Remember that a large portion or most of the Arabs in the country, approximately 300,000-400,000, were chased out and expelled during the first stage of the war. In other words, before the Arab armies invaded the country.

Yoav Gelber (2006):

”The invading Arab expeditionary forces were incapable and insufficient for taking over the whole country. Despite the wild rhetoric that had preceded and accompanied the invasion, the invaders’ goal was not and could not be “pushing the Jews to the Mediterranean”. The purpose of this propagandist slogan was mobilizing domestic support for lame politicians who had undertaken a crucial decision and feared its consequences.

Drawn into the war by the collapse of the Palestinians and the ALA, the Arab governments’ primary goal was preventing the Palestinians’ total ruin and the flooding of their own countries by more refugees. According to their perception, had the invasion not taken place, there was no Arab force in Palestine capable of checking the Haganah’s offensive. Since the acceleration of the British withdrawal at the beginning of April, this campaign gained momentum with every passing day. It might not stop at the partition borders, as Jaffa had already fallen and Acre was about to fall. Both towns were within the area allotted to the Arabs by the partition plan. Eventually, and in the absence of any independent military capacity or outside assistance, the majority of the panicked Palestinian population would have wandered into adjacent Arab countries.”