April 23. 1948). Yetin 1967almost every Arab speech including the one you heard here today. and almost every Arab article will tell you that the 700.000 Palestinian Jews started the fighting and the million Palestinian Arabs were the innocent victims who had to flee. And now let us examine why these refugees did leave what is now Israel. because that is a vital point in weighing the moral issues involved. When Israel declared its State on May 15. 1948. it was anxious to maintain good relations with the Arabs and its leaders made public pronouncements pleading with the Arabs not to leave Israel. but to stay and live in peace and happiness. I want now to quote to you Arab sources of what actually happened: From "Falastin." Jordan daily. of the date of May 30. 1955: "We the refugees who have brothers and friends among the Arabs of Israel. have the right to address the members of the Arab League Council and declare: "We left our homeland on the strength of false promises by crooked leaders in the Arab States. They promised us that our absence would not last more than two weeks .... " And in a 1951 article in Damascus by Haj. Muhammad alKhateb. a leader of the Moslem Brotherhood in Mandatory Palestine. entitled "Min Atar anNakbah" (I believe this means "In the Wake of the Disaster." though Im not sure). he writes: "One day there appeared in our village of Tira an Arab Legion officer and declared that he had come to supervise our evacuation .... " In a 1955 article in Nazareth.
Identified stereotypes
Palestinian refugees are portrayed as starting the fighting and being dishonest about their reasons for leaving Israel.