US State Department documents from 1949 admit the mass displacement of Palestinians. The phrase 'almost the entire Arab population of Palestine fled or was expelled from the area under Jewish occupation' is in a 1949 State Department policy paper. The paper says the refugees are 725,000 people. It says they fled or were expelled during the hostilities before and after the British Mandate ended on May 15, 1948. The document lists how many refugees went to each country: Lebanon 100,000 to 105,000, Syria 85,000 to 100,000, TransJordan 85,000, Iraq 5,000, Egypt 8,000 to 10,000, and 455,000 in Palestine. It also says the able-bodied men and women are at most 25 percent of the total. The US State Department was aware of this. The paper was written by George McGhee, the Coordinator on Palestine Refugee Matters. It was sent to the Under Secretary of State on March 15, 1949. The document says the US should persuade Israel to allow repatriation of an agreed number of refugees. It also says Israel should pay compensation to those who don't return. A telegram from the US Consul in Jerusalem on February 28, 1949 says the refugees were displaced 'either by force, or terrorism or have fled because of their own fear'. It also mentions the Deir Yassin massacre. The US government knew about the mass displacement. The document is in the Foreign Relations of the United States series, 1949, Volume VI.