List of estimates of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight explained

See main article: 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. This article lists the various interim and final United Nations estimates for the number of Palestinian people who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war. It also provides other interim and final estimates for the number of Palestinian refugees for that period.

UN estimates

Estimate of number of people who left or fled the area captured by Israel

• 726,000 according to the Final Report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East published by the United Nations Conciliation Commission, December 28, 1949.^[1]
• 711,000 according to the General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950, published by the United Nations Conciliation Commission, October 23, 1950.^[2]

Estimates of total number of people who registered as refugees

• 800,000 – 900,000 according to the Historical Survey of Efforts of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine to Secure the Implementation of Paragraph 11 of General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) published by the United Nations Conciliation Commission, October 2, 1961.^[3]
• 875,998 refugees in June 1951, according to the Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East published by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, September 28, 1951.^[4]
• 914,000 refugees in 1950, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency website.^[5]
• 957,000 refugees in 1950 according to the Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East published by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, September 28, 1951.

Other estimates of flight or refugees

• 550,000 − 600,000 According to an Israeli government estimate (according to Efraim Karsh^[6])
• 539,000 According to Walter Pinner ^[7]
• 583,000 – 609,000 According to Efraim Karsh
• 600,000 According to Joseph B. Schechtman^[8]
• 630,000 According to Yoram Ettinger^[9]
• 700,000± According to Benny Morris in his book "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited"^[10]
• 720,000 According to Irving Howe and Carl Gershman^[11]
• 750,000 According to Ilan Pappé^[12]
• 800,000 According to Elia Zureik (750,000 – 800,000 "Private Palestinian sources", 800,000 – 900,000 "Palestinian figures", 850,000 "United Nations estimate")
• 800,000± According to Baha Abushaqra^[13]
• 800,000 – Walter Eytan, in a private letter of 1950 referred to the UNRWA registration in 1949 as "meticulous", but thought that "the real number was close to 800,000".^[14]
• 804,767 According to Salman Abu-Sitta^[15]
• 900,000 According to Abdel-Azim Hammad^[16]
• 935,000 According to Salman Abu-Sitta^[17]
• almost 1 000,000 According to the 3rd edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (author of the article — Galina Stepanovna Nikitina).^[18]

Interim estimates

Interim estimates from UN sources:

• Sir Raphael Cilento, director of the UN Disaster Relief Project (DRP): 300,000 − 350,000 in August
• 360,000 in September, 1948, according to the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine published by UN Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, September 16, 1948.^[19]
• 472,000 in October, 1948, according to the Progress Report of the Acting United Nations Mediator on Palestine published by Acting UN Mediator Ralph Bunche, October 18, 1948.^[20]

From other sources:

• 200,000+ by May, 1948 according to Samuel Katz (in 1973)^{[21] [22]}
• 300,000± by May, 1948 according to Noam Chomsky (in 2002)^[23]
• 380,000± by 15 May 1948 according to Ilan Pappe (in 1994)^[24]
• 335,000 by 5 June 1948 according to Yossef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund.^[25]
• 391,000 by 1 June 1948 according to a report by the Haganah's intelligence service (239,000 from the UN-ascribed Jewish state.)
• 200,000 by the mid-June 1948 according to Emil Ghoury.
• 300,000± by late July according to W. De St. Aubin, delegate of the League of Red Cross Societies to the Middle East.
• 631,967 by October "the Arab League estimate" according to Efraim Karsh.
• 460,000 by late October, according to an Israeli study led by Y. Weitz and E. Danin & Z. Lifshitz.

See also

• 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
• 1948 Palestinian exodus articles
• Palestinian refugee articles

Footnotes

Notes and References

1. Web site: A/AC.25/6/Part.1. 28 December 1949. United Nations. 21. 4 April 2014.
2. Web site: U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 5th Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1. 23 October 1950. United Nations. 4 April 2014.
3. Web site: A/AC.25/W/81/Rev.2. 2 October 1961. United Nations. 4 April 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140407094900/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/3e61557f8de6781a052565910073e819?OpenDocument. 7 April 2014.
4. Web site: U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 6th Session, Supplement No. 16, Document A/1905. 28 September 1951. United Nations. United Nations. 4 April 2014.
5. Web site: Who is a Palestine refugee?. UNRWA. 4 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20090716103007/http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/whois.html. 16 July 2009.
6. News: Karsh. Efraim. How Many Palestinian Arab Refugees Were There?. 2011.
7. Book: Pinner, Walter. How Many Arab Refugees: A Critical Study of UNRWA's Statistics and Reports. 1959. Macgibbon & Kee. University of Michigan. 61.
8. Book: Schechtman, Joseph B.. Joseph B. Schechtman

   . Joseph B. Schechtman. The Arab Refugee Problem. 1952. Philosophical Library. University of Michigan.

9. Web site: The 1948 Palestinian Refugees – Whose Responsibility?. Ettinger. Yoram. 12 February 2001. Jerusalem Cloakroom. . 4 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20010420145732/http://acpr.org.il/cloakrm/clk99.html. 20 April 2001.
10. Book: Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge Middle East Studies. 18. 2004. Cambridge University Press. 602–604.
11. Book: Howe. Irving. Gershman. Carl. Israel, the Arabs and the Middle East. 1972. Bantam. New York. 168.
12. The 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine Journal of Palestine Studies. Pappé. Ilan. Journal of Palestine Studies . October 2006. 36 . 1 . 6–20 . 10.1525/jps.2006.36.1.6 . 10871/15208 . 155363162 . free .
13. Web site: The Palestinian Refugee Problem & the Right of Return. Abushaqra. Baha. 24 October 2002. Middle East Journal. 4 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20060614151054/http://www.mideastjournal.com/rightofreturn. 14 June 2006.
14. Morris Birth Revisted, p602: "The director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, Walter Eytan, in a private letter in late 1950 referred to the UNRWA registration in 1949 of 726,000 as ‘meticulous’ but thought that ‘the real number was close to 800,000’."
15. Web site: The Unfolding of the Holocaust. Abu-Sitta. Salman. Salman Abu-Sitta. 7 August 2001. Palestine Remembered. 4 April 2014.
16. Web site: Murder, expulsion – and silence. Hammad. Abdel-Azim. 15 July 1999. Al-Ahram Weekly. 4 April 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120716190435/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/438/op2.htm. 16 July 2012.
17. Web site: Books: 'From Refugees To Citizens At Home: Al Nakba Anatomy'. Palestine Land Society. 4 April 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150922083004/http://www.plands.org/books/book%2001-03.html. 22 September 2015.
18. Израиль // Большая советская энциклопедия : [в 30 т.] / гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. — 3-е изд. — М. : Советская энциклопедия, 1969—1978.
19. U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 3rd Session, Supplement No. 11, Document A/648
20. UN General Assembly Official Records, 3rd Session Supplement No. 11A, Document A/689
21. Book: Katz, Samuel. battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine. January 1, 1973.
22. Web site: Arab Refugees and the Right of Return. Katz. Joseph E.. 1973. 4 April 2014.
23. Book: Chomsky, Noam. Noam Chomsky

    . Noam Chomsky. Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky. 2002. New Press. 9781565847033. 131–132. registration.

24. Book: Pappe, Ilan. The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–51. I. B. Taurus. London. 85, 96.
25. Book: David Ben-Gurion, Yoman Hamilhama Tashah-Tashat . Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense Publishing House, 1983. 2. 487.