During the British Mandate in Palestine (between 1922 and the end of 1947), an estimated 100,000-150,000 Palestinians, nearly one tenth of the Palestinian Arab population were expelled, denationalized or forced to leave their homes. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were internally displaced as a result of Zionist colonization, the eviction of tenant farmers, and punitive home demolitions by the British administration. The Nakba (1947-1949) The UN recommendation to partition Palestine triggered armed conflict between local Palestinians and Jewish colonizers. This fostered an environment in which the Zionist movement could induce massive Palestinian displacement so as to create the Jewish state. In November 1947 fighting erupted in Jerusalem38 and other localities of Palestine. The first Palestinian village to be ethnically cleansed was Qisarya (Caesarea) on 15 February 1948, together with four other villages in the area.39 The success of these operations led to the formulation and adoption of Plan D (or Plan Dalet) in March 1948 – two months before the British Mandate was set to end. The plan provided guidelines for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities and was designed “to achieve the military fait accompli upon which the state of Israel was to be based.”40 Plan D resulted in the greatest outflow of refugees in April and early May 1948, before the start of the first Arab-Israeli war. In accordance with plan D, Zionist forces deliberately employed tactics of violence aimed at forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes and encouraging flight. A massacre of more than 100 men, women and children committed by Zionist forces in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin on 9 April 1948 is just one example of a violent strategy designed to sow fear and panic amongst the indigenous population, thus helping to facilitate their mass displacement.41 The unilateral declaration of the establishment of the state of Israel by the Zionist movement in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948 coincided with the withdrawal of British forces from Palestine and the collapse of the UN partition plan. The subsequent entry of Arab forces into Palestine on 15 May 1948 marked the beginning of the first Israeli-Arab war. Palestinians fled their homes as a 38 “The Fall of the New City” Nathan Krystall, Jerusalem 1948 the Arab Neighbourhoods and their Fate in the War, Salim Tamari (ed.) Badil Resource Center & the Institute of Jerusalem Studies, 1999, p.92-153 39 See Pappe, Ilan, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, (One World: Oxford), 2006 p.75. 40 “Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine,” Khalidi, Walid., Journal of Palestine Studies, (Autumn 1988), p. 8. 41 Leaders of Zionist militia organizations at the time reported that 245 people had been killed in the village. These reports were broadcast by Arab and foreign media. For a study of the massacre, see Khalidi, Walid, Dayr Yassin: Friday, April 9 1948 [Arabic], Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1999. 18