"The Nakba was Palestinian’s fault."

Supporters of this narrative argue that “The Nakba was Palestinian fault,” claiming Palestinians themselves bear responsibility for their displacement. They point to the Arab League and Palestinian rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, and suggest Arab leaders told Palestinians to evacuate temporarily, inferring Palestinians left voluntarily and thus caused their own catastrophe.

Primary historical documentation, oral testimony, declassified Israeli archives, and scholarly research, shows that up to 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled, and between 400 and 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed or emptied in 1948. This was a coordinated campaign, including massacres (e.g. Deir Yassin) and expulsions conducted by Zionist militias and later the Israeli army.

While some evacuation orders came from Arab leaders, these were temporary and localized. Mass displacement resulted predominantly from violence, fear, and intentional policies, such as Plan D, approved by Zionist leadership. Palestinians did not flee voluntarily en masse to destroy themselves, but because their presence became militarily and politically unacceptable to the state-building project.