The "Israeli Arabs"

Almost non public information exists referring to the Palestinian Arabs that were made Israeli citizens in 1948. A paradoxical situation under a military administration, that made them simultaneously "citizens of a liberal nation-state and subjects of colonial administration" in Shira Robinson's words. Those that would hold and Israeli passport automatically became "persona non grata" in the rest of the Arab countries, where most of the families of the Arab-Israeli flew.

Tenths of thousands of Arabs refugees attempted to re enter the country and were redefined as "infiltrators". Thousands were killed by the Israeli army. Others succeeded in crossing the border. The State demanded that its Arab citizens turned these "newcomers". Facing this dilema some acceded to this demand, others, helped to hide them. In the middle were many others; those that helped their own family, those that exploited the situation asking for profit, those that had close ties with the authorities and used their connections to help the refugees back. This was the law passed in 1954 to prevent Arab population to return, issued under the government of Moshe Sharet. Today, a name of a street in Tel Aviv...

The reminding Arab population in the villages were mostly displaced to other villages, a huge amount of homes were expropriated under a clause of "Present Absentee". Meaning, the person was in the territory of Israel but could not access to his village. He could pass his house by but not go to his house. These emptied properties became the home of Jewish refugees coming from Arab countries such as Yemen or European countries.