Comment by DiogenesKynikos

That's not true. It's a nationalist myth in Israel that was thoroughly debunked by none other than Israeli historians 40 years ago.

Palestinians overwhelmingly fled because:

* They were forced to at gunpoint by Zionist/Israeli forces, as at Ramle, Lod and many other places.

* Their towns came under direct attack by Zionist forces, as at Haifa and many other places.

* They feared for their lives, especially after Zionist massacres of Arab civilians at places like Deir Yassin became known.

This has been documented in great detail by Israeli historians for each Palestinian town.

For example, much of the population of Gaza comes from Palestinian towns that used to exist in what is now southern Israel. They were driven out and their towns were largely razed by Zionist forces in Operation Barak. Zionist forces had explicit orders to clear out the Arab population, which is what they did with extreme ruthlessness (including atrocities that are too horrible to describe on HN, but which you can read about in histories of the operation).