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.