranged a Palestinian blockade on the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem and hundreds of the Jewish [[Haganah]] members who tried to bring supplies to the city were killed. The Jewish population was under strict orders to hold their dominions at all costs, but the situation of insecurity across the country affected the Arab population more visibly where up to 100,000 Palestinians, chiefly those from the upper classes, left the country to seek refuge abroad or in [[Samaria]]. |
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The situation caused the U.S. to retract their support for the Partition plan, thus encouraging the [[Arab League]] to believe that the Palestinians, now reinforced by the [[Arab Liberation Army]], could put an end to the partition plan which was widely rejected in the Arab World. On 14 May 1948, [[David Ben-Gurion]] declared the [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|independence of the state of Israel]], an event followed by several Arab states' armies attacking the Jewish state the following day. |
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[[Operation Danny]], in which the Exodus from Lydda was ordered, was an Israeli operation carried out between the first and second truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The objective was to relieve the Jewish population and forces in Jerusalem and to capture [[Arab]] territory around [[Tel Aviv]] from which attacks on the city were launched. The road between the two cities had come under control of Arab militia and [[Arab Legion]] forces after [[Operation Nachshon]] had opened it. |
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⚫ | The 1947 Partition plan which proposed dividing the [[British Mandate of Palestine]] into two states (one [[Jewish state|Jewish]] and one [[Arab state|Arab]]) would have both Lydda and Al-Ramla be part of the proposed Arab state.<ref name=Sadip91>Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, pp. 91-92.</ref> <ref name=Monterescup16>Monterescu and Rabinowitz, 2007, pp. 16-17.</ref> |
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==Expulsion orders== |
==Expulsion orders== |
Revision as of 07:05, 3 May 2009
The Exodus from Lydda, also known as the Lydda Death March, took place during Operation Danny in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. After Israeli forces took control of the cities of Lydda and Ramla, beginning on 12 July 1948, between 50,000 and 70,000 Palestinians were expelled following orders issued by Yitzhak Rabin.[1][2][3][4] The precise number of deaths is unknown, but figures ranging between 335 and 355 have been reported, and are attributed primarily to exhaustion and dehydration.[5][6][7][8][9]
The inhabitants of Al-Ramla were bussed or trucked to Al-Qubab, and then made their way on foot from there to the Arab Legion lines in Salbit and Latrun, while the inhabitants of Lydda walked to Beit Nabala and Barfiliya.[10] The final destination for most of the survivors of the death march was a refugee camp in Ramallah some Template:Km to mi from the two cities.[11][12] Those expelled from Lydda were evicted at gunpoint by Israeli forces who repeatedly shot over their heads along the way to keep them moving, and accounts from survivors also describe a few incidents in which people were shot and killed, or became casualties as a result of the general panic.[3][13][14] In addition to losing their residential properties, many were also stripped of their portable possessions by Israeli soldiers.[15]
Background
After World War I and until the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Lydda and Al-Ramla were towns in the District of Ramla in British Mandate Palestine.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1947 United Nations' approval of the Partition plan, expression of discontent amongst the Arab community of the Mandate grew leading to violent breakouts. Murders, reprisals, and counter-reprisals came one after the other, killing dozens of victims on both sides in the process. The Jerusalem Grand Mufti, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni arranged a Palestinian blockade on the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem and hundreds of the Jewish Haganah members who tried to bring supplies to the city were killed. The Jewish population was under strict orders to hold their dominions at all costs, but the situation of insecurity across the country affected the Arab population more visibly where up to 100,000 Palestinians, chiefly those from the upper classes, left the country to seek refuge abroad or in Samaria.
The situation caused the U.S. to retract their support for the Partition plan, thus encouraging the Arab League to believe that the Palestinians, now reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could put an end to the partition plan which was widely rejected in the Arab World. On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the state of Israel, an event followed by several Arab states' armies attacking the Jewish state the following day.
Operation Danny, in which the Exodus from Lydda was ordered, was an Israeli operation carried out between the first and second truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The objective was to relieve the Jewish population and forces in Jerusalem and to capture Arab territory around Tel Aviv from which attacks on the city were launched. The road between the two cities had come under control of Arab militia and Arab Legion forces after Operation Nachshon had opened it.
The 1947 Partition plan which proposed dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into two states (one Jewish and one Arab) would have both Lydda and Al-Ramla be part of the proposed Arab state.[16] [17]
Expulsion orders
Yitzhak Rabin was the Head of Operations for Israeli forces in the area in July 1948 and he sent the order for the expulsion of the inhabitants of Lydda which read: "1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age ... Yiftah (Brigade HQ) must determine the method....2. Implement immediately."[2][18] Michael Prior writes that a similar expulsion order was issued for the city of Ramla but that Israeli historians between the 1950s and 1970s tried to differentiate it from Lydda, insisting that the inhabitants of Al-Ramla had violated the terms of surrender, with Benny Morris writing that they "were happy at the possibility given them of evacuating."[19] In a letter to the editor at Commentary, Efraim Karsh writes that there was no expulsion from Ramla.[20]
In the Haganah archives, Morris found the cable from Kiryati Brigade HQ to its officer in charge of Ramle, Zwi Aurback:
- 1. In light of the deployment of 42nd Battalion out of Ramle - you must take [over responsibility] for the defence of the town, the transfer of prisoners [to PoW camps] and the emptying of the town of its inhabitants.
- 2. You must continue the sorting out of the inhabitants, and send the army-age males to a prisoner of war camp. The old, women and children will be transported by vehicle to al Qubab and will be moved across the lines - [and] from there continue on foot.."[21]
Rabin himself wrote in his memoirs that "expulsions" had taken place in both Ramla and Lydda, a passage that was removed by an Israeli censorship board composed of five Cabinet members.[19] Peretz Kidron, an Israeli journalist who translated Rabin's memoirs from Hebrew into English, passed the censored excerpt to The New York Times, which published it on October 23, 1979.[3][22]
Kidron writes that it was success in the first phase of Operation Larlar that led Israeli forces to occupy Lydda and Al-Ramla.[3] In Rabin's memoirs, it is recorded that, "while the fighting was still in progress, they could not leave the hostile and armed populace in our rear, where it could endanger the supply route to Yiftach, which was advancing eastwards."[3] Rabin says that it was Yigal Allon who asked David Ben-Gurion what was to be done with the population of Lydda, and that Ben-Gurion
"waved his hand in gesture which said: Drive them out! Alon and I held a consultation. I agreed it was essential to drive the inhabitants out. We took them on foot to the Bet Horon road, assuming that the Legion would be obliged to look after them, thereby shouldering logistic difficulties which would burden its fighting capacity, making things easier for us."[3]
Rabin also writes that "The population of Lod (Lydda) did not leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the use of force and warning shots in order to make the inhabitants march the 10-15 miles to the point where they met up with the Legion." Of the population of Al-Ramla, Rabin writes:
"The inhabitants of Ramleh watched, and learned the lesson: their leaders agreed to be evacuated by the Legion. Great suffering was inflicted upon the men taking part in the eviction action. Soldiers of the Yiftach brigade included youth movement graduates, who had been inculcated with values such as international fraternity and humaneness. The eviction action went beyond the concepts they were used to. There were some fellows who refused to take part in the expulsion action. Prolonged propaganda activities were required after the action, to remove the bitterness of these youth movement groups, and explain why we were obliged to undertake such harsh and cruel action.[3]
Reflecting on these actions, Rabin concluded:
"To day, in hindsight, I think the action was essential. The removal of those fifty thousand Arabs was an important contribution to Israel's security, in one of the most sensitive regions, linking the coastal plain with Jerusalem. After the War of Independence, some of the inhabitants were permitted to return to their home towns."[3]
Eyewitness accounts
An account of the events in The Economist of London stated that, "The Arab refugees were systematically stripped of all their belongings before they were sent on their trek to the frontier. Household belongings, stores, clothing, all had to be left behind."[23] Spiro Munayar remembers how:
The occupying soldiers had set up roadblocks on all the road leading east and were searching the refugees, particularly the women, stealing their gold jewelry from their necks, wrist and fingers and whatever was hidden in their clothes, as well as money and everything else that was precious and light enough to carry.[24]
Father Oudeh Rantisi, another survivor of the death march who has documented his experiences, recalls some the deaths he witnessed along the way, such as a baby falling from his mother's arms and accidentally being crushed by a cart as a result of the general crowding and anxiety of those trying to enter a farm to get food and water. He also recounts having witnessed the shooting and killing of a few people by Israeli soldiers:
When we entered this gate, we saw Jewish soldiers spreading sheets on the ground and each who passed there had to place whatever they had on the ground or be killed. I remember that there was a man I knew from the Hanhan family from Lod who had just been married barely six weeks and there was with him a basket which contained money. When they asked him to place the basket on the sheet he refused - so they shot him dead before my eyes. Others were killed in front of me too, but I remember this person well because I used to know him.[13][25]
The looting conducted by Israeli soldiers is also mentioned by Ilan Pappé and Benny Morris who writes that many were "stripped of their possessions."[15][24] Another refugee in the march, Raja e-Basailah, describes how after making it to the Arab village of Ni'ilin, he pushed himself through the crowds to procure some water to take back to his mother and a close friend. He hid the water from others who were begging for it and describes being haunted for years afterward by his "hard-hearted" denial of their needs. Because he was blind, Basailah did not see those who perished on the way, but he recalls hearing the exclamations of others describing "[...] that some of those who lay dead had their tongues sticking out covered with dust and down," and how someone recounted to him, "[...] having seen a baby still alive on the bosom of a dead woman, apparently the mother ..."[16] Rantisi also describes some the effects sustained by the lack of adequate provisions among the refugees:
[...] the things I saw on the third day had a big effect on my life. Hundreds lost their lives due to fatigue and thirst. It was very hot during the day and there was no water. I remember that when we reached an abandoned house, they tied a rope around my cousin's child and sent him down into the water. They were so thirsty they started to suck the water from his clothes ... The road to Ramallah had become an open cemetery.[12][26]
Aftermath
United Nations official Count Folke Bernadotte who visited the refugee camp in Ramallah which housed the majority of the survivors in July 1948 said: "I have made the acquaintance of a great many refugee camps in my life but never have I seen a more ghastly site."[27]
After the war's end Lod and Ramla became predominantly Jewish mixed towns. [17] Residual Palestinian populations that had managed to remain in both towns were concentrated in bounded compounds and were vastly outnumbered by the influx of Jewish immigrants that followed.[17] The residential property rights of the former Palestinian communities of Lydda and Al-Ramla were officially transferred to the Israel's Custodian of Absentee Properties in March 1950.[17]
One of the survivors of the Lydda Death March was George Habash. A Palestinian Christian who was 21 years old at the time, he later went on to found the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), serving as its Secretary-General until 2000.
Artistic representations
The Palestinian artist Ismail Shammout was 19 years old when he left Lydda in the exodus. Shammout portrayed his experience and that of other Palestinian refugees in the piece Where to ..? (1953).
The oil painting on canvas is considered his best known work and enjoys iconic status among Palestinians. In the foreground, it depicts a life-size image of an elderly man dressed in rags carrying a walking stick in his left hand while his right hand grasps the wrist of a crying child. A sleeping toddler on his shoulder is resting his cheek upon the old man's head. Just behind them is a third child crying and walking alone. In the background there is a skyline of an Arab town with a minaret, while in the middle ground there is a withered tree.
A visual of the painting and a discussion of its symbolic dimensions and iconic status are included in In Israeli art historian Gannit Ankori's work Palestinian Art (2006).[28]
See also
- 1948 Palestinian exodus
- Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
References
- ^ Holmes et al., 2001, p. 64.
- ^ a b Prior, 1999, p. 205.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Peretz Kidron: Truth Whereby Nations Live. In Said and Hitchens, 1998, pp. 90-93.
- ^ Morris, 2003, pp. 176-177.
- ^ In The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 (1989), Benny Morris writes that "all the Israelis who witnessed the events agreed that the exodus, under a hot July sun, was an extended episode of suffering for the refugees, especially from Lydda ... Some were stripped by soldiers of their valuables as they left town or at checkpoints along the way. Hundreds of civilians died in the scorching heat, from exhaustion, dehydration and disease" (p. 204-211). In The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews (2003), he writes that "a handful, and perhaps dozens, died of dehydration and exhaustion" (p. 177). In his 2004 revised edition of The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, he writes that "Quite a few refugees died on the road east", attributing a figure of 335 dead to Nimr al Khatib, which he describes as "hearsay" (p. 433).
- ^ Finkelstein, 2003, p. 55. Finkelstein writes that perhaps as many as 350 died.
- ^ Spiro Munayyer (1998). "The Fall of Lydda" (PDF). Journal of Palestine Studies. Vol. 27, No. 4: pp. 80-98.
{{cite journal}}
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has extra text (help)In the introduction to Munayyer's work, Walid Khalidi gives a figure of 350 dead citing an estimate from Aref al-Aref. - ^ Gilbert, 2008, pp. 218-219. Martin Gilbert writes: "On the eastward march into the hills, and as far as Ramallah, in the intense heat of July, an estimated 355 refugees died from exhaustion and dehydration. 'Nobody will ever know how many children died,' Glubb Pasha commented.
- ^ Masalha, Nur (2003). The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Pluto Press. pp. p. 47. ISBN 9780745321219.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help)Masalha writes that 350 died. - ^ Morris, 1989, p. 209.
- ^ Gilbert, 2008, pp. 218-219.
- ^ a b Rantisi (1990), p.25
- ^ a b Benvenisti et al., 2007, p. 101.
- ^ Sandy Tolan (21 July 2008). "Focus: 60 Years of Division: The Nakba in al-Ramla". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
- ^ a b Ron, 2003, p. 145.
- ^ a b Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, pp. 91-92.
- ^ a b c d Monterescu and Rabinowitz, 2007, pp. 16-17.
- ^ The IDF Archives holds two nearly identical copies of the expulsion order. According to Morris, 2004, p. 429, 454, Allon later denied that there had been such an order, saying that the order to evacuate the civilian population of Lydda and Ramle came from the Arab Legion (see also Al Hamishmar, 25 Oct. 1979).
- ^ a b Prior, 1999, p. 206.
- ^ Efraim Karsh. "Israel's Founding". Commentary.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Kiryati HQ to Aurbach, Tel Aviv District HQ (Mishmar) etc., 14:50 hours, 13 July 1948, HA (=Haganah Archive, Tel Aviv) 80\774\\12 (Zvi Aurbach Papers). See also Kiryati HQ to Hail Mishmar HQ Ramle -Shiloni, 19:15 hours, 13 July 1948, HA 80\774\\12. Cited in Morris (2004), p.429, 454
- ^ Shipler, David K. "Israel Bars Rabin from Relating '48 Eviction of Arabs," The New York Times, October 23, 1979.
- ^ Pappé (2006), p. 168
- ^ a b Pappé (2006), p. 168
- ^ Rantisi (1990), p.24
- ^ Benvenisti et al., 2007, p. 102.
- ^ Thomas, 1999, p. 288.
- ^ Ankori, 2006, pp. 48-50.
Bibliography
- Ankori, Gannit (2006), Palestinian art (Illustrated ed.), Reaktion Books, ISBN 1861892594, 9781861892591
{{citation}}
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value: invalid character (help) - Benvenisti, Eyal; Gans, Chaim; Ḥanafi, Sārī (2007), Israel and the Palestinian refugees (Illustrated ed.), Springer, ISBN 3540681604, 9783540681601
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Finkelstein, Norman G. (2003), Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict (2nd, revised ed.), Verso, ISBN 1859844421, 9781859844427
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Gelber, Yoav, Palestine, 1948: War, Escape and the Emergence of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, Sussex Academic Press, pp. 161–163
{{citation}}
: External link in
(help)|title=
- Gilbert, Martin (2008), Israel: A History, Key Porter Books
- Holmes, Richard; Strachan, Hew; Bellamy, Chris; Bicheno, Hugh (2001), The Oxford companion to military history (Illustrated ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198662092, 9780198662099
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Karsh, Efraim (2002), The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, p. 64
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- Monterescu, Daniel; Rabinowitz, Dan (2007), Mixed towns, trapped communities: historical narratives, spatial dynamics, gender relations and cultural encounters in Palestinian-Israeli towns (Illustrated ed.), Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0754647323, 9780754647324
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Morris, Benny (1989), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, Cambridge University Press
- Morris, Benny (2003), The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews, Tauris
- Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521009677
- Pappé, Ilan (2006): The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, London and New York: Oneworld, ISBN 1851684670
- Rantisi, Audeh G. (1990): Blessed are the peacemakers: the story of a Palestinian Christian, ISBN 0863470599 .
- Rantisi, Audeh G. (2000), The Lydda Death March in American for Middle East Understanding, vol.33, Issue 3, jul.-august 2000.
- Prior, Michael P. (1999), Zionism and the state of Israel: a moral inquiry (Illustrated ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0415204623, 9780415204620
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Ron, James (2003), Frontiers and ghettos: state violence in Serbia and Israel (Illustrated ed.), University of California Press, ISBN 0520236572, 9780520236578
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Sa'di, Ahmad H.; Abu-Lughod, Lila (2007), Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the claims of memory (Illustrated ed.), Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231135793, 9780231135795
{{citation}}
: Check|isbn=
value: invalid character (help) - Edward W. Said; Christopher Hitchens, eds. (1988), Blaming the Victims, Verso, ISBN 0860911756
- Thomas, Baylis (1999), How Israel was won: a concise history of the Arab-Israeli conflict (Illustrated ed.), Lexington Books, ISBN 0739100645, 9780739100646
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External links
- Abu-Sitta, Salman (2006): The Origins of Sharon’s Legacy
- Masalha, Nur: Towards the Palestinian Refugees
- Munayyer, Spiro (1998): The fall of Lydda. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 80-98.
- Rantisi, Father Audeh: Survivor´s testimonies, extracts from the memoir, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Rantisi, Audeh G. and Charles Amash: Death March
- Rantisi, Father Audeh: Would I ever see my home again?,