I've seen a lot of British newspapers, when giving background info on the current Gaza protests, say "during what Palestinians term the Nakba, meaning catastrophe, 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes." I have no particular reason to disbelieve it, or assume it should either be higher or lower. I just wonder where the number comes from, how it was calculated, how reliable it is, and how seriously the number's been questioned (obviously this number is very controversial).
I guess since this is up, I'll just answer. The number was calculated by historians over the years, as well as by the United Nations, which put together refugee camps that tallied the numbers. Numbers have ranged from 520,000 (Israeli estimate) to over a million (Arab estimate), but the total number is usually agreed on to be around 700,000 based on historical tallies of the population pre- and post-war, as well as refugee counts.
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