page_title: Transfer Committee
section_title: Destruction of villages
hierarchical_section_title: Transfer Committee / Destruction of villages
caption_attribution_description: English: Bechor-Shalom Shitreet עברית: השר לענייני מיעוטים בממשלה הזמנית, בכור שיטרית.
context_page_description: The Transfer Committee was set up, unofficially, by non-Cabinet members of the first government of Israel in May 1948, with the aim of overseeing the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their towns and villages, and preventing their return. The extent to which the committee acted with the knowledge of the prime minister and the Cabinet is a matter of scholarly debate.
context_section_description: Regardless of the committee's ambiguous status, Weitz proceeded to arrange the destruction of several villages in June 1948: al-Maghar, near Gedera; Fajja, near Petah Tikva; Biyar 'Adas, near Magdiel; Bayt Dajan, east of Tel Aviv; Miska, near Ramat Hakovesh; Sumeiriya, near Acre; and Buteimat and Sabbarin, near Haifa. Morris writes that Weitz's agents toured the countryside to determine which villages should be destroyed and which preserved for Jewish settlement.
caption: Minister for Minority Affairs Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit helped stop the activities of the committee.
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