Nazareth Telegram
Commentary and Translation by Prof. Ilan Pappé
The telegram above is about Nazareth, the only Palestinian town not depopulated by Israel.
Based on that experience, the commander in chief of the operation sent a telegram to David Ben Gurion:
‘Let me know urgently. Should I remove the inhabitants from the city of Nazareth. In my opinion, we Should remove all of them, apart from religious dignitaries’.
Ben Gurion in handwriting: ‘Do not remove people from Nazareth’.
The only reason Ben Gurion decided eventually not to remove the people was fear from the Christian world’s reaction (this comes out clearly from his diary). But what is important here is that the commander understood that the default for a Palestinian town, or village, was removal, namely ethnic cleansing. Another smoking gun proof for the systematic method and planning of the Israeli/Zionist forces in 1948.