According to reports released by the U.N.. the recommendations to exclude Israel were made on the putative grounds that "Israel has always acted contrary to the spirit of Habitat" and that Israel was responsible for the "involuntary migration" of "2 million Palestinian Arabs" and for the destruction of Palestinian settlements. These claims. however. are totally without foundation. The Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine. According to impartial records of the British mandate government. the vast majority. numbering at most 590.000 Arabs. left their homes in the area that was to become Israel. as a result of the urging and pressures of the Arab leaders. with the reassurance that their departure would help in the war against Israel. The truth is that it was in the Arab countries that the savage tale of "involuntary imigration" unfolded.
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refugees