In 1948 , Haifa was a mixed city with a population of 135,000 , split between Palestinian Jews ( 70,000 ) and Palestinian Arabs ( 65,000 ) . The Arab proportion of the population had , since early 1948 , started to dwindle . The main Palestinian Jewish areas of the city were Hadar HaCarmel and Neve Sha'anan ; with Khalisa and Wadi Nisnas being predominantly Palestinian Arab . The civil war in Palestine escalated with the final stages of the British Mandate . In Jerusalem , by January 1947 the British had evacuated 2,000 subjects for their own safety . In the wake of the British civil evacuation , the families of well-to-do Arabs and many of the Arab civic leaders also decamped . Some claimed that the Arab leaders encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave by running away themselves . This so frightened the now leaderless mass who had stayed behind , that , encouraged by atrocity propaganda , it fled as well . It is claimed that they prevented a truce settlement in Haifa . The refusal of the “ Arab League “ to intervene had been a cause of widespread demoralisation of the Palestinian Arab population . By mid March 25,000 to 30,000 Palestinian Arabs had already evacuated from Haifa
atrocity propaganda
Deir Yassin massacre
Battle of Haifa (1948)