Hitchens refers to Benny Morris´s then newly published article "The Causes and Character of the Arab Exodus from Palestine: The Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Service Analysis of June 1948", which was first published in January 1986 in the Middle Eastern Studies in which Hitchens quotes Morris as saying that the IDF intelligence report 'thoroughly undermines the traditional official Israeli "explanation" of a mass flight ordered or "incited" by the Arab leadership for political-strategic purposes.'
Hitchens draws upon Benny Morris's article, "The Causes and Character of the Arab Exodus from Palestine: The Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Service Analysis of June 1948", which was initially published in January 1986 within the Middle Eastern Studies journal. Hitchens quotes Morris as arguing that the IDF intelligence report challenges the traditional Israeli narrative of a mass exodus ordered or instigated by Arab leadership for political and strategic reasons.