The geography of a population mass-escape from the Tel Aviv area during the Gulf War
During the Gulf War Israel experienced an unexpected population mass-escape of about 100000 residents from the Tel Aviv area to the peripheral regions of the country. This paper provides a geographical interpretation of the directions, routes and destinations of that flow. The Jerusalem area and the Negev were the most favoured areas of refuge. The escapers chose their destinations according to their mental map of the country and their assumptions about regions of danger based on speculation concerning the range of the Iraqi missiles. This event exposed, for the first time, the relative weakness of the execution of Israel's population distribution policy which has existed as a national security issue since 1948.