Operation Gideon - Aftermath

Aftermath

Yosef Weitz of the JNF claimed he had David Ben-Gurion's approval for a program of systematic destruction of villages. But it appears that Ben Gurion was concerned by the destruction of Baysan. On 16 June he cabled Golani headquarters: "Ask Avraham Yoffe is it true that he burned the town of Beit Shean in whole or in part, and on whose instructions did he do this?"
This appears to have been as a result of Agriculture Minister, Aharon Zisling, raising the issue at the Provisinal Government's Cabinet meeting on the same day: "destruction during battle ... is one thing. But a month later in cold blood, out of political calculation is another thing altogether. This course will not reduce the number of Arabs who will return to the Land of Israel. It will increase the number of our enemies."
On 20 June Minority Affairs Minister, Bechor Shitrit also raised the issue of destruction of villages.

Most Arab Christians relocated to Nazareth. During the 1950s a ma'abarah (refugee camp) inhabited mainly by North African immigrants was erected in Beit She'an, and it later became a development town.