{"id":137085,"date":"2019-07-08T12:01:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T11:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=137085"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:41:58","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:41:58","slug":"burying-the-nakba-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/07\/burying-the-nakba-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>5 Jul 2019 &#8211; <em>Since early last decade, Defense Ministry teams have scoured local archives and removed troves of historic documents to conceal proof of the Nakba.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/MAGAZINE-testimonies-from-the-censored-massacre-at-deir-yassin-1.5494094\" ><em>Testimonies from the censored Deir Yassin massacre: &#8216;They piled bodies and burned them&#8217; <\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/.premium.MAGAZINE-general-s-confession-links-massacre-to-israel-s-secret-plan-to-expel-arabs-1.6550421\" >General&#8217;s final confession links 1956 massacre to Israel&#8217;s secret plan to expel Arabs <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/middle-east-news\/palestinians\/.premium.MAGAZINE-hidden-stories-of-the-nakba-1.6010350\" ><em>Palestinians uncover history of the Nakba, even as Israel cuts them off from their sources<\/em> <\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Four years ago, historian Tamar Novick was jolted by a document she found in the file of Yosef Vashitz, from the Arab Department of the left-wing Mapam Party, in the Yad Yaari archive at Givat Haviva. The document, which seemed to describe events that took place during the 1948 war, began:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cSafsaf [former Palestinian village near Safed] \u2013 52 men were caught, tied them to one another, dug a pit and shot them. 10 were still twitching. Women came, begged for mercy. Found bodies of 6 elderly men. There were 61 bodies. 3 cases of rape, one east of from Safed, girl of 14, 4 men shot and killed. From one they cut off his fingers with a knife to take the ring.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The writer goes on to describe additional <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/.premium-israeli-who-commanded-massacre-of-dozens-of-arab-captives-in-1948-dies-at-93-1.7022943\" >massacres, looting and abuse<\/a> perpetrated by Israeli forces in Israel\u2019s War of Independence. \u201cThere\u2019s no name on the document and it\u2019s not clear who\u2019s behind it,\u201d Dr. Novick tells Haaretz. \u201cIt also breaks off in the middle. I found it very disturbing. I knew that finding a document like this made me responsible for clarifying what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Upper Galilee village of Safsaf was captured by the Israel Defense Forces in Operation Hiram toward the end of 1948. Moshav Safsufa was established on its ruins. Allegations were made over the years that the Seventh Brigade committed war crimes in the village. Those charges are supported by the document Novick found, which was not previously known to scholars. It could also constitute additional evidence that the Israeli top brass knew about what was going on in real time.<\/p>\n<p>Novick decided to consult with other historians about the document. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/us-news\/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-will-decline-and-jews-will-be-persecuted-those-who-can-will-flee-1.6848498\" >Benny Morris<\/a>, whose books are basic texts in the study of the Nakba \u2013 the \u201ccalamity,\u201d as the Palestinians refer to the mass emigration of Arabs from the country during the 1948 war \u2013 told her that he, too, had come across similar documentation in the past. He was referring to notes made by Mapam Central Committee member Aharon Cohen on the basis of a briefing given in November 1948 by Israel Galili, the former chief of staff of the Haganah militia, which became the IDF. Cohen\u2019s notes in this instance, which Morris published, stated: \u201cSafsaf 52 men tied with a rope. Dropped into a pit and shot. 10 were killed. Women pleaded for mercy. [There were] 3 cases of rape. Caught and released. A girl of 14 was raped. Another 4 were killed. Rings of knives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morris\u2019 footnote (in his seminal \u201cThe Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949\u201d) states that this document was also found in the Yad Yaari Archive. But when Novick returned to examine the document, she was surprised to discover that it was no longer there.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_137086\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137086\" class=\"wp-image-137086\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2-1024x815.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2-1024x815.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2-768x611.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel2.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137086\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestine refugees initially displaced to Gaza board boats to Lebanon or Egypt, in 1949. Hrant Nakashian\/1949 UN Archives<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAt first I thought that maybe Morris hadn\u2019t been accurate in his footnote, that perhaps he had made a mistake,\u201d Novick recalls. \u201cIt took me time to consider the possibility that the document had simply disappeared.\u201d When she asked those in charge where the document was, she was told that it had been placed behind lock and key at Yad Yaari \u2013 by order of the Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the last decade, Defense Ministry teams have been scouring Israel\u2019s archives and removing historic documents. But it\u2019s not just <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/.premium-secret-handwritten-memos-reveal-how-israel-s-nuclear-program-came-to-be-1.6850955\" >papers relating to Israel\u2019s nuclear project<\/a> or to the country\u2019s foreign relations that are being transferred to vaults: Hundreds of documents have been concealed as part of a systematic effort to hide evidence of the Nakba.<\/p>\n<p>The phenomenon was first detected by the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research. According to a report drawn up by the institute, the operation is being spearheaded by Malmab, the Defense Ministry\u2019s secretive security department (the name is a Hebrew acronym for \u201cdirector of security of the defense establishment\u201d), whose activities and budget are classified. The report asserts that Malmab removed historical documentation illegally and with no authority, and at least in some cases has sealed documents that had previously been cleared for publication by the military censor. Some of the documents that were placed in vaults had already been published.<\/p>\n<p>An investigative report by Haaretz found that Malmab has concealed testimony from IDF generals about the killing of civilians and the demolition of villages, as well as documentation of the expulsion of Bedouin during the first decade of statehood. Conversations conducted by Haaretz with directors of public and private archives alike revealed that staff of the security department had treated the archives as their property, in some cases threatening the directors themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Yehiel Horev, who headed Malmab for two decades, until 2007, acknowledged to Haaretz that he launched the project, which is still ongoing. He maintains that it makes sense to conceal the events of 1948, because uncovering them could generate unrest among the country\u2019s Arab population. Asked what the point is of removing documents that have already been published, he explained that the objective is to undermine the credibility of studies about the history of the refugee problem. In Horev\u2019s view, an allegation made by a researcher that&#8217;s backed up by an original document is not the same as an allegation that cannot be proved or refuted.<\/p>\n<p>The document Novick was looking for might have reinforced Morris\u2019 work. During the investigation, Haaretz was in fact able to find the Aharon Cohen memo, which sums up a meeting of Mapam\u2019s Political Committee on the subject of massacres and expulsions in 1948. Participants in the meeting called for cooperation with a commission of inquiry that would investigate the events. One case the committee discussed concerned \u201cgrave actions\u201d carried out in the village of Al-Dawayima, east of Kiryat Gat. One participant mentioned the then-disbanded Lehi underground militia in this connection. Acts of looting were also reported: \u201cLod and Ramle, Be\u2019er Sheva, there isn\u2019t [an Arab] store that hasn\u2019t been broken into. 9th Brigade says 7, 7th Brigade says 8.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe party,\u201d the document states near the end, \u201cis against expulsion if there is no military necessity for it. There are different approaches concerning the evaluation of necessity. And further clarification is best. What happened in Galilee \u2013 those are Nazi acts! Every one of our members must report what he knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Israeli version<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most fascinating documents about the origin of the Palestinian refugee problem was written by an officer in Shai, the precursor to the Shin Bet security service. It discusses why the country was emptied of so many of its Arab inhabitants, dwelling on the circumstances of each village. Compiled in late June 1948, it was titled \u201cThe Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.co.il\/st\/inter\/Heng\/1948.pdf\" >Read a translation of the document here<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This document was the basis for an article that Benny Morris published in 1986. After the article appeared, the document was removed from the archive and rendered inaccessible to researchers. Years later, the Malmab team reexamined the document, and ordered that it remain classified. They could not have known that a few years later researchers from Akevot would find a copy of the text and run it past the military censors \u2013 who authorized its publication unconditionally. Now, after years of concealment, the gist of the document is being revealed here.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-page document begins with an introduction that unabashedly approves of the evacuation of the Arab villages. According to the author, the month of April \u201cexcelled in an increase of emigration,\u201d while May \u201cwas blessed with the evacuation of maximum places.\u201d The report then addresses \u201cthe causes of the Arab emigration.\u201d According to the Israeli narrative that was disseminated over the years, responsibility for the exodus from Israel rests with Arab politicians who encouraged the population to leave. However, according to the document, 70 percent of the Arabs left as a result of Jewish military operations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_137087\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137087\" class=\"wp-image-137087\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3-1012x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3-1012x1024.jpg 1012w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3-296x300.jpg 296w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3-768x777.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel3.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137087\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinian children awaiting distribution of milk by UNICEF at the Nazareth Franciscan Sisters\u2019 convent, on January 1, 1950. AW \/ UN Photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The unnamed author of the text ranks the reasons for the Arabs\u2019 departure in order of importance. The first reason: \u201cDirect Jewish acts of hostility against Arab places of settlement.\u201d The second reason was the impact of those actions on neighboring villages. Third in importance came \u201coperations by the breakaways,\u201d namely the Irgun and Lehi undergrounds. The fourth reason for the Arab exodus was orders issued by Arab institutions and \u201cgangs\u201d (as the document refers to all Arab fighting groups); fifth was \u201cJewish &#8216;whispering operations&#8217; to induce the Arab inhabitants to flee\u201d; and the sixth factor was \u201cevacuation ultimatums.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The author asserts that, \u201cwithout a doubt, the hostile operations were the main cause of the movement of the population.\u201d In addition, \u201cLoudspeakers in the Arabic language proved their effectiveness on the occasions when they were utilized properly.\u201d As for Irgun and Lehi operations, the report observes that \u201cmany in the villages of central Galilee started to flee following the abduction of the notables of Sheikh Muwannis [a village north of Tel Aviv]. The Arab learned that it is not enough to forge an agreement with the Haganah and that there are other Jews [i.e., the breakaway militias] to beware of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The author notes that ultimatums to leave were especially employed in central Galilee, less so in the Mount Gilboa region. \u201cNaturally, the act of this ultimatum, like the effect of the &#8216;friendly advice,&#8217; came after a certain preparing of the ground by means of hostile actions in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An appendix to the document describes the specific causes of the exodus from each of scores of Arab locales: Ein Zeitun \u2013 \u201cour destruction of the village\u201d; Qeitiya \u2013 \u201charassment, threat of action\u201d; Almaniya \u2013 \u201cour action, many killed\u201d; Tira \u2013 \u201cfriendly Jewish advice\u201d; Al\u2019Amarir \u2013 \u201cafter robbery and murder carried out by the breakaways\u201d; Sumsum \u2013 \u201cour ultimatum\u201d; Bir Salim \u2013 \u201cattack on the orphanage\u201d; and Zarnuga \u2013 \u201cconquest and expulsion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Short fuse<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the early 2000s, the Yitzhak Rabin Center conducted a series of interviews with former public and military figures as part of a project to document their activity in the service of the state. The long arm of Malmab seized on these interviews, too. Haaretz, which obtained the original texts of several of the interviews, compared them to the versions that are now available to the public, after large swaths of them were declared classified.<\/p>\n<p>These included, for example, sections of the testimony of Brig. Gen. (res.) Aryeh Shalev about the expulsion across the border of the residents of a village he called \u201cSabra.\u201d Later in the interview, the following sentences were deleted: \u201cThere was a very serious problem in the valley. There were refugees who wanted to return to the valley, to the Triangle [a concentration of Arab towns and villages in eastern Israel]. We expelled them. I met with them to persuade them not to want that. I have papers about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In another case, Malmab decided to conceal the following segment from an interview that historian Boaz Lev Tov conducted with Maj. Gen. (res.) Elad Peled:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a population \u2013 women and children?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cAll, all. Yes.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cDon\u2019t you distinguish between them?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cThe problem is very simple. The war is between two populations. They come out of their home.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cIf the home exists, they have somewhere to return to?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cIt\u2019s not armies yet, it\u2019s gangs. We\u2019re also actually gangs. We come out of the house and return to the house. They come out of the house and return to the house. It\u2019s either their house or our house.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cQualms belong to the more recent generation?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cYes, today. When I sit in an armchair here and think about what happened, all kinds of thoughts come to mind.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cWasn\u2019t that the case then?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cLook, let me tell you something even less nice and cruel, about the big raid in Sasa [Palestinian village in Upper Galilee]. The goal was actually to deter them, to tell them, \u2018Dear friends, the Palmach [the Haganah \u201cshock troops\u201d] can reach every place, you are not immune.\u2019 That was the heart of the Arab settlement. But what did we do? My platoon blew up 20 homes with everything that was there.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cWhile people were sleeping there?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peled: \u201cI suppose so. What happened there, we came, we entered the village, planted a bomb next to every house, and afterward Homesh blew on a trumpet, because we didn\u2019t have radios, and that was the signal [for our forces] to leave. We\u2019re running in reverse, the sappers stay, they pull, it\u2019s all primitive. They light the fuse or pull the detonator and all those houses are gone.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_137088\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137088\" class=\"wp-image-137088\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4-1024x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4-1024x720.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4-768x540.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel4.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">IDF soldiers guarding Palestinians in Ramle, in 1948.<br \/>Collection of Benno Rothenberg\/The IDF and Defense Establishment Archives<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Another passage that the Defense Ministry wanted to keep from the public came from Dr. Lev Tov\u2019s conversation with Maj. Gen. Avraham Tamir:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Tamir<\/em>: <em>\u201cI was under Chera [Maj. Gen. Tzvi Tzur, later IDF chief of staff], and I had excellent working relations with him. He gave me freedom of action \u2013 don\u2019t ask \u2013 and I happened to be in charge of staff and operations work during two developments deriving from [Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion\u2019s policy. One development was when reports arrived about marches of refugees from Jordan toward the abandoned villages [in Israel]. And then Ben-Gurion lays down as policy that we have to demolish [the villages] so they won\u2019t have anywhere to return to. That is, all the Arab villages, most of which were in [the area covered by] Central Command, most of them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cThe ones that were still standing?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tamir: \u201cThe ones that weren\u2019t yet inhabited by Israelis. There were places where we had already settled Israelis, like Zakariyya and others. But most of them were still abandoned villages.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cThat were standing?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tamir: \u201cStanding. It was necessary for there to be no place for them to return to, so I mobilized all the engineering battalions of Central Command, and within 48 hours I knocked all those villages to the ground. Period. There\u2019s no place to return to.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lev Tov: \u201cWithout hesitation, I imagine.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tamir: \u201cWithout hesitation. That was the policy. I mobilized, I carried it out and I did it.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Crates in vaults<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vault of the Yad Yaari Research and Documentation Center is one floor below ground level. In the vault, which is actually a small, well-secured room, are stacks of crates containing classified documents. The archive houses the materials of the Hashomer Hatzair movement, the Kibbutz Ha\u2019artzi kibbutz movement, Mapam, Meretz and other bodies, such as Peace Now.<\/p>\n<p>The archive\u2019s director is Dudu Amitai, who is also chairman of the Association of Israel Archivists. According to Amitai, Malmab personnel visited the archive regularly between 2009 and 2011. Staff of the archive relate that security department teams \u2013 two Defense Ministry retirees with no archival training \u2013 would show up two or three times a week. They searched for documents according to such keywords as \u201cnuclear,\u201d \u201csecurity\u201d and \u201ccensorship,\u201d and also devoted considerable time to the War of Independence and the fate of the pre-1948 Arab villages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the end, they submitted a summary to us, saying that they had located a few dozen sensitive documents,\u201d Amitai says. \u201cWe don\u2019t usually take apart files, so dozens of files, in their entirety, found their way into our vault and were removed from the public catalog.\u201d A file might contain more than 100 documents.<\/p>\n<p>One of the files that was sealed deals with the military government that controlled the lives of Israel\u2019s Arab citizens from 1948 until 1966. For years, the documents were stored in the same vault, inaccessible to scholars. Recently, in the wake of a request by Prof. Gadi Algazi, a historian from Tel Aviv University, Amitai examined the file himself and ruled that there was no reason not to unseal it, Malmab\u2019s opinion notwithstanding.<\/p>\n<p>According to Algazi, there could be several reasons for Malmab\u2019s decision to keep the file classified. One of them has to do with a secret annex it contains to a report by a committee that examined the operation of the military government. The report deals almost entirely with land-ownership battles between the state and Arab citizens, and barely touches on security matters.<\/p>\n<p>Another possibility is a 1958 report by the ministerial committee that oversaw the military government. In one of the report\u2019s secret appendixes, Col. Mishael Shaham, a senior officer in the military government, explains that one reason for not dismantling the martial law apparatus is the need to restrict Arab citizens\u2019 access to the labor market and to prevent the reestablishment of destroyed villages.<\/p>\n<p>A third possible explanation for hiding the file concerns previously unpublished historical testimony about the expulsion of Bedouin. On the eve of Israel\u2019s establishment, nearly 100,000 Bedouin lived in the Negev. Three years later, their number was down to 13,000. In the years during and after the independence war, a number of expulsion operations were carried out in the country\u2019s south. In one case, United Nations observers reported that Israel had expelled 400 Bedouin from the Azazma tribe and cited testimonies of tents being burned. The letter that appears in the classified file describes a similar expulsion carried out as late as 1956, as related by geologist Avraham Parnes:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_137090\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137090\" class=\"wp-image-137090\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5-734x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5-734x1024.jpg 734w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5-768x1071.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel5.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The evacuation of Iraq al-Manshiyya, near today&#8217;s Kiryat Gat, in March, 1949.<br \/>Collection of Benno Rothenberg\/The IDF and Defense Establishment Archives<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cA month ago we toured Ramon [crater]. The Bedouin in the Mohila area came to us with their flocks and their families and asked us to break bread with them. I replied that we had a great deal of work to do and didn\u2019t have time. In our visit this week, we headed toward Mohila again. Instead of the Bedouin and their flocks, there was deathly silence. Scores of camel carcasses were scattered in the area. We learned that three days earlier the IDF had \u2018screwed\u2019 the Bedouin, and their flocks were destroyed \u2013 the camels by shooting, the sheep with grenades. One of the Bedouin, who started to complain, was killed, the rest fled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The testimony continued, \u201cTwo weeks earlier, they\u2019d been ordered to stay where they were for the time being, afterward they were ordered to leave, and to speed things up 500 head were slaughtered&#8230;. The expulsion was executed \u2018efficiently.\u2019\u201d The letter goes on to quote what one of the soldiers said to Parnes, according to his testimony: \u201cThey won\u2019t go unless we\u2019ve screwed their flocks. A young girl of about 16 approached us. She had a beaded necklace of brass snakes. We tore the necklace and each of us took a bead for a souvenir.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter was originally sent to MK Yaakov Uri, from Mapai (forerunner of Labor), who passed it on to Development Minister Mordechai Bentov (Mapam). \u201cHis letter shocked me,\u201d Uri wrote Bentov. The latter circulated the letter among all the cabinet ministers, writing, \u201cIt is my opinion that the government cannot simply ignore the facts related in the letter.\u201d Bentov added that, in light of the appalling contents of the letter, he asked security experts to check its credibility. They had confirmed that the contents \u201cdo in fact generally conform to the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nuclear excuse<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was during the tenure of historian Tuvia Friling as Israel\u2019s chief archivist, from 2001 to 2004, that Malmab carried out its first archival incursions. What began as an operation to prevent the leakage of nuclear secrets, he says, became, in time, a large-scale censorship project.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI resigned after three years, and that was one of the reasons,\u201d<\/em> Prof. Friling says<em>. \u201cThe classification placed on the document about the Arabs\u2019 emigration in 1948 is precisely an example of what I was apprehensive about. The storage and archival system is not an arm of the state\u2019s public relations. If there\u2019s something you don\u2019t like \u2013 well, that\u2019s life. A healthy society also learns from its mistakes.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Why did Friling allow the Defense Ministry to have access the archives? The reason, he says, was the intention to give the public access to archival material via the internet. In discussions about the implications of digitizing the material, concern was expressed that references in the documents to a \u201ccertain topic\u201d would be made public by mistake. The topic, of course, is Israel\u2019s nuclear project. Friling insists that the only authorization Malmab received was to search for documents on that subject.<\/p>\n<p>But Malmab\u2019s activity is only one example of a broader problem, Friling notes: \u201cIn 1998, the confidentiality of the [oldest documents in the] Shin Bet and Mossad archives expired. For years those two institutions disdained the chief archivist. When I took over, they requested that the confidentiality of all the material be extended [from 50] to 70 years, which is ridiculous \u2013 most of the material can be opened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, the confidentiality period was extended to 70 years; last February it was extended again, to 90 years, despite the opposition of the Supreme Council of Archives. \u201cThe state may impose confidentiality on some of its documentation,\u201d Friling says. \u201cThe question is whether the issue of security doesn\u2019t act as a kind of cover. In many cases, it\u2019s already become a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the view of Yad Yaari\u2019s Dudu Amitai, the confidentiality imposed by the Defense Ministry must be challenged. In his period at the helm, he says, one of the documents placed in the vault was an order issued by an IDF general, during a truce in the War of Independence, for his troops to refrain from rape and looting. Amitai now intends to go over the documents that were deposited in the vault, especially 1948 documents, and open whatever is possible. \u201cWe\u2019ll do it cautiously and responsibly, but recognizing that the State of Israel has to learn how to cope with the less pleasant aspects of its history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to Yad Yaari, where ministry personnel no longer visit, they are continuing to peruse documents at Yad Tabenkin, the research and documentation center of the United Kibbutz Movement. The director, Aharon Azati, reached an agreement with the Malmab teams under which documents will be transferred to the vault only if he is convinced that this is justified. But in Yad Tabenkin, too, Malmab has broadened its searches beyond the realm of nuclear project to encompass interviews conducted by archival staff with former members of the Palmach, and has even perused material about the history of the settlements in the occupied territories.<\/p>\n<p>Malmab has, for example, shown interest in the Hebrew-language book \u201cA Decade of Discretion: Settlement Policy in the Territories 1967-1977,\u201d published by Yad Tabenkin in 1992, and written by Yehiel Admoni, director of the Jewish Agency\u2019s Settlement Department during the decade he writes about. The book mentions a plan to settle Palestinian refugees in the Jordan Valley and to the uprooting of 1,540 Bedouin families from the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip in 1972, including an operation that included the sealing of wells by the IDF. Ironically, in the case of the Bedouin, Admoni quotes former Justice Minister Yaakov Shimshon Shapira as saying, \u201cIt is not necessary to stretch the security rationale too far. The whole Bedouin episode is not a glorious chapter of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_137091\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137091\" class=\"wp-image-137091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6-1024x718.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6-1024x718.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6-768x539.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel6.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137091\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinian refugees leaving their village, unknown location, 1948. UNRWA<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to Azati, \u201cWe are moving increasingly to a tightening of the ranks. Although this is an era of openness and transparency, there are apparently forces that are pulling in the opposite direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Unauthorized secrecy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>About a year ago, the legal adviser to the State Archives, attorney Naomi Aldouby, wrote an opinion titled \u201cFiles Closed Without Authorization in Public Archives.\u201d According to her, the accessibility policy of public archives is the exclusive purview of the director of each institution.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Aldouby\u2019s opinion, however, in the vast majority of cases, archivists who encountered unreasonable decisions by Malmab did not raise objections \u2013 that is, until 2014, when Defense Ministry personnel arrived at the archive of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. To the visitors\u2019 surprise, their request to examine the archive \u2013 which contains collections of former minister and diplomat Abba Eban and Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Gazit \u2013 was turned down by its then director, Menahem Blondheim.<\/p>\n<p>According to Blondheim, \u201cI told them that the documents in question were decades old, and that I could not imagine that there was any security problem that would warrant restricting their access to researchers. In response, they said, \u2018And let\u2019s say there is testimony here that wells were poisoned in the War of Independence?\u2019 I replied, \u2018Fine, those people should be brought to trial.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blondheim\u2019s refusal led to a meeting with a more senior ministry official, only this time the attitude he encountered was different and explicit threats were made. Finally the two sides reached an accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>Benny Morris is not surprised at Malmab\u2019s activity. \u201cI knew about it,\u201d he says \u201cNot officially, no one informed me, but I encountered it when I discovered that documents I had seen in the past are now sealed. There were documents from the IDF Archive that I used for an article about <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/MAGAZINE-testimonies-from-the-censored-massacre-at-deir-yassin-1.5494094\" >Deir Yassin, and which are now sealed<\/a>. When I came to the archive, I was no longer allowed to see the original, so I pointed out in a footnote [in the article] that the State Archive had denied access to documents that I had published 15 years earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Malmab case is only one example of the battle being waged for access to archives in Israel. According to the executive director of the Akevot Institute, Lior Yavne, \u201cThe IDF Archive, which is the largest archive in Israel, is sealed almost hermetically. About 1 percent of the material is open. The Shin Bet archive, which contains materials of immense importance [to scholars], is totally closed apart from a handful of documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A report written by Yaacov Lozowick, the previous chief archivist at the State Archives, upon his retirement, refers to the defense establishment\u2019s grip on the country\u2019s archival materials. In it, he writes, \u201cA democracy must not conceal information because it is liable to embarrass the state. In practice, the security establishment in Israel, and to a certain extent that of foreign relations as well, are interfering with the [public] discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Advocates of concealment put forward several arguments, Lozowick notes: \u201cThe uncovering of the facts could provide our enemies with a battering ram against us and weaken the determination of our friends; it\u2019s liable to stir up the Arab population; it could enfeeble the state\u2019s arguments in courts of law; and what is revealed could be interpreted as Israeli war crimes.\u201d However, he says, \u201cAll these arguments must be rejected. This is an attempt to hide part of the historical truth in order to construct a more convenient version.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Malmab says<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yehiel Horev was the keeper of the security establishment\u2019s secrets for more than two decades. He headed the Defense Ministry\u2019s security department from 1986 until 2007 and naturally kept out of the limelight. To his credit, he now agreed to talk forthrightly to Haaretz about the archives project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t remember when it began,\u201d Horev says, \u201cbut I do know that I started it. If I\u2019m not mistaken, it started when people wanted to publish documents from the archives. We had to set up teams to examine all outgoing material.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>From conversations with archive directors, it\u2019s clear that a good deal of the documents on which confidentiality was imposed relate to the War of Independence. Is concealing the events of 1948 part of the purpose of Malmab?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_137092\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137092\" class=\"wp-image-137092\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7-1024x758.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7-1024x758.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7-768x569.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/nakba-palestine-israel7.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-137092\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinian refugees in the Ramle area, 1948.<br \/>Boris Carmi \/ The IDF and Defense Establishment Archives<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhat does \u2018part of the purpose\u2019 mean? The subject is examined based on an approach of whether it could harm Israel\u2019s foreign relations and the defense establishment. Those are the criteria. I think it\u2019s still relevant. There has not been peace since 1948. I may be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge the Arab-Israeli conflict has not been resolved. So yes, it could be that problematic subjects remain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked in what way such documents might be problematic, Horev speaks of the possibility of agitation among the country\u2019s Arab citizens. From his point of view, every document must be perused and every case decided on its merits.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>If the events of 1948 weren\u2019t known, we could argue about whether this approach is the right one. That is not the case. Many testimonies and studies have appeared about the history of the refugee problem. What\u2019s the point of hiding things?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe question is whether it can do harm or not. It\u2019s a very sensitive matter. Not everything has been published about the refugee issue, and there are all kinds of narratives. Some say there was no flight at all, only expulsion. Others say there was flight. It\u2019s not black-and-white. There\u2019s a difference between flight and those who say they were forcibly expelled. It\u2019s a different picture. I can\u2019t say now if it merits total confidentiality, but it\u2019s a subject that definitely has to be discussed before a decision is made about what to publish.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>For years, the Defense Ministry has imposed confidentiality on a detailed document that describes the reasons for the departure of those who became refugees. Benny Morris has already written about the document, so what\u2019s the logic of keeping it hidden?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI don\u2019t remember the document you\u2019re referring to, but if he quoted from it and the document itself is not there [i.e., where Morris says it is], then his facts aren\u2019t strong. If he says, \u2018Yes, I have the document,\u2019 I can\u2019t argue with that. But if he says that it\u2019s written there, that could be right and it could be wrong. If the document were already outside and were sealed in the archive, I would say that that\u2019s folly. But if someone quoted from it \u2013 there\u2019s a difference of day and night in terms of the validity of the evidence he cited.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In this case, we\u2019re talking about the most quoted scholar when it comes to the Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe fact that you say \u2018scholar\u2019 makes no impression on me. I know people in academia who spout nonsense about subjects that I know from A to Z. When the state imposes confidentiality, the published work is weakened, because he doesn\u2019t have the document.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But isn\u2019t concealing documents based on footnotes in books an attempt to lock the barn door after the horses have bolted?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI gave you an example that this needn\u2019t be the case. If someone writes that the horse is black, if the horse isn\u2019t outside the barn, you can\u2019t prove that it\u2019s really black.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are legal opinions stating that Malmab\u2019s activity in the archives is illegal and unauthorized.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cIf I know that an archive contains classified material, I am empowered to tell the police to go there and confiscate the material. I can also utilize the courts. I don\u2019t need the archivist\u2019s authorization. If there is classified material, I have the authority to act. Look, there\u2019s policy. Documents aren\u2019t sealed for no reason. And despite it all, I won\u2019t say to you that everything that\u2019s sealed is 100 percent justified [in being sealed].\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Defense Ministry refused to respond to specific questions regarding the findings of this investigative report and made do with the following response: \u201cThe director of security of the defense establishment operates by virtue of his responsibility to protect the state\u2019s secrets and its security assets. The Malmab does not provide details about its mode of activity or its missions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>____________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Lee Rotbart assisted in providing visual research for this article.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs-1.7435103?fbclid=IwAR3IKzbB5q5o4_3EXEw52nB4yJyii0N2sFcrCZdCzbabjSNui0tGS0bOyuw\" >Go to Original \u2013 haaretz.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5 Jul 2019 &#8211; Since early last decade, Defense Ministry teams have scoured local archives and removed troves of historic documents to conceal proof of the Nakba.<br \/>\n\u2022\tTestimonies from the censored Deir Yassin massacre: &#8216;They piled bodies and burned them&#8217;<br \/>\n\u2022\tGeneral&#8217;s final confession links 1956 massacre to Israel&#8217;s secret plan to expel Arabs<br \/>\n\u2022\tPalestinians uncover history of the Nakba, even as Israel cuts them off from their sources <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":137086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[772,120,1030,87,267,1029,260,487,866,504,88,263,234,767,291,771,444,86,1027,427,85,109,287,103,107,985,572,292,126,1026,118,172,1025,75,886],"class_list":["post-137085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-apartheid","tag-conflict","tag-fatah","tag-gaza","tag-geopolitics","tag-hamas","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-international-relations","tag-israel","tag-matw","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-nakba","tag-nonviolence","tag-occupation","tag-oslo-accords","tag-palestine","tag-palestine-israel","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-social-justice","tag-torture","tag-un","tag-violence","tag-wall","tag-war","tag-west","tag-west-bank","tag-world","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275173,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137085\/revisions\/275173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}