out." Rusk believed that this might involve the slaughter of "perhaps hundreds of thousands."
In the face of this conspiracy against the partition plan, it was of the utmost importance for the Zionist leadership to prove not only that the Hebrew Army could control the situation, but also that the more than half a million Arabs, living in the part of Palestine allocated to the Hebrew state, could well live there happily forever, and, therefore, that the partition plan was both workable and humane. It is certain that the Zionist leadership did not plan or encourage the flight of the Arabs at that time.
The second phase lasted until mid-May, 1948. The armies on both sides were reinforced. The Arabs rallied round regional military leaders, who established some kind of organization. The Haganah Army became a regular fighting force, executing detailed military plans. The fighting took place mainly on the roads linking the pockets of Hebrew colonization, and in the course of it, a more or less continuous area held by the Haganah was created. It was during this phase that most of the larger towns passed into the hands of the Hebrew Army. At this time, conflicting policies seem to have been entertained by the Zionist leaders. Possibly some had come to the conclusion that the massive exodus of the Arabs might be a good thing. Yet some Jewish leaders tried to persuade Arabs to remain in a captured area, for example, in Haifa. However, generally, it seems the Arabs were encouraged to evacuate their towns and villages, both by their own leaders and by the Hebrew Army.
It was during this period, at dawn on April 10, 1948, that the notorious massacre of Dir-Yassin took place. This small Arab village near Jerusalem was occupied, after a night battle, by a unit of the Irgun. (The Irgun forces, already in the process of being absorbed by the Haganah Army, were then operating under the general command of the Haganah.) All the inhabitants of the village who had not fled-men, women and children-were massacred. The