How did Palestinians become refugees?
The majority of Palestinians became refugees during armed conflict and war in Palestine. Sources of flight include indiscriminate attacks on civilians, massacres, looting, destruction of property (including entire villages), and forced expulsion. Israeli military forces adopted ‘shoot to kill’ policies along the armistice lines to prevent the return of refugees. In some cases refugees were forced to sign papers that they were leaving voluntarily. In 1948, it is estimated that more than fifty percent fled under direct military assault. Sixty percent of refugees displaced to Jordan in 1967 fled as a result of direct military assault. In 1948 eighty-five percent of the Palestinians living in the areas that became the state of Israel became refugees. More than 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated and later destroyed to prevent the return of the refugees. These comprised three-quarters of the Palestinian villages inside the areas held by Israeli forces after the end of the war. In the
