Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war: what Wikipedia removed
The article’s own definition changed. It once opened as “a list of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war” with a stated definition of the word. Today it opens by saying massacres and acts of terror “were conducted by and against both sides” and then describes only “a campaign of massacres and violence against the Arab population”.
The word “massacre” appeared 4 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2005. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 2. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| massacre | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| terror | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| occupation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| disputed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The article’s own definition of its subject, and of the word massacre, removed.
Who made the cuts
Section titled “Who made the cuts”Wikipedia publishes who makes every edit. These removals were traced to the exact revision that made them:
- 2007-07-15, Rich Farmbrough, edit summary: “Copyedit.” (see the diff)
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 16141937):
This is a list of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war . Massacre here means any event in which many civilian lives were lost. The information about massacres of Arabs has been researched extensively by Benny Morris , see [1] . Information about massacres of Jews comes from other sources. Note: In many cases the actual number of killed is very uncertain, and many of the facts are disputed. Details will appear on the page devoted to each incident.
2026 (revision 1357983731):
During the 1948 Palestine war , massacres and acts of terror were conducted by and against both sides. A campaign of massacres and violence against the Arab population – such as occurred in the expulsions from Lydda and Ramle and the Fall of Haifa – led to the expulsion and flight of over 700,000 Palestinians , with most of their urban areas being depopulated and destroyed . This violence and dispossession of the Palestinians is known today as the Nakba ( Arabic for “the disaster”). ^ Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited . Cambridge University Press. pp. 602– 604. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6 . It is impossible to arrive at a definite persuasive estimate. My…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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