Is there evidence to support the claim that the Palestinian people experienced "The Nakba"?

 Is there evidence to support the claim that the Palestinian people experienced "The Nakba"?

 

There is very clear evidence although, needless to say, the actually data is often disputed. These disputes are largely centered on the fact that the State of Israel ended up larger after the war than the United Nations had agreed and some analysis ignores that so it is difficult to judge

But relatively good data shows that in the area that the United Nations accepted as the State of Israel there were about 900,000 Palestinians who were not Jewish and 656,000 Palestinians who were Jewish on that land.

Of course once the 1948 war was over then the Israeli government undertook a survey and, from this survey, reported that there were about 150,000 non-Jews and 646,000 Jews in Israel.

So, on this basis it can be stated that there are 750,000 missing non-Jews and these are obviously the Palestinians who fled or where forced out at the time.

Looked at the from other side, there reports that the populations of the West Bank increased by 276,000, of Gaza 190,000 and then 100,000 Palestinians had fled to Lebanon, 100,000 to Jordan, 90,000 to Syria, 10,000 to Egypt and 4,000 to Iraq.

This is probably reasonable data to be able to state that the “nakba” was a real, historical event.

Evening fell on the now half-ruined Jenin refugee camp, and the group of men met, as usual, at the camp's pharmacy, El Carmel. There were around 10 of them, most of them old – the camp's "park bench parliament."

They go there to pick up prescriptions and talk into the night; there's not much else for them to do here. Suddenly, an IDF unit burst into the pharmacy, soldiers ordered everyone to face the wall and some to kneel, then handcuffed them behind their backs and blindfolded them with rags. A few of them could have been the soldiers' grandfathers. There were also a few women present with their children.

It's not the Gaza Strip, and this is not a story with blood. The men were left – restrained, blindfolded and disrespected – on the floor of the pharmacy until 3:30 A.M. Their cellphones and IDs were confiscated, and then they were ordered to speak to "Captain Iyad," the Shin Bet security service agent, on the pharmacist's phone. "Do you remember our last conversation?" the captain asked Jamal Zubeidi. No, Zubeidi replied.

-GIDEON LEVY

► Archived version: A Night at the Pharmacy in the West Bank City of Jenin