In order to close that discussion once and for all, the following approach should be used (IMHO). For whatever reason the Arabs in 1949 decided to leave (voluntarily or else), 830000 Jews were expelled from the Arab countries at the same time. The expelled Jews found new homes in Israel and in the West. Now, the Arab countries must do the same with the Palestinians: absorb them. Full stop.

Israel would not have had a Jewish majority.

Because the land awarded to Israel under the partition plan had a Jewish majority of 60-40. That was before the Holocaust survivors that the British were keeping in DP camps were allowed in in 1949. But hey who cares about facts?

....and partition between them. The Jews were not the problem as they surely would be thrown to the sea. Their problem was, what to do with the local Palestinian Arabs. Uprooting them preventively was thought to be the solution. When Jordan was the sole master of Jerusalem, it did nothing for the Palestinians to have their state. The same with Egypt, when it was the sole master of Gazza., they left Palestinians to an abject suffering. Then came 67. To their horror, all their gain was lost. Israel became "the enemy" of the poor Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan, Syria`s consciences were as white as snow. They did nooooothing.

not only about the refugees but also about our historical présence in the middle east so Israel wake up and start hammenring in the truth to the world and then hopefully the world will Israel live in peace

unfortunately, we palestinians should learn that fact and behave based on it. The prove is still till nowadays around us.

somehow the ignorance has not limits...the jews are majority in Israel because: 1) all arab countries expelled around 1Mio jews, who went to Israel 2) return of jews around the globe to Israel 3) wars against Israel perpetuated by arabs. So, my little israel-basher, try not to be so much ignorant...

Here are just a few historical quotations from Arab leaders, relating to these Palestinian refugees: On April 23, 1948 Jamal Husseini, acting chairman of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee (AHC), told the UN Security Council: "The Arabs did not want to submit to a truce... They preferred to abandon their homes, belongings and everything they possessed." On September 6, 1948, the Beirut Daily Telegraph quoted Emil Ghory, secretary of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee, as saying: "The fact that there are those refugees is the direct consequence of the action of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agreed upon this policy unanimously..." On October 2, 1948, the London Economist reported, in an eyewitness account of the flight of Haifa's Arabs: "There is little doubt that the most potent of the factors [in the flight] were the announcements made over the air by the Arab Higher Executive urging all Arabs in Haifa to quit... And it was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades."

that arabs blamed arabs, instead of israel, for losing palestine? i know, so who cares? this doesn't negate the fact that they still WANT palestine or they shouldn't fight to make it independent for themselves. nice facts, but for what?

Notice it's the foreigner who has his facts all askew and is full of vitriol, while the Palestinian poster (#6) is calm, pragmatic, and aware of the facts. Now we can see why this issue has been going on for over 6 decades.

IT'S TIME FOLKS!...WE KICKED THE PALS OUT OF THEIR CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. IT'S OK LET'S MOBE ON AND ADMIT WHAT WE DID. WE NEED TO OFFER THEM AN APPOLGY SO WE CAN ALL MOVE FORWARD. WE DID IT, LET' NOT KEEP DENYING OUR ACTIONS AND JUSIFY THEM..LIFE GOES ON ISRAEL!

Stop shouting, and read the article again.

Finally someone is willing (& able?) to tell the true story. I hope EVERYONE reads this article. If anyone is interested there is a very well researched & documented book that covers this and many other historical conditions in the area: Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial.She was given access to lots of primary documents, materials not generally available. Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh is much shorter in length & period of coverage but worth reading, also. If people knew the truth, discussions could be more fruitful. But that's just me; what do I know.

this writer could be telling some truth: there was never a palestinian state, these arabs came from lebanon, syria, jordan and egypt, but they were later on rejected when they wanted to come back for fear that they would create another leaderships on their motherlands, ha, ha, ha! they are stateless arabs, now!

You mistate the issue in ALL CAPS! Please don't pull a "national apology" scheme out of your hat. It was war in 1948, and a complex situation existed on the ground. To say that "we" kicked the local Arabs out, end of story, is just not an accurate picture. So why repeat it? Does it make you feel absoved? Even Arab historians report the call of the Arab leaders for the local Arabs to leave Israel. There was a desire for rational borders, and some population movement. Europe enforced huge population movement after WWII, much of which has given various peoples the peace of knowing that they could move to be in a majority/national area for their ethnicity, or, be a minority with full civil rights but no right to seperate or seek independence. Since most of Palestine is in Trans-Jordanian, or eastern Palestine, and it is an independent country, mostly inhabited by Palestinians, we have a workable (if not perfect) solution. Better than many had in Europe. And unlike the Palestinians, they were ancient, distinct peoples, and not Syro-Arabian Arabs recreated as a new nationality to counter Israel.

I believe you are correct about the origins of the 'Palestinians'. But from what I've read, the biggest reasons they were rejected by Arab states after the 1948 war was to create a humanitarian crisis for which they could blame Israel. At the same time, Israel was taking in hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who were being ejected from those same Arab states. Seems we never hear about them. I'm so happy the truth is coming out..

Palestinians fled because they were terrified following the atrocious massacres committed by the Irgun and the Lehi all over Palestine, including in Deir Yassine.

Allowed the Arabs to listen to their own leaders, who encouraged them to leave, with the promise they would return to looted Jewish Land and Possessions ? The facts are duly documented, by the Arabs themselves and independentOobservers of that era, all you have to do is read them real slowly, they should sink in http://www.standwithus.com/pdfs/flyers/biglies06.pdf

The "Truth" has been around for quite a long time; the problem is that the press preferred to look for sensationalism instead of facts http://www.standwithus.com/pdfs/flyers/biglies06.pdf P.S. I toured Colorado a few years ago, lovely scenery, howeveryour roads scared the living daylights out of me and the wife