Becky, your colleague Lee Kaplan of www.dafka.org is a right wing extremist, who has called me in the radio station on several occasions. Some of the claims that he made while berating me, were that the Bay Area peace group, Jewish Voice For Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org) is funded by Arab terrorists and that Tanya Reinhart, an Israeli scholar and author of the book, "How To End The War of 1948", was only saying what she does, in order find a niche and a fortune by profiting off of Israel's destruction. (All of her sources for her book were from the Israeli media, by the way ). Lee Kaplan is not a historian or a respected expert. He attacks anyone who disagrees with his extreme point of view, as aiding Arab terrorists. ( Sounds alot like Bush's rhetoric when he addresses antiwar protestors ) He denies the very existence of Palestinians, as do you. And of course Israel can do absolutely no wrong. Every criticism is a lie coming from those who wish to destroy the state of Israel, even Israelis or Jews who report on facts that don't cast Israel's government in a favorable light. He rejects offhand, anything that does not fall in line with his line, then conjures up "facts" to support his extreme views.
You did not tell me what history books that you have read. I will read what books you recommend. Sincerely. I will also investigate Lee's claims about Ilan Pappe.
The facts that I have stated and written about the Palestinian refugees, are widely accepted in Israel as historically accurate. Only extremists fail to accept the real history. Even right-wing Israeli historians, such as Benny Morris have researched and written about these things. His conclusions are very similar to Mr. Pappe's. There were massacres, there was a quarter of a million Palestinian refugees, they were refused the right to return home and their homes and lands were seized.
I suggest that you read widely respected historians such as Benny Morris ( a conservative in Israel ), Tom Segev ( a historian and reporter in Israel ) and Avi Schlaim ( author and Professor in the U.S. ). The reason that these historians are widely respected in Israel and in the world, is because they pursue the facts. Most of the information that they rely upon, comes straight out of Israeli government historical archives.
Some books by Benny Morris: "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949" ( a new book ) and "Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001" ( this one is at the main library ). He also contributed a segment to the book, "Rewriting The War of 1948" ( also available at the main library )
Some of Tom Segev's books are available at the main library, such as " One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under The British Mandate"
As I mentioned above another respected historian is Avi Schlaim, you can get his book, "The Iron Wall" at the library, as well.
And again the Frontline video, "Journey to The Occupied Lands" is also interesting and is at the library.
The thing that I like so much about Morris, Segev and Schlaim, is that they do not blame only one side and they report facts. They are honest about the Arab nations actions and faults, as well as Israel's. They are respected because of their honesty and objectivity, unlike your colleague Lee Kaplan.
I would encourage anyone reading this to investigate all points of view, look into the sources that are suggested by both Becky and myself and make up your own mind which sources are the most reasonable and which are based on fact or on agendas.

P.S. Ilan Pappe's book "A History of Modern Palestine; One Land, Two Peoples" is very well sourced, relying on Israeli government archives, the Israeli media, and other Israeli historians ( such as Morris ). His book is very even-handed and addresses myths in the Palestinian narrative, as well as the traditional Israeli narrative. I encourage people to check out his books, look into his background and make up your own mind.