This real-time 1948 article from The Economist completely destroys the modern “Nakba” narrative that was invented decades later as political propaganda. Straight from British eyewitnesses in Haifa, October 2, 1948: “Jewish authorities urged all Arabs to remain in Haifa and guaranteed them protection and security ... However, of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa, not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. The most potent factor was the announcements made over the air by the Arab Higher Executive, urging the Arabs to quit ... those who remained and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades.” They didn’t flee because of “Zionist ethnic cleansing.” They fled because Arab leaders ordered them to get out of the way so their armies could “drive the Jews into the sea.” Then they lost the war they started — and spent the next 77 years rewriting history to blame the Jews. The “Nakba” you were taught? Pure revisionist fiction.
Article (which I finished transcribing from the original source):
"The events of the first exodus are described as follows by a British eye witness :-
On April 21st British Military and Police evacuated certain buildings, mainly in the commercial quarters of the town, which they had previously occupied, and withdrew to the British residential zone and to the Port, holding a narrow connecting link between these two districts. Upon the British withdrawal, the
Haganah and certain Irgun Zvai Leumi units made a determined attack upon the Arab-held quarters of Haifa) and within twelve hours had completely overcome all Arab resistance. A considerable number of Iraqi and Syrian irregulars was killed and the Arab residents of Haifa fled, in a state of utter panic, to the (British-held) port area ; to the Roman Catholic Monastery of Stella Maris on Mount Carmel, and to St. Luke's Anglican Church compound in the German Colony. During the subsequent days, the Jewish authorities who were now in complete control of Haifa (save for the limited districts still held by the British troops) urged all Arabs to remain in Haifa) and guaranteed them protection and security. So far as I know, most of the British civilian residents whose advice was asked by Arab friends told the latter that they would be wise to stay.
However, of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. The remainder fled, many by sea to Acre or Beirut-paying exorbitant fees for their passages-others in convoys of three-ton lorries, provided by the British Army and protected by British Military escorts. The latter went either to Acre or to Nazareth (both of which towns subsequently fell into the hands of the Israeli forces). So far as I am aware, no effort, apart from urging the Arabs to stay, was made by the Jews to interfere with this exodus. In the majority of cases the refugees took all the movable property that they could take on the lorries-I believe a limit was imposed in some cases-and if they had time they either bricked up or secured as strongly as possible the entrances and windows of their houses and shops.
Various factors influenced their decision to seek safety in flight. There is but little doubt that far the most potent of these factors was the announcements made over the air by the Arab Higher Executive, urging all Arabs in Haifa to quit. The reason given was that upon the final withdrawal of the British, the combined armies of the Arab States would invade Palestine and "drive the Jews into the sea," and it was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades. At that time, the Palestinian Arabs still had some confidence in the ability of the Arab League to implement the promises of its spokesmen. The news of what happened at Deir Yassin had been widely circulated among the Arabs all over Palestine. It is possible that the Arabs feared a repetition of this incident, as an act of retribution for the massacre of the Jewish technicians at the CRL installation in Haifa Bay in December.
Not until a couple of months later-by which time it was quite obvious that the refugees were not coming back-did the Jewish authorities take steps to enter those houses which had been evacuated by the refugees, or to break down the bricked-up doors of their shops. And, in any case, these entrances were effected legally, by orders of the (Jewish) Custodian of Enemy Property (appointed by the Israeli Provisional Government) and records have been kept of the goods (some of them foodstuffs urgently needed
by the remaining population, both Jewish and Arab), which were confiscated."
