Ari Shavit And that was the situation in 1948 Benny Morris That was the situation That is what Zionism faced A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700 000 Palestinians Therefore it was necessary to uproot them There was no choice but to expel that population It was necessary to cleanse the hinterland and cleanse the border areas and cleanse the main roads It was necessary to cleanse the villages from which our convoys and our settlements were fired on