Excerpt from Fantastic Victory: Israel's Rendezvous with Destiny by Cleon Skousen (1967)

An Arab with a Different Point of View

One evening an Arab who was assigned to us as one of our drivers came to me privately and said in rather good English, “You are not being told the whole truth. I am one of the Arab refugees from Israel, I will tell you what really happened.”

A conversation then took place which I later attempted to recapture and reconstruct for my diary notes. Essentially, this is what the Arab said:

“When Israel was made an independent nation by the U.N., the Palestine Arabs were also given territory for an independent nation. But instead of accepting this plan which was supposed to go into effect in 1948, the Palestine Arabs decided to get six other Arab nations to join them in declaring war on Israel so they could drive them out. That way they would get all the land.

“The leaders of these Arab nations sent word to us Arabs living in Israel that we should move over into Jordan territory so we wouldn’t get hurt during the war against the Jews. The Arab leaders promised us that we would be away from our homes only a short time, not more than three weeks at the longest. Then they said we could return and possess not only our own property but the land and buildings of the Jews as well.

“Most of the Arabs in Israel moved over into Jordan just as soon as they could, although some stayed because the Israeli government promised them good treatment if they would remain.”

“How many stayed?”

“About a hundred thousand, mostly those up around Nazareth.”

“Then what happened to the million who came out?”

“We had a holiday at first. Everyone expected the Jews to be defeated quickly. But they fought hard. They were stronger and better fighters than the Arab leaders had expected. After awhile the Arabs had to give up because the Jews were beginning to win more territory than they had in the first place. In a few months an armistice was signed. This left all of us Arabs from Israel without any homes. The Jews said they would hold our land in trust for us, but they said that since we had joined the enemy we could not return until the Arab nations had agreed to recognize Israel and sign a permanent peace treaty. This never happened, so the next thing we knew all of us Arabs from Israel were confined to special camps set up by the Arab governments. Most of us were confined in Jordan but some were located in Egypt and Lebanon. A lot were held by Egypt in the Gaza strip.

“We were not allowed to seek jobs, farm the land or become citizens of these countries. The refugee camps became prison camps with our Arab brothers standing over us as guards.”

“How did you happen to get this job as a driver?”

“For fifteen years my wife and I and our children lived like animals in the camp. Our lives were wasting away. I pleaded with the officials to let me go out and get a job, but they would not. They said we must wait until we could be sent back to Israel. But as the years went by the tourist business began to get very good. Last year the officials said they badly needed any Arabs who could speak English, French or German to serve as guides and drivers. I could speak English, so they let me out to have one of these jobs which no other available Arab could fill.”

“What happened to the Arabs who remained in Israel?”

“They say they are doing very well. They elect their own representatives. They use their own language in the schools. They are allowed to study the Moslem Koran instead of the Jewish Bible. Some of them come to Jordan on business or to visit so we get to talk to them. They sometimes complain that the Jews compete for their business. Still, they tell me about their new houses and about buying new cars so I guess they are doing all right.”

“What about the story that the Israelis drove thousands of the Arabs from their homes?”

“Yes, I think this happened to some, especially around Jaffa and Haifa and later along the border of Jerusalem. But what your guide told you was not the whole story. During the winter of 1947 and 1948 the British were angry at the Jews, and the Arabs in Israel found that they could make raids on the Jews without any interference from the British. I was against it because the Jews had been storing up weapons and I knew they are mean fighters when they get mad. Eventually they did get mad and they attacked Jaffa and Haifa. A lot of Arabs fled from these main centers but they did not have to leave Israel unless they wanted to.

“Later, when the Arab leaders ordered us to leave Israel the Jews had sound trucks go up and down the streets for several days asking us not to leave. They told us that if we stayed we would not have to fight to help the Jews and that we would be treated well as long as we were neutral and didn’t help their enemies.”

“But most of them left?”

“Yes.”

“Did you go at that time?”

“No. I moved over near the Jerusalem border so I could cross if things became hot. And that’s what happened. During the war there was a lot of bombing along the border between Old Jerusalem and the Israeli Jerusalem. I decided to move my family into Jordan where I thought we would be safe until the war was over. I wouldn’t have come if I had thought the Jordanians would put us in a prison camp for fifteen years.”

“Why do you think they did that?”

“They were afraid we would get their jobs or take away their business. Some of us had good educations and had been very successful in Israel before we became refugees.”

“But couldn’t they put you to work? The Jews have absorbed a million refugees and used them to make their country productive and prosperous.”

“Of course, and the Arabs could have done the same.”

The Beginning of Arab-Jewish Friction

I was anxious to get the point of view of this Israeli Arab on the earlier history of the Arab-Jewish conflict, so I asked him, “When the Jews first came to Palestine, did the Arabs resent them?”

“No,” he replied, “They welcomed them. The Jews had money to buy land and there were only a few at first.”

“When did the Arabs start resisting the Jewish migration?”

“When World War I was over and the Jews began talking about setting up a national home in Palestine.”

“Who did this territory belong to before World War I?”

“It was part of the Turkish Empire, but Arabs were living on most of the land.”

“And the Palestine Arabs wanted to become an independent nation in the same territory the British had promised to the Jews for their national home?”

“Yes, the British had promised the Arabs independence if they would fight against Turkey and the Germans.”

“And the British had promised the Jews a national home in Palestine also?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t the Jews later offer to organize the new government of Palestine on a biracial basis with representation based on the respective populations of both Arabs and Jews?”

“Yes, providing the Arabs would agree to let additional Jews migrate as fast as the Jewish agency could afford to buy land for them.”

“Didn’t the Arabs want this?”

“No. The Jews were organized. At the time there were several Arabs for every Jew but in time they would probably outnumber us. You know how the Jews are.”

“But the Arabs wouldn’t have to sell land to the Jews unless they wanted to. Couldn’t you control the territory and the population by continuing to retain most of the land?”

“No. The Arabs are not that united. Always some Arabs will sell if the price is right. Especially the Arabs from Lebanon who owned a lot of the swampland along the coast and up around Megiddo (Jezreel Valley). No Arabs dared to try to farm any of this region because they got sick (malaria, etc.) So the Jews were able to buy this land very cheap. They worked for many years and finally they learned how to drain off the water and it became some of the best farming land in the country.”

“What are the Jews doing with all the property that was abandoned by you Israeli Arabs after you left and came over to Jordan?”

“The Jews are using it.”

“Have they offered to pay for it?”

“We heard that they did but none of us have ever received anything.”

I subsequently learned that since no permanent peace agreement could be worked out with the Arabs, the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine put a value of $336 million on the former Arab holdings in Israel and asked the Israeli government to pay that amount.(7) The Israeli government accepted the principle of giving the Arabs compensation but nothing else came of it because the Arab nations began quarreling among themselves as to just what the compensation should be and they never could agree on a specific amount. In fact, they later refused to consider any settlement short of complete restoration of all properties to the original owners themselves. The Israelis said this would be possible only when the Arab nations agreed to officially recognize Israel as a legal entity and sign a permanent peace treaty. The Arabs refused to do this so the compensation issue was stalemated.(8)

Footnotes: 7, 8-Robert J. Donovan, Israel’s Fight for Survival, pp. 43-44.