The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Essay - 1632 Words

Israel successfully fought off the pan-Arab army while other Israeli combatants terrorized and depopulated the countryside. Ilan Pappe termed the depopulation of Palestinians as â€Å"ethnic cleansing† but can this phrase be properly used when discussing the events of 1947-1948? To answer this question one must determine if there is a well-established definition of the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ and also establish that this was the intent of the Zionists, both initially and subsequently. This can be determined by examining Zionist policy and action previous to the U.N partition plan and after, which will demonstrate that the term is appropriately applied to the situation by Pappe. The United Nations defines ethnic cleansing as; â€Å"The†¦show more content†¦The first English use of the phrase was used by Donald Forbes, a Reuters reporter, who was quoting Croatias Supreme Council: The aim of this expulsion is obviously the ethnic cleansing of the critical areas . . . to be annexed to Serbia (New York Times). The phrase is used later to define events in Serbia where Slobodan Milosevic, known as the Butcher of the Balkans, would level cities, mass murder, and rape the local populations of Croatians which created 2 million refugees (CNN). Again, the tactics are all too similar to those used by Israel to drive out the Arab peoples. Moreover, the term is used today describe most cases of expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an ethnic minority by a dominant majority. It doesn’t matter what definition you use or what other historical examples you use to define the phrase because it doesn’t change the main purpose of Pappe’s book, wh ich is, to demonstrate that the Arabs were forcibly removed from Palestine using violent and non-violent means (Pappe 2). Pappe documents the events that led to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their lands, beginning with the Zionist vision from the partition plan, forward. Also, Pappe uses oral history to fill the gaps in the Palestinians narrative, along with military archives, and Ben-Gurion’s diary. The Jewish National Fund contained files that were used to systematically eliminate Arab villages, and Plan D provides theShow MoreRelatedReview of Army of Shadows Essay1196 Words   |  5 Pagesdiscussion pertains to the changes that took place within the mindsets of numerous groups of Palestinians during the British Mandate. 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