Between 1948 and 1966, over 150,000 Arabs living within Israel’s post-independence borders lived in areas governed by military rule, facing curfews, travel restrictions, and the threat of arbitrary arrest and expulsion.

The draconian circumstances faced by Arab-Israelis during the period of military rule were not instituted on the basis of security considerations or any real fear of an Arab uprising, but were part of a concerted plan to drive the minority from the land and to clear the way for Jewish settlement, a declassified secret supplementary to a government report has revealed.

The document, excerpts of which have been published by Haaretz, was part of a report by the Ratner Committee, a government committee established in late 1955 to examine the possibility of abolishing martial law in the Arab-majority territories of Israel.