Again, thank you all for your replies.
zero 0000: Personally I would not mention Bard's claim because he obviously doesn't know what he is talking about. For example he claims
You have a point in that, but I must disagree. Because the only way to avoid this circus repeating itself the next time someone jayjg-like comes around and inserts the 472,000 claim, is to already have it there explained with the caveats.
zero 0000: Nevertheless....I offer to consult the original UN documents (if I have them; I think I do) to see if the 472,000 figure appears there and in what context.
Yes, that would be very useful! But even *if* the number is there, it doesn't change the fact that the report was written before September 16, 1948. Noone should have to read "472,000" and "UN Mediator" and falsely believe that that was an *estimate* for the *total* number of Palestinian refugees created. I believe someone who doesn't know very much about the Palestine war will get that impression. That suspicion I base on this:
"As for the date [September 16, 1948], as I understand it most Palestinians had left by then."
That is what this issue is really about since both me and Jayjg has edited from the assumption that Mitchell Bard is not lying. But how we want to present Bard's number differ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Estimates_of_the_Palestinian_Refug...
The green in that diff is how I want it presented and the yellow is how Jayjg wants it presented.