one another, the Haganah, with its elite force known as the Palmach, the Irgun, and the

Stern gang
were to prove formidable opponents.
That both sides committed acts of violence is clear. In the light of the subsequent events of 1948,
historians continue to debate the nature of Israeli policy towards the Arab villages. Benvenisti rejects
Palestinian historiography, which depicts the destruction of the Palestinian landscape as a single,
continuous process, planned from the start by the Zionist leadership. He cites a meeting of the Jewish
leaders on 12 January 1948 to create guidelines for the execution of reprisal raids. The decision to launch
such raids only in reaction to Arab attacks was an indication that in the early stages of the 1948 war there
was no policy of ethnic cleansing as claimed by the Palestinian scholars (Benvenisti 2000, p. 104).

D O CUM E N T ST U DY: T H E PARTI TI ON PLAN

KEY

KEY

PALESTINE
Distribution of population
by subdistricts, with
percentages of Jews and Arabs.

PALESTINE
Land ownership by subdistricts.
Percentages

Percentages

4%

Arabs

SAFAD

13%

Arabs

3%
10%

Jews

SAFAD

18%

Jews

14%
96%

Public and other

87%

ACRE

87%

68%

ACRE

33%
16%
67%

47%

30%

NAZARETH

53%

S E A

11%

TIBERIAS
23%

M ED ITERRANEA N

HAIFA
70%

20%

NAZARETH

BEISAN

100%
17%

52%

34%

44%
less than 1%
16%

HAIFA

SEA

28%

35%

42%

TIBERIAS

84%

ME D IT E R R AN E A N

38%

51%

22%

BEISAN

JENIN

83%

JENIN

17%
5%

TULKARM

100%

86%

39%
47%

NABLUS
71%

NABLUS
less than 1% 1%

14%

JAFFA

JAFFA
100%

22%

RAMALLAH

78%

2%

RAMLE
4%

99%

HEBRON

less than 1%

99%

BEERSHEBA

S E A

GAZA

D E A
D

98%

14%

84%

21%

JERUSALEM
less than 1%

RAMALLAH

77%

62%

2%

98%

9%

38%

RAMLE

14%

1% 4%

JERUSALEM
S E A

29%

75%

GAZA

D E A
D

TULKARM

less than 1%
13%

78%

83%

95%

HEBRON

less than 1%
15%
84%

10

20

30

40

50 km

Figure 13.1 Distribution of population in Palestine, 1947

BEERSHEBA
Figure 13.2

10

20

30

40

50 km

Land ownership in Palestine

The ArabIsraeli Conflict 19481996 | 429

DO CUM E NT S T U DY: CONT INU ED

DOCUMENT ST U DY TASK

<DEN_KFMH4_1303>

SAFAD
ACRE
M E D I T E R R A N E A N
S E A

TIBERIAS
NAZARETH
HAIFA
BEISAN

You are a United Nations official charged with

drawing up the partitioned map of Palestine
to provide a Jewish state and an Arab state.
Use the land ownership and population maps
(Figures 13.1 and 13.2) to help you. Allocate
each region of Palestine in Figure 13.3 to the
Jews or the Arabs.
1 What similarities are there between your
final map and the one produced by the UN?
(see Figure 5.16)
2 What are the difficulties in trying to construct
two states out of one original territory?

JENIN

TULKARM
NABLUS
JAFFA
RAMALLAH

N
RAMLE

JERUSALEM

HEBRON

D E A
D

S E A

GAZA

BEERSHEBA
0

10

20

30

40

50 km

Figure 13.3 The districts of Palestine, 1947

As fighting intensified, the Haganah High Command met on 10 March to approve Plan D (Dalet),
so called because it was the fourth in a series of strategic plans that the Haganah had compiled since
1941. Plan Dalet superseded the principles agreed in January, and saw the commencement of a
deliberate policy of expelling the Arab inhabitants of Palestine.
It was in this context that the attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin took place on 9 April 1948.
Fighting had centred around the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the Jews tried to defeat Arab
attempts to besiege the ancient capital. Deir Yassin, close to Jerusalem, was attacked by forces of the
Irgun and the Stern gang. What happened at Deir Yassin, and the subsequent reaction, was to play an
important role in determining the future of the Jewish and Arab communities.
430 | Key Features of Modern History