Summary
Minister of police and minority affairs in Israel’s interim government, Arabic-fluent and from Tiberias, who in Manna’s account repeatedly objected to expulsions of Arabs who had remained — over ‘Akka in July 1948, over the Christian villages of the Galilee after Operation Hiram, and over the border strip — while the operations went on, at times without his knowledge (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.31, 74, 93, 108-110).
Details
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The interim government under Ben-Gurion put Shitrit in charge of police and minority affairs, with a letter of appointment clear about the desired demographic objective for the expanded borders (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.31).
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In July 1948 Shitrit strongly objected to the proposed expulsion of about four thousand remaining Palestinians from ‘Akka, on the basis of his responsibility for Arab residents, and Ben-Gurion reversed his initial approval after an official also insisted on a written order (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.74).
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Visiting Nazareth on 19 July 1948, Shitrit met the mayor, a judge and a National Liberation League delegation, advised military governor Elisha Soltz to be sensitive and just and to preserve the Christian holy places, and told the provisional cabinet Israel had to issue strict instructions to treat the city’s population justly because of its importance in the eyes of the world (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.75-76).
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News of the expulsion of ‘Ilabun’s villagers reached Shitrit, who went to see Ben-Gurion, minister of defense and prime minister, about it, at a moment when the expulsion of Christians from the Galilee was drawing criticism and correspondence from clergy in the country, Lebanon and the Western world (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.93).
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For Jish, Shitrit, heading the minorities ministry, contacted state leaders, notably Yitzhak Ben-Tzvi, and together with Ben-Tzvi contacted the army command and managed to get the village’s expulsion order changed (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.108).
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For Kufr Bir’im, Shitrit visited the evicted villagers in Jish on 20 November 1948 with Elisha Soltz, heard mukhtar Qaysar Ibrahim and priest Yusif Susan, and repeated promises that the displacement was temporary (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.109).
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Shitrit forwarded the evacuated border villages’ grievances to Ben-Gurion and complained that the expulsion operations under General Elimelech Avnir were being conducted without his knowledge or even consultation with him (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.110).
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In Chapter 3 (part 4), Shitrit as minister of minorities visited Nazareth after its fall, met a League delegation headed by Saliba Khamis, and promised nothing would prevent League and Workers’ Conference activities in Nazareth (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.134).
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Following Sharett’s instructions, Shitrit wrote military governor Elisha Soltz that the Fahum and Zu’bi families complained workers’ affairs had been put in communists’ hands (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.136).
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Chapter 6’s opening (part 6) makes Shitrit the counterweight inside the government: as minister of police and of minorities, the Arabic-speaking son of a Moroccan family that came to Tiberias in the mid-nineteenth century, he took Arab complaints to Ben-Gurion, who supported the army and covered up its actions; he opposed army entries into villages, maltreatment, arbitrary arrests and expulsions, house demolitions and illegal land expropriation, and the closing of the ministry of minority affairs in June 1949 — after Mapai formed a government without Herut, Maki or Mapam — was an early sign of the iron-fist policy (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.222).
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In July 1948 his insistence that expelling a city’s population required a written order from the minister of defense likely foiled the Northern Command’s plan to expel ‘Akka’s remaining 4,000 Arabs (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.225-226).
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In the Ahmad Abu-Laban affair he pressed the military government and then Ben-Gurion directly over the Supreme Court’s unimplemented release order, forwarding Jaffa’s 1,500-signature petition of 15 January 1949 (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.228); in 1954, as police minister, he was the minister Prime Minister Sharett called to resolve the ‘Awda al-‘Ashhab family-reunification case immediately (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.207).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, David Ben-Gurion, Jish, Kfar Bir’im, Ilabun, Nazareth