Blaming the Victims

"Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question", is a collection of essays, co-edited by Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens, and first published by Verso Books in 1988 (ISBN 0-86091-887-4).

The Peters Affair

Conspiracy of Praise "Edward Said"

Disinformation and the Palestine Question: The Not-So-Strange Case of Joan Peters's "From Time Immemorial" "Norman G. Finkelstein"

See: Norman Finkelstein on From Time Immemorial

Myths Old and New

Broadcasts "Christopher Hitchens"

The "broadcast" issue relates to whether or not the Palestinian Arab population who were dispossessed were induced or incited to run away by their own leadership during the 1948 Palestinian exodus. Hitchens refers to Benny Morris´s then newly published article , which was first published in January 1986 in the Middle Eastern Studies.

According to Hitchens this confirmation; "by an Israeli historian using the most scrupulous and authentic Zionist sources, at last allows us to write "finis" to a debate which has been going on for a quarter of a century [...] between Erskine B. Childers and Jon Kimche."

In The Spectator 12 May 1961 Dr. Childers first wrote of his bafflement about the well-known Israeli claim that the Palestinians had been urged to flee by their own leadership:

"Examining every official Israeli statement about the Arab exodus, I was struck by the fact that no primary evidence of evacuation orders was ever produced. The charge, Israel claimed, was "documented"; but where were the documents? There had allegedly been Arab radio broadcasts ordering the evacuation; but no dates, names of stations, or texts of messages were ever cited. In Israel in 1958, as a guest of the Foreign Office and therefore doubly hopeful of serious assistance, I asked to be shown the proofs, I was assured they existed, and was promised them. None had been offered when I left, but I was again assured. I asked to have the material sent on to me. I am still waiting.

While in Israel, however, I met Dr. Leo Kohn, professor of political science at Hebrew University and an ambassador-rank adviser to the Israeli Foreign Office. He had written one of the first official pamphlets on the Arab refugees. I asked him for concrete evidence of the Arab evacuation orders. Agitatedly, Dr. Kohn replied: "Evidence? Evidence? What more could you want than this?" and he took up his own pamphlet. "Look at this `Economist' report," and he pointed to a quotation. "You will surely not suggest that the `Economist' is a Zionist journal?"

The quotation is one of about five that appear in every Israeli speech and pamphlet, and are in turn used by every sympathetic analysis. It seemed very impressive: it referred to the exodus from Haifa, and to an Arab broadcast order as one major reason for that exodus." [http://www.users.cloud9.net/~recross/israel-watch/ErskinChilders.html]

Dr. Childers was intrigued enough to go on and examine the original (October 2) 1948 issue of the 'Economist.' It turned out that the report, which made vague reference to "announcements made over the air" by the Arab Higher Committee, had been written from Cyprus by a correspondent who used an uncorroborated Israeli source. As Hitchens remarks: "It hardly counted as evidence, let alone first-hand testimony."

Childers also investigated the claims that Monsignor George Hakim, then Greek Catholic bishop of Galilee, had reported exhortations to his flock to leave. "I hold" wrote Childers, "signed letters from him, with permission to publish, in which he categorically denied ever alleging Arab evacuation orders; he states that no such orders were ever given. He says that his name has been abused for years, and that the Arabs fled because of panic and forcible eviction."

The BBC monitored all Middle Eastern broadcasts throughout 1948, and those records, and companion ones by a U.S. monitoring unit, could be seen at the British Museum. Dr. Childers decided to go through the lot. His conclusion was:

"There was not a single order, or appeal, or suggestion about evacuation from Palestine from any Arab radio station, inside or outside Palestine, in 1948. There is repeated monitored record of Arab appeals, even flat orders, to the civilians of Palestine "to stay put" [http://www.users.cloud9.net/~recross/israel-watch/ErskinChilders.html]

Jon Kimche replied on 2 June 1961, in the same paper, Childers on 9 June 1961.

On 16 June 1961, still in The Spectator, the above mentioned Dr. Leo Kohn wrote:

There is also a wealth of evidence [] from Arab sources to show that the Arab League at an early stage of the campaign adopted a policy of evacuating the Arab population to the neighbouring countries, being convinced that their abcence would be of short duration and would facilitate the impending military operations: "This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country."
From "The Arabs" by Edward Atiyah, formerly the Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Penguin Books, 1955, p. 183.

However, Edward Atiyah himself came forward to dismiss this. In an article in the Spectator 23 June 1961, he replied Kohn, his main points being:

It leaves out my very next sentence which reads: "But it was also, and in many parts of the country, largely due to a policy of deliberate terrorism and eviction followed by the Jewish commanders in the areas they occupied, and reaching its peak of brutality in the massacre of Deir Yassin."

My second comment is that there is no suggestion whatever in what I wrote that the exodus of the Arab refugees was a result of a "policy" of evacuating the Arab population. What I said is something quite different from the Zionist allegation that the Arab refugees were "ordered" or ever "told" by their leaders to evacuate which is the main point in the whole controversy.

Hitchens concludes the chapter with the observation that even as he was writing the article, he notices full-page advertisements from CAMERA, saying:

"In 1948, on the day of the proclamation of the State of Israel, five Arab armies invaded the new country from all sides. In frightful radio broadcasts, they urged the Arabs living there to leave, so that the invading armies could operate without interference...."

Hitchens wrote to CAMERA on 20 February 1987, asking for an authenticated case of such a broadcast. He did not receive any reply. And he concludes with a prediction:

"Even though nobody has ever testified to having heard them, and even though no record of their transmission has ever been found, we shall hear of these orders and broadcasts again and again."

Truth Whereby Nations Live "Peretz Kidron"

The Israeli journalist and translator Peretz Kidron tells of how he collaborated with the Canadian Ben Dunkelman in 1974 ghostwriting the latters autobiography "Dual Allegiance". Dunkelman had fought for Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a commander of the 7th Brigade, the country's best-known armored brigade. He had participated in Operation Dekel, leading the 7th Brigade and its supporting units as it moved to capture the town of Nazareth between July 8 and 18, 1948. Nazareth capitulated July 16, after little more than token resistance. The surrender was formalized in a written agreement, where the town leaders agreed to cease hostilities in return for promises from the Israeli officers, including Dunkelman and Chaim Laskov, that no harm would come to the civilians of the town. A few hours later Laskov gave order to Dunkelman to evacuate the civilian population of Nazareth. He was only given oral orders, nothing in writing. Dunkelman refused to obey these orders. In sharp contrast to the surrounding towns, the Arab inhabitants in Nazareth were therefore never forced to evacuate. In the end, Dunkelman decided not to use this episode in his autobiography.

Kidron then relates how he in 1978-79 translated Yitzhak Rabin´s memoir, ""Soldier of Peace"," into English. While he was doing this he got access to the part of Rabin's memoirs which related to the expulsion of Arabs from Lod and Ramleh in the middle of July 1948 ("Operation Larlar"). Rabin wrote:

:What would they do with the 50,000 civilians in the two cities ... Not even Ben-Gurion could offer a solution, and during the discussion at operation headquarters, he remained silent, as was his habit in such situations. Clearly, we could not leave [Lydda's] hostile and armed populace in our rear, where it could endanger the supply route [to the troops who were] advancing eastward. ... Allon repeated the question: What is to be done with the population? Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture that said: Drive them out! ... 'Driving out' is a term with a harsh ring ... Psychologically, this was one of the most difficult actions we undertook. The population of Lod did not leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the use of force and warning shots in order to make the inhabitants march the 10 to 15 miles to the point where they met up with the legion. The inhabitants of Ramleh watched and learned the lesson. Their leaders agreed to be evacuated voluntarily...( ) [cite web
url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70813FC3F5410728DDDAA0A94D8415B898BF1D3
title = Israel Bars Rabin From Relating '48 Eviction of Arabs
accessdate = 2006-10-11
author = David K. Shipler
date= 1979-10-22
publisher = New York Times
quote = Access to full article requires subscription] While Kidron was working on this, he received the information that the Israeli censors had cut that part out. Kidron then passed on both the Dunkelman story and the Rabin story to New York Times. They published the story as "Israel bars Rabin from Relating ´48 Eviction of Arabs", on 23 October 1979. After the story had been published outside Israel, it could also be published inside the country.Kidron's conclusion is: "In brief, the two descriptions, particularly when taken together, proved beyond any shadow of doubt that there were high-level directives for mass expulsions of the Arab population, and that the decision-makers, evidently aware of the discreditable and unlawful nature of such a policy, were careful to leave no incriminating evidence about their personal and political responsibility."

Middle East Terrorism and the American Ideological System "Noam Chomsky"

The Essential Terrorist "Edward W. Said"

The `Liberal`Alternative

Michael Walzer's "Exodus and Revolution:" A Canaanite Reading "Edward W. Said"

cholarship Ancient and Modern

Palestine: Ancient History and Modern Politics "G. W. Bowersock"

Territorially-Based Nationalism and the Politics of Negation "Ibrahim Abu-Lughod"

Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism before World War I "Rashid Khalidi"

A Profile of the Palestinian People "Edward W. Said, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Muhammad Hallaj and Elia Zureik"

References and footnotes

ee also

:* [http://ipsnewsite.mysite4now.com/enakba/exodus/Erskine%20Childers,%20Walid%20Khalidi,%20Jon%20Kimche,%20et%20al.pdf "Journal of Palestine Studies", Vol 18 no. 1, (Aut. 88):pp 51-70.] Erskine Childers, Walid Khalidi, and Jon Kimche 1961 Correspondence in The Spectator on “Why the Refugees Left” [Originally Appendix E of Khalidi, Walid, “Plan Dalet Revisited: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine”.