ABSTRACT
In 1946, during the final years of the British mandate in Palestine, Haifa had a population of 145,430, of whom 48.9% were Arabs. From November 1947, growing tensions between Jews and Arabs prompted Arab residents to leave the city. Most of the remaining Arab population – about 65,000 people – fled after the Jewish victory and military occupation of Haifa’s Arab neigbourhoods in April 1948, with only around 3500 Arabs remaining in Haifa (Goren and Ben Arzi 1998). As early as June 1948, the Israelis started to consolidate a policy that prevented most refugees from returning to their homes within the state of Israel (Morris 2004, 309-340). Since 1948, the population of Haifa has again grown, but most newcomers have been Jewish immigrants, with only a few thousand Palestinian refugees returning after 1948.
