In this new collection of essays, three of which appear here for the first time, Benny Morris examines and elucidates aspects of the Arab exodus from Palestine in 1948, focusing on Israeli decision-making and the causes of the mass exile. He deals with the transfer of Majdal's (Ashkelon's) Arabs to Gaza in 1950 and the initial absorption of the Palestinian refugees in the Arab host countries in 1948-9, and looks at why a number of Arab villages in key areas of Israel along the highways linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem and Haifa did not go into exile voluntarily and were left in place by the Israeli authorities. He examines the attitudes towards the Palestinian Arabs, as they evolved during the 1948 war, of Israel's two main parties, Mapai and Mapam; how the battle for the harvest of 1948 affected the exodus; how the Israeli Defence Forces' Intelligence Service analysed the Arab exodus; and how Yosef Weitz, a Jewish National Fund official, and the two `Transfer Committees' he chaired, helped promote the Palestinian exodus during 1948-9. In his introduction, Dr Morris examines past and present Israeli historiography, analysing the shift from the `old' official Israeli histories to the `new history' of the 1980s. He identifies the major points of controversy between the two approaches and the direction in which Israeli historiography is now moving.

`an excellent and highly recommendable work' Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
'Morris' research is copious and his approach scholarly. The unique value of the work is that the author relies extensively on recently-declassified Israeli archives and documents.' Muslim World Book Review
'These essays...are important...We need to know the truth in this scholarly work, for reasons other than idle curiosity.' International Affairs
`His book, as well as being a fine work of history, cats more light on contemporary problems than many works on current affairs.' Jewish Chronicle
'Benny Morris continues to enrich the field of knowledge encompassing Israel's violent origins...Readers...will welcome this additional opportunity to study authoritative and richly detailed analysis and description from the pen of the pre-eminent researcher in the field.' Political Studies
'With remarkable impartiality and detachment, Dr Morris effectively undermines both Israeli and Arab orthodoxy on the causes of the Palestinian exodus in 1948.' Times Literary Supplement
`This is truly a valuable essay EHR
'Morris not only writes history but makes it' Orbis
Morris provides us with a wealth of material, much of it previously unpublished, that documents the sequence of events at local level in a number of situations. * International History Review *
Morris has been steadily escalating his writing style. This trend is already visible in his 1948 and After, a recycling of several published essays designed to complement his earlier work on the Palestinian refugee problem. * Political Studies *

Former diplomatic correspondent of the Jerusalem Post