| Abstract | Shapira is perhaps correct in arguing that Jewish society possessed no endemic hatred of Arabs. Nonetheless, the textbooks of the period were clearly filled with bias and stereotypical descriptions that led to the emergence and institutionalization of hostile attitudes toward the Arabs. "Savage," "sly," "cheat," "thief," "robber," "provocateurs" and "terrorists" were typical adjectives used by textbooks when describing Arabs. Adhering to a tradition of depicting Jewish history as an uninterrupted record of anti-Semitism and persecution, the cycles of violence between Jews and Arabs during the Mandate were dubbed "riots" and "pogroms," while the Palestinian Arab leader, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, was perceived as merely one in a long line of "oppressors" of Jews during the course of their history. [Anita Shapira] correctly notes that the intensification of Arab-Jewish hostility and violence evoked a corresponding tendency to dehumanize the Arab enemy, which in turn served to legitimize the use of force against the Arabs.(40)
In many respects, the historical narrative offered by textbooks of the second generation was similar to that of the first. These textbooks, too, blamed the Arab leadership for the plight of the refugees. The expressions used to describe the Arab departure were identical: "flight," "abandon," "exit," "desert," "vacate," and so on. A textbook for junior high students, for example, described how, following the conquest of Tiberias, "the local Arab population preferred to abandon the town rather than accept the authority of a Jewish government." In Haifa, "the town's Arab leaders consulted with the Arab Higher Committee in Lebanon, which ordered them not to surrender but to evacuate the town instead. They were assured that the Arab invasion would begin shortly and that they would soon return [home] in triumph." Moreover, the author continued, "dreadful and frightening tales of `Zionist cruelty and brutality' were spread among the Arab population. These, together with the expectation that the Arab armies would soon liberate `the conquered lands,' precipitated the mass Arab flight." Thus, "Ramla and Lydda -- to name but two towns -- were emptied of most of their [Arab] inhabitants and the refugee problem [was] created."(66)
The history textbooks for high school approved by the Ministry of Education do not present a uniform narrative. In fact, one textbook omits the subject altogether while another treats it in a superficial and biased way.(82) The most extensive and comprehensive analysis of the refugee problem thus far appears in Eli Barnavi's new high school textbook.(83) In a discussion that spans over two pages, the text accurately mirrors the current state of academic knowledge and shows some empathy for the refugees' plight. While the author uses the familiar expressions "fled," "departed" and "abandoned," he also notes that at the end of the fighting, "in order to clear the area of hostile elements, approximately 10,000 villagers were expelled from their homes." He disparages as myths both the Israeli assertion that the Arab leaders encouraged the Palestinians to flee and the Arab charge that the expulsion was part of a "Zionist plot." The Arab departure, he argues, was brought about by a combination of factors: the Arab elites' abdication of all responsibility and their abandonment of the local population, the raids and attacks carried out by Jewish forces (at Dir Yasin, for example), and the general chaos of war. He admits, however, that in some places there was "also a deliberate policy of expulsion." Moreover, though "no formal political decision was taken to expel the local Arab population, local commanders were clearly granted considerable freedom in this respect." The author notes that [Benny Morris], in his book, cited 369 abandoned Arab villages "including 33 whose inhabitants were deliberately expelled by Jewish forces." Regarding the sum total of refugees, he puts their number at something between 600,000 and 700,000, an estimate that is accepted by many scholars. At the end of this passage, he assesses the refugee problem in the context of the larger conflict:
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