Summary
Manna’s analytic term for the cases in which Palestinians in northern Palestine were allowed to remain in 1948: in his argument these cases were not arbitrary but the result of high-level orders and policy on the part of the Israeli leadership, the exception that proves the rule of the objective to keep as few Arabs as possible in the Jewish state (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.25).
Details
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Cases cluster in the Battles of the Ten Days (8–18 July 1948): the Druze villages, then Nazareth and the villages of its district, with Abu Snan, Kufr Yasif and Yarka surrendering without a battle on 15 July 1948; the policy continued until the occupation was completed through Operation Hiram (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.26).
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Unequal treatment explains other cases: the Druze were treated differently from the general Arab population under a cooperation agreement, and Christians more leniently out of fear of the reaction of Western states and churches (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.27, 32-33).
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Alongside orders from above, many Palestinians successfully resisted the policy of expulsion despite orders and plans to disperse them; Manna poses geography, sectarian makeup, timing of occupation and local leadership as the questions to test (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.25-26).
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Chapter 1 of Manna (completed in part 2) works the concept through cases: Kufr Yasif’s surrender agreement of 10 July 1948, mediated by Haim Orbach through Druze neighbours, which saved the villagers though refugees sheltering there were expelled and dozens of young men detained (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.68); Shafa ‘Amr under the secret Druze agreement (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.68); and Nazareth, where Ben-Gurion’s written orders, the eleven-article surrender agreement, and Dunkelman’s refusal of the 17 July expulsion order kept an entire city in place (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.72-74).
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Mapam editor Eliezer Bray’s November 1948 formulation, quoted by Manna: “In Nazareth and Majdal ‘Asqalan the Arabs stayed because we wanted them to stay there. If they did not remain in other places, the authors of the ‘transfer’ policy had a share in that.” (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.75).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, Remainers, Ethnic Cleansing, Nazareth, Druze