ABSTRACT
The debate surrounding the events of 1948, the creation of the state ofIsrael, the Arab defeat and the Palestinian refugee problem, becomesapparent with the way the war is referred to in Israeli and Arab historiography. For Israelis it was the War of Independence, for the Arab states it was the Palestine War, and for the Palestinians it became known as ‘the disaster’ – an-Nakba. Attempts to apportion responsibility for the refugee situation, the conduct of forces during the war, and the inability to reach a peaceful settlement in its aftermath, have resulted in controversy between traditionalist and revisionist historians in Israel, as well as disputes between Arab, Israeli and Palestinian scholars and politicians.
