Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war

During the 1948 Palestine war, massacres and acts of terror were conducted by and against both sides. A campaign of massacres and violence against the Arab population, such as occurred at Lydda and Ramle and the Battle of Haifa, led to the expulsion and flight of over 700,000 Palestinians, with most of their urban areas being depopulated and destroyed. This violence and dispossession of the Palestinians is known today as the Nakba (Arabic for "the disaster"). ^[1]

Background

Main articles: Arab–Israeli conflict, 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, and 1948 Arab–Israeli War

After about 30 years of conflict in Mandatory Palestine between Palestinian Arabs, the British authorities and Palestinian Jews, the British decided in February 1947 to terminate the Mandate and, on 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II) recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan of partition of Palestine.

The vote was rejected by the Arab parties, and was immediately followed by a civil war between Palestinian Arabs who were supported by the Arab Liberation Army against the Palestinian Jews, while the region was still fully under British rule. The day after the vote, Arabs launched attacks against the Jews, killing 126 of them during the first two weeks and 75 were massacred in a refugee camp in Aden as a retaliation. In Jerusalem, attacks targeted Jewish businesses and residents of Jewish neighborhoods, some of whom were stabbed in the street or murdered on buses. Jews were also attacked in Arab neighborhoods. In the Kibbutz of Gvulot, six Jewish teenage girls were murdered. ^[2] In major cities, snipers (including mercenaries) fired at Jewish pedestrians and traffic. The Carmel Market was also attacked and grenades were thrown in the Jewish quarters. ^[3] Across the country, Jewish cars were the target of stone throwing, while the consulates of Poland and Sweden, which voted in favor of partition, were attacked. ^[4] In December 1947, one of the striking images remains the attack on the new Mamilla Mall. ^[4]

On 15 May 1948, following the Israeli Declaration of Independence the previous day, the armies of a number of Arab countries invaded what had just ceased to be Mandatory Palestine, turning the conflict into the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The yishuv ( now officially called Israel) suffered between 5,700 and 5,800 casualties. ^[5] The death toll on the Arab side is unclear, but according to Benny Morris, it might have been slightly higher or much higher than the Jewish one. In his book, Morris mentions an estimate of 12,000 provided by Haj Amin al-Husseini in 1950. ^[5] These numbers amount to around 1 percent of the population of each side. ^[6]

Massacres

According to several historians, between 10 and 70 massacres occurred during the 1948 war. ^{[6] [7] [8]} According to Benny Morris the Yishuv (or later Israeli) soldiers killed roughly 800 Arab civilians and prisoners of war in 24 massacres. ^[6] Aryeh Yizthaki list 10 major massacres with more than 50 victims each. ^[9] Palestinian researcher Salman Abu-Sitta lists 33 massacres, half of them occurring during the civil war period. ^[9] Saleh Abdel Jawad lists 68 villages where acts of indiscriminate killing of prisoners, and civilians took place, where no threat was posed to Yishuv or Israeli soldiers. ^[10]

The main massacres and attacks against Jewish civilians were the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre where 39 Jews were killed by Arab workers after Irgun members had thrown a bomb into the crowd and the Kfar Etzion massacre where around 120-150 residents and defenders were killed by Arab irregulars, according to some accounts with the participation of Arab Legion soldiers. The Hadassah medical convoy massacre, with 80 deaths, included the mass killing of medical personnel by Arabs. ^{[6] [11] [12]}

According to Rosemarie Esber, both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm killings occurred in numerous Arab villages. ^[9] Most of these killings occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the Second phase of the Civil War, Operation Dani, Operation Hiram and Operation Yoav. ^{[6] [13]} Morris said that the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre with 60 to 70 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre with around 112, the Lydda massacre with around 250, the Tantura massacre with between 40–200+, ^{[6] [14] [15]} and the Abu Shusha massacre with 60–70. ^[16] In Al-Dawayima, accounts of the death toll vary. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports 100-200 casualties, ^[10] Morris has estimated "hundreds" ^[16] and also reports the IDF investigation which concluded 100 villagers had been killed. ^[17] David Ben-Gurion gave the figure of 70–80. ^[18] Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports on the village's mukhtar account ^[19] that 455 people were missing following the al-Dawayima massacre, including 170 women and children. ^[10]

Bombing attacks

At the beginning of the Civil War, Jewish militias organized several bombing attacks against civilians and military Arab targets. On 12 December 1947, the Irgun placed a car bomb opposite the Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, killing 20 people. ^[20] On 4 January 1948, the Lehi detonated a lorry bomb against the headquarters of the paramilitary al-Najjada located in Jaffa's Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80. ^{[20] [21]}

During the night between 5 and 6 January, in Jerusalem, the Haganah bombed the Semiramis Hotel that had been reported to hide Arab militiamen, killing 24 people. ^[22] The next day, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb ^[23] into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing 20. ^{[24] [25] [26] [27]} Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on 18 February, killing 7 residents and injuring 45. ^[28] On 28 February, the Palmach organised a bombing attack against a garage in Haifa, killing 30 people. ^[29]

From 1 February 1948, supporters of Amin al-Husseini organised, with the help of British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Using car bombs aimed at the headquarters of the Palestine Post , the Ben Yehuda Street market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, killing 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively. ^{[30] [31] [32]}

During the first months of 1948, the railway between Cairo and Haifa was often targeted. On 31 March, it was mined near Binyamina, a Jewish settlement in the neighborhood of Caesarea, killing 40 persons and wounding 60. The casualties were all civilians, mostly Arabs. Although there were some soldiers on the train, none were injured. The Palestine Post and the New York Times attributed the attack to Lehi. ^{[33] [34]}

List of killings and massacres

Here is a non-exhaustive list of killings and massacres that took place during the war:

Date	Event	Perpetrators	Victims	Notes
30 November 1947	Fajja bus attacks	Palestinian irregulars	7 Jewish people	One attack killed 5, and another killed 2
11/12 Dec 1947	Attack on Balad al-Shaykh	Haganah	6 Palestinians	[35] [a]
11-12 December 1947	Attack on Tirat Haifa	Irgun	13 Palestinians	[36] [37]
13 December 1947	Attack on Al-'Abbasiyya / Yahudiya	Irgun	Unknown. The New York Times reported the following day that seven Palestinian villagers were killed	[38] [39] [40]
18 December 1947	Al-Khisas massacre	Palmach	10-15 Palestinian villagers, including 5 children	[41] [42] [43]
29 December 1947	Damascus Gate bombing	Irgun	15-17 Palestinians	[44] [45]
30 December 1947	Attack at Haifa Oil Refinery	Irgun	6 Palestinians	Grenades thrown into a crowd of Arab workers outside the Haifa Oil Refinery. Attack precipitates the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre.
30 December 1947	Haifa Oil Refinery massacre	Mob of Palestinian workers	39-41 Jewish workers	Jewish workers of the Haifa Oil Refinery killed by Arab co-workers after Irgun bombing.
31 December 1947	Balad al-Shaykh massacre, Haifa	Palmach	Between 60-70 Palestinian villagers	Retaliation for the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. The raiding unit's orders were to 'kill maximum adult males.' [46]
4 January 1948	Bombing at Jaffa 'Saraya' building	Irgun	26 Palestinians	[47] [48] [49]
5 January 1948	Semiramis Hotel bombing, Jerusalem	Haganah	24-26 Palestinians and 1 foreign diplomat	[50]
7 January 1948	Bomb attack at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem	Irgun	25 Palestinians	[51]
14-15 Feb 1948	Sa'sa' massacre, Safed	Palmach	60 Palestinian villagers	60 Arabs killed inside their houses, including small children; 16 houses were demolished. Considered a model raid by Israeli forces. [52]
22 February 1948	Ben Yehuda Street bombing, Jerusalem	British deserters and Arab irregulars	49 to 58 Jewish civilians	Killing 49 to 58 Jewish civilians and injuring 140. Arab High Command took responsibility, imploring the Jewish community to stick to the rules of war. [53] [54]
3 March 1948	Car-bombing in Haifa	Lehi	11 Palestinians	[55] [ additional citation(s) needed ]
11 March 1948	Bomb attack at Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem	Arab forces	13 Jewish non-combatants	[56] [57]
12-13 March 1948	Attack on al-Husayniyya, Safad	Palmach	15 Palestinian villagers per Walid Khalidi [58]	Attack by Palmach's Third Battalion. [59] [b]
16-17 March 1948	Attack on al-Husayniyya, Safad	Palmach	Unknown. Estimates range from "dozens" to 30+	Attack by Palmach's Third Battalion. [c]
18 March 1948	Attack in Acre	Arabs	5 British soldiers and 4 Jewish civilians	Arabs attacked and killed four Jewish workers for an electric cable company along with five members of a British military convoy who had been escorting them to the city.[ citation needed ]
31 March 1948	Cairo–Haifa train bombing	Lehi	40 Palestinians killed, 60 injured	[60]
9 April 1948	Deir Yassin massacre, Jerusalem	Irgun and Lehi, supported by Palmach	93-140 Palestinian villagers
12 April 1948	Attack on Nasr al-Din	Golani Brigade	Unknown. At least 12-20 Palestinians	[61] [62]
13 April 1948	Hadassah medical convoy massacre, Jerusalem	Arab forces	79 Jewish doctors, nurses, members of Haganah and scientists and 1 British soldier.	Arab retaliation for the Deir Yassin massacre. [63]
21-22 April 1948	Battle of Haifa	Haganah	Unknown number of Palestinians	[64]
2 May 1948	Ein al-Zeitun massacre, Safed	Palmach	70+ Palestinian villagers	Ein al-Zeitun completely depopulated after the Palmach captured the village. [65]
4 May 1948	Killings at Kafr 'Ana	Haganah	10 Palestinians	[66]
12-13 May 1948	Attack on Burayr	Palmach	50 Palestinians	[67] [68] [69]
13 May 1948	Kfar Etzion massacre, Hebron	Arab forces	157 Jewish residents and Haganah soldiers	[70] [71]
13–19 May 1948	Abu Shusha massacre, Ramle	Givati Brigade	60-70 Palestinian villagers	In 1995, a mass grave near the site with 52 bodies was unearthed. [72]
19 May 1948	1948 Tel Aviv bus station bombing, Tel Aviv	Egyptian Air Force	42	100 people were wounded and 42 killed in an attack on a bus station.
20 May 1948	Al-Kabri massacre	Carmeli Brigade	At least 7 Palestinian villagers killed	[73]
22 May 1948	Tantura massacre	Haganah, Alexandroni Brigade	Unknown. Estimates range from "dozens" to 200+
~10-12 July 1948	Attack on Lydda and Ramle	3rd Battalion of the IDF	250-1700 Palestinians
28 October 1948	Al-Dawayima massacre, Hebron	IDF, 89th Commando Battalion, with former Irgun, and Lehi members.	80 to 200 Palestinians	News of the massacre was suppressed by both Israeli (to prevent UN scrutiny) and Arab forces (in order to prevent morale from collapsing as it did after the Deir Yassin massacre). [74]
29 October 1948	Safsaf massacre, Safed	7th Armored Brigade	52-70 Palestinian villagers	Between 52 and 70 Arab men shot, killed, and burned in a pit. Several women were raped. [43]
29 October 1948	Jish massacre	IDF	Unknown number of Palestinians	[75] [76]
30 October 1948	Saliha massacre, Safed	7th Armoured Brigade	60-70 Palestinians	Village completely depopulated. [77]
30 October 1948	Eilabun massacre, Tiberias	Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion	14 Palestinian villagers	13 were executed, 11 from Eilabun (Christians) and 2 refugees (Muslims). Massacre was documented by the UN. [78]
30 October 1948	Sa'sa' massacre, Safed	IDF	Unknown number of Palestinians	[79] [80] [81]
31 October 1948	Hula massacre, Lebanon	Carmeli Brigade	35-58 Arab villagers	Hula was captured without resistance. The commander, first lieutenant Shmuel Lahis, was given seven years in jail for his role in the incident but served only one. [82]
2 November 1948	Arab al-Mawasi massacre, Tiberias	IDF	14 Arab Bedouin men	15 Bedouin men from Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' taken near Eilabun and shot. One survived. [43] Village was completely obliterated.
5 November 1948	Majd al-Kurum massacre, Galilee	IDF	9 Palestinians	[83] [84]

Effects

Further information: Causes of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight

Violence against Palestinians had a strong impact on the exodus of the Palestinian Arab population. For example, the Deir Yassin massacre is considered to have generated more panic among the Arab population than all other previous operations together and to have caused a mass flight of Palestinians in numerous areas, ^{[85] [86]} partly because the actual events at Deir Yassin were greatly embellished by the media. ^{[87] [88]} Additionally, the Deir Yassin massacre became a strong argument for the Arab states to intervene against Israel. Arab League chief Azzam Pasha stated that 'The massacre of Deir Yassin was to a great extent the cause of the wrath of the Arab nations and the most important factor for sending [in] the Arab armies'. ^[89]

Historiography

New Historians

Further information: New Historians

In the 1980s a group of revisionist Israeli historians challenged the official Israeli historical narrative.

Arab warnings and threats of massacres against Jews of Palestine

After the Partition vote, some Arab leaders threatened the Jewish population of Palestine. For example, they spoke of "driving the Jews into the sea" or ridding Palestine "of the Zionist Plague". ^[90]

According to the Israeli traditional historiography, these statements reflected the Arab intentions. ^{[90] [91]} While Benny Morris considers the real picture of the Arab aims to be more complex, notably because they were well aware they could not defeat the Jews, ^[90] he argues that the Yishuv was indeed threatened with extinction and feared what would happen if the Arabs won. ^[92] Gelber, on the other hand, regards these public statements as 'meaningless' and judges that the 'actions [of their armies] imply that the aims of the Arab invasion were decidedly limited and focused mainly on saving Arab Palestine from total Jewish domination'. ^[93]

"Purity of arms"

Main article: Purity of arms

During the conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine before the war, the criterion of "purity of arms" was used to distinguish between the respective attitudes of the Irgun and Haganah towards Arabs, with the latter priding itself on its adherence to this principle. ^[94] Generally speaking, this precept requires that "weapons remain pure [and that] they are employed only in self-defence and [never] against innocent civilians and defenceless people". ^[95] But if it "remained a central value in education" it was "rather vague and intentionally blurred" at the practical level. ^[94]

In 1946, at a meeting held between the heads of the Haganah, Ben-Gurion predicted a confrontation between the Arabs of Palestine and the Arab states. Concerning the "principle of purity of arms", he stressed that: "The end does not justify all means. Our war is based on moral grounds" ^[96] and during the 1948 War, the Mapam, the political party affiliated to Palmach, asked for "a strict observance of the Jewish Purity of arms to secure the moral character of [the] war". ^[97]

When he was criticized by Mapam members for his attitude concerning the Arab refugee problem, Ben-Gurion reminded them the events of Lydda and Ramla and the fact Palmach officers had been responsible for the "outrage that had encouraged the Arabs' flight made the party uncomfortable." ^[97]

According to Avi Shlaim, "purity of arms" is one of the key features of 'the conventional Zionist account or old history' whose 'popular-heroic-moralistic version of the 1948 war' is 'taught in Israeli schools and used extensively in the quest for legitimacy abroad'. ^[95] Morris adds that '[t]he Israelis' collective memory of fighters characterized by "purity of arms" is also undermined by the evidence of [the dozen case] of rapes committed in conquered towns and villages.' According to him, 'after the war, the Israelis tended to hail the "purity of arms" of its militiamen and soldiers to contrast this with Arab barbarism, which on occasion expressed itself in the mutilation of captured Jewish corpses.' According to him, 'this reinforced the Israelis' positive self-image and helped them "sell" the new state abroad and (...) demonized the enemy'. ^[6]

Causes of massacres

According to Ilan Pappé, massacres targeting Palestinians took place in the context of an ethnic cleansing that "carr[ied] with it atrocious acts of mass killing and butchering of thousands of Palestinians were killed ruthlessly and savagely by Israeli troops of all backgrounds, ranks and ages." ^[98]

During the Civil War, the Haganah operatives had been cautioned against harming women and children but the Irgun and Lehi were less observing this distinction, while "Palestinian Arab militias often deliberately targeted civilians." ^[6] Due to the fact the British Mandate was not yet over, neither side could set up regular Prisoner of War camps and therefore take prisoners. During the Arab-Israeli War, the fighting armies were more or less disciplined and "the killings of civilians and prisoners of war almost stopped, except for the series of atrocities committed by the IDF forces". ^[6]

Morris also said that despite their rhetoric, Arab armies committed few atrocities and no large-scale massacre of prisoners took place when circumstances might have allowed them to happen, as when they took the Old City of Jerusalem or the villages of Atarot, Neve Yaakov, Nitzanim, Gezer and Mishmar Hayarden. ^[6] On 28 May, when the inhabitants and fighters of the Old City surrendered, in fear for their lives, the Transjordanian Arab Legion protected them from the mob and even wounded or shot dead other Arabs. ^[99] Atrocities committed by the Arab armies included women being dismembered in Nitzanim in June, ^[100] 14 Jewish civilians killed while supplying an orphanage in Ben Shemen ^[2] and Arab fighters parading with the heads of two Israeli soldiers impaled on stakes in Eilabun. ^[101] Jewish combatants captured by Arab militias, were frequently tortured and mutilated in particularly violent ways. Pregnant women have also been found disembowelled. ^[102]

With regard to massacres perpetrated by the IDF at the end of the war and particularly during Operation Hiram, Morris and Yoav Gelber consider that lack of discipline cannot explain the violence. ^{[6] [103]} Gelber points out the "hard feelings [of the soldiers] towards the Palestinians" and the fact that the Palestinians had not fled like in former operations. ^[103] Benny Morris thinks that they were related to a "general vengefulness and a desire by local commanders to precipitate a civilian exodus". ^[6]

To explain the difference in the number of killings and massacres, Morris speculates that "[t]his was probably due to the circumstance that the victorious Israelis captured some four hundred Arab villages and towns during April–November 1948, whereas the Palestinian Arabs and the Arab Liberation Army failed to take any settlements and the Arab armies that invaded in mid-May overran fewer than a dozen Jewish settlements". ^[6] He considers too that belligerents behaved reasonably well and that the "1948 [war] is noteworthy for the relatively small number of civilian casualties both in the battles themselves and in the atrocities that accompanied them" in comparison, for example, "with the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s or the Sudanese civil wars of the past fifty years". ^[6]

Tantura massacre controversy

Main article: Tantura massacre

There was a significant controversy regarding the Tantura massacre, with some historians such as Yoav Gelber denying that a massacre had taken place.

Gelber wrote that based on a counting of the inhabitants, the refugees, the POW's and the deaths, there were no people missing and therefore no massacre could have occurred. ^[104]

Morris's analysis concludes that the documentation and the interviews do not prove that a massacre occurred but that the hypothesis cannot be simply dismissed. ^[105]

Ilan Pappé considers that the testimonies of former Alexandroni soldiers and Palestinian refugees prove, on the contrary, that at least 200 unarmed Tantura villagers were killed, whether in revenge for the death of Israeli soldiers due to sniper shots or later when they were unjustifiably accused of hiding weapons. ^[106]

Palestinian perspectives

Nadine Picaudou, author of The Historiography of the 1948 Wars, studied the evolution of Palestinian historiography on the 1948 war. She argues that the Deir Yassin massacre long remained the only one discussed 'as if it sufficed to summarize the tragedy of Palestinian victims'. She thinks that during the period for which 'collective memory conflated with Palestinian nationalist mobilization, one exemplary event sufficed to express the tragedy'. Referring to the study performed in 2007 by Saleh Abd al-Jawad, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, she writes that the massacres engaged Palestinian historians' concerns relatively late, but that when "Palestinians began to write their history, the issue of massacres inevitably became one of the relevant factors in accounting for the mass exodus." ^[107]

Picaudou underlines that "Palestinian historiography has retained the nakba paradigm, which reduces the Palestinians to the status of passive victims of Israeli policies, as [illustrated by] the limited attention accorded by researchers to the 1947–48 battles (...)". ^[107]

"Battles" or "massacres"

In the context of the 1948 war, several historians pointed out the nuance, sometimes polemically, that can exist between a "battle" and a "massacre".

Deir Yassin

Main article: Deir Yassin massacre

The village of Deir Yassin was located west of Jerusalem, but its strategic importance was debatable and its inhabitants had not participated in the war until one week before the attack. ^{[108] [109]} On 9 April, around 120 men from the Irgun and the Lehi attacked the village in the context of the Operation Nachshon. The poorly armed inhabitants showed unexpected resistance to the attack by fighting back. The assailants suffered four dead. Jacques de Reynier, head of the International Red Cross delegation in Palestine, visited Deir Yassin on April 11, 1948, and observed "a total of more than 200 dead, men, women, and children." ^[110] After the fighting, some villagers were executed after being exhibited in the streets of Jerusalem. A group of prisoners were executed in a nearby quarry and others at Sheikh Bader. Historians estimate today the total number of deaths at 100 to 120. ^{[111] [112] [113] [114]}

In 2007, Israeli military historian Uri Milstein published a controversial book, Blood Libel at Deir Yassin, in which he claims that the events of Deir Yassin were the result of a battle and not of a massacre. Moreover, he goes further and rejects the reality of the atrocities that followed the attack on the village. ^[115] Morris considers that the capture of the village, insignificant on the military point of view, can hardly be considered as a "battle". ^[113]

Hadassah medical convoy

Main article: Hadassah medical convoy massacre

In 1948, Hadassah hospital was located in the enclave of the Mount Scopus, at Jerusalem from where it dominated several Arab quarters. On 14 April, a convoy carrying medical personnel, some injured fighters, munitions and some reinforcement troops, ^{[116] [117]} that was protected by Haganah soldiers and armoured cars, ^[118] tried to reach the enclave. Arab fighters had been informed by an Australian officer that the convoy's mission was to use the enclave to attack Arab quarters and cut off the road to Ramallah. A large Arab force then ambushed the convoy, and, in the fight, several vehicles were shot up, and couldn't withdraw. The battle raged for seven hours and British intervention was late in coming. 79 people from the convoy were killed, mainly civilians. Following the incident, Jacques de Reynier urged that in future all convoys be relieved of military escorts and placed under Red Cross protection. This was quickly agreed to. He also asked that the enclave be demilitarised under similar conditions, but this was refused by the Zionist authorities. ^[119]

While the whole event is usually seen as a massacre, Morris considers it to have been, rather, a battle, given that there was shooting between Arab and Haganah militia and targeted a supply convoy headed for Mount Scopus. He points out however that the death toll incurred by medical personal, who were unarmed, was massive ^[6] and that seventy-eight people were "slaughtered". ^[120]

Lydda

Main article: 1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle

In July 1948, the Israelis launched the Operation Danny to conquer the cities of Lydda and Ramle. The first attack on Lydda occurred on the afternoon of 11 July when the 89th battalion mounted on armoured cars and jeeps raided the city "spraying machine-gun fire at anything that moved". "Dozens of Arabs (perhaps as many as 200)" were killed. ^[121] According to Morris, the description of this raid written by one of the soldiers "combine[s] elements of a battle and a massacre". ^[121]

Later, Israeli troops entered the city and took up position in the town center. The only resistance came from the police fort that was held by some Arab Legionnaires and irregulars. Detention compounds were arranged in the mosques and the churches for adult males and 300–400 Israeli soldiers garrisoned the town. In the morning of 12 July, the situation was calm but around 11:30 an incident occurred; two or three armored cars entered the town and a firefight erupted. The skirmish made Lydda's townspeople believe that the Arab Legion was counter-attacking and probably a few dozen snipers ^[122] fired against the occupying troops. Israeli soldiers felt threatened, vulnerable because they were isolated among thousands of hostile townspeople and 'angry [because] they had understood that the town had surrendered'. '[They] were told to shoot 'at any clear target' or, alternatively, at anyone 'seen on the streets'. The Arab inhabitants panicked. Many rushed in the streets and were killed. ^[123]

There is controversy among historians about the events that followed. According to Morris, at the Dahmash mosque some prisoners tried to break out and escape, probably fearing to be massacred. IDF threw grenades and fired rockets at the compound and several dozens Arabs were shot and killed. ^[123] The Palestinian historiography describes the events differently. According to it, it was civilians that had taken refuge in the mosque, thinking that the Israelis would not dare to profane the sanctuary. The Israelis killed all the people there making 93 to 176 dead. ^[124] Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that there is a confusion between two mosques. According to them, detainees were only gathered around the Great Mosque, where no incident occurred and it is a group of 50-60 armed Arabs who barricaded in the Dahmash mosque. Its storming resulted in the death of 30 Arab militiamen and civilians, including elderly, women and children. ^[125]

The deaths of July 12 are regarded in the Arab world and by several historians as a massacre. Walid Khalidi calls it "an orgy of indiscriminate killing." ^[126] Morris writes that the "jittery Palmahniks massacr[ed] detainees in a mosque compound." ^[127] According to Gelber, it was a "bloodier massacre" than at Deir Yassin. ^[128] Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that it was "an intense battle where the demarcation between civilians, irregular combatants and regular army units hardly existed." ^[125]

See also

• List of towns and villages depopulated during the 1947–1949 Palestine war
• List of killings and massacres in Mandatory Palestine
• List of massacres in Israel

References

1. • Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. pp. 602–604. ISBN   978-0-521-00967-6. It is impossible to arrive at a definite persuasive estimate. My predilection would be to opt for the loose contemporary British formula, that of 'between 600,000 and 760,000' refugees; but, if pressed, 700,000 is probably a fair estimate
   • Memo US Department of State, 4 May 1949. Foreign Relations of the United States. 1949. p. 973. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. One of the most important problems which must be cleared up before a lasting peace can be established in Palestine is the question of the more than 700,000 Arab refugees who during the Palestine conflict fled from their homes in what is now Israeli occupied territory and are at present living as refugees in Arab Palestine and the neighbouring Arab states.
   • Memorandum on the Palestine Refugee Problem, 4 May 1949. Foreign Relations of the United States. 1949. p. 984. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Approximately 700,000 refugees from the Palestine hostilities, now located principally in Arab Palestine, Transjordan, Lebanon and Syria, will require repatriation to Israel or resettlement in the Arab states.
2. Martin Gilbert, Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2005.
3. Itamar Radai, Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1948: A Tale of Two cities, 2015
4. Efraim Karsh, The Arab-Israeli conflict: The Palestine war 1948 ,2008
5. Morris (2008) p.406
6. Morris 2008, pp. 404-06.
7. Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York: Springer, pp. 59-127
8. Esber (2009), section Massacres, Psychological Warfare and Oblitaration, pp. 355–59.
9. Esber (2009), p. 356
10. Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York : Springer, pp. 59-127
11. Gelber (2006), pp. 21, 77.
12. Karsh (2002), pp. 33, 44, 51
13. Esber (2009), p.356 referring to Aryeh Yitzhaki, Israeli historian who served as director of the IDF archives who stated : "In almost every conquered village (...), Zionist forces committed war crimes such as indiscriminate killings, massacres and rapes."
14. Pappé (2006), pp.133-137
15. Gelber (2006), Appendix III - Folklore versus History. The Tantura Blood Libel, pp. 319-27.
16. "Interview with Benny Morris by Ari Shavit in Ha'aretz on September 1st 2004". haaretz.com.
17. Benny Morris (2008), 1948: An History the First Arab-Israeli War, p. 333.
18. Morris, 2004, p. 469–470.
19. Pappé (2006), p. 196.
20. Karsh (2002), p. 32
21. Yoav Gelber, 'Palestine 1948', p. 20; The Scotsman newspaper, 6 January 1948; Walid Khalidi states that 25 civilians were killed, in addition to the military targets. 'Before Their Diaspora', 1984. p. 316, picture p. 325; Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949', Cambridge University Press, p. 46.
22. Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, p. 123.
23. Larry Collins/Dominique Lapierre, 'O Jerusalem'.History Book Club Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1972. p. 135: 'two fifty-gallon oil drums packed tight with old nails, bits of scrap iron, hinges, rusty metal filings. At their center was a core of TNT...'
24. Collins/Lapierre. Page 138: 17 killed
25. Joseph, Dov (1960). The faithful city: the siege of Jerusalem, 1948 . Simon and Schuster. p. 56. LCCN   60-10976. OCLC   266413. It killed fourteen Arabs and wounded forty others.
26. The Scotsman, 8 January 1948: 16 killed, 41 injured.
27. Palestine Post, 9 January 1948, p.1: "Jaffa Gate toll reaches 20".
28. Embassy of Israel, London, website. 2002. Quoting Zeev Vilnai - 'Ramla past and present'.
29. Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem revisited, p. 221.
30. Yoav Gelber (2006), p. 24
31. Efraïm Karsh, 2002, p.36.
32. Scotsman 24 February 1948: 'Jerusalem (Monday) - The 'High Command' of the Arab military organisation issued a communique to the newspapers here to-day claiming full responsibility for the explosion in Ben Yehuda Street on Sunday. It was said to be in reprisal for an attack by Irgun at Ramleh several days ago.'
33. The Palestine Post, 1 April 1948
34. New York Times, 1 April 1948
35. Morris 2004, "The first large Haganah reprisal, against the village of Balad al Sheikh, just east of Haifa, took place on 12 December (six Arabs were killed)"
36. Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "On 11 and 12 December 1947, the village of Tieret Haifa suffered a terror attack."
37. Ilan Pappé, 2006, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. "massacre in Tirat Haifa on 11 December 1947", "The Irgun bombarded it [Tirat Haifa] as early as December 1947, killing thirteen people, mainly children and the elderly. After the shelling a raiding party of twenty Irgun members approached and began firing at an isolated house on the edge of the village."
38. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War.
39. Walid Khalidi, 1992, All That Remains; ISBN   0-88728-224-5
40. Irgun Attacks in Palestine: 21 Arabs, 3 Jews Are Slain NY Times, December 14, 1947
41. Pappé 2006, "Fifteen villagers, including five children, were killed in the attack."
42. Benny Morris, 1948 and After (1990), "ten Arab civilians, including five children"
43. All That Remains, Walid Khalidi; ISBN   0-88728-224-5, pp, 465, 491, 546, quoting New York Times
44. John Bowyer Bell, 1977, Terror out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine Underground, 1929–1949, "Irgun attempts at retaliation were brutal, ruthless, and ineffectual. On December 29, a bomb at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem detonated in the midst of a crowd. Fifteen Arabs were killed and over fifty wounded."
45. Bose, Sumantra. Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka. Harvard University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pncnv2. "On 29 December 1947, Irgun men hurled grenades into an Arab crowd gathered at the Nablus Gate to Jerusalem's old city, killing seventeen"
46. Morris (2004), p. 101
47. Flapan, S. (1987) The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities. "On January 4, 1948, the Irgun used a car bomb to blow up the government center in Jaffa, killing twenty-six Arab civilians.
48. Pappé 2006, "In the first week of January alone the Irgun executed more terrorist attacks than in any period before. These included detonating a bomb in the Sarraya house in Jaffa, the seat of the local national committee, which collapsed leaving twenty-six people dead."
49. Walid Khalidi, 1984, Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876–1948, "January 4: Irgun uses car bomb to blow up Grand Serai (government center) in Jaffa, killing 26 Palestinian civilians."
50. Morris (2004) p.103
51. Flapan, S. (1987) The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities. "On January 4, 1948, the Irgun used a car bomb to blow up the government center in Jaffa, killing twenty-six Arab civilians. Three days later, they planted explosives at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, and another twenty-five Arab civilians were killed.
52. Benvenisti, 2000, p. 107
53. Naor, Moshe (21 August 2013). Social Mobilization in the Arab/Israeli War of 1948: On the Israeli Home Front. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN   9781136776489.
54. Chalk, Peter (1 November 2012). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. ABC-CLIO. p. 113. ISBN   9780313308956.
55. Bose, Sumantra. Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka. Harvard University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pncnv2. "On 3 March a Stern Gang car bombing in Haifa killed eleven Arabs"
56. Gilbert, Martin (2005). Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Routledge. ISBN   0415359015.
57. Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, O Jerusalem! (1971)
58. Khalidi 1992, p.456 "Fifteen Arabs were killed and twenty wounded"
59. Khalidi 1992, p. 456
60. Nur Masalha, 1992, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought, 1882-1948. "The Stern Gang's blowing up of the Cairo-Haifa passenger train (forty Arab civilians killed, sixty injured) in March 1948"
61. Morris 2004, "On the 12th, a company of the 12th Battalion, Golani Brigade, attacked and captured the small tenant farmer village of Khirbet Nasir ad Din", "The Haganah recorded 22 Arabs killed, six wounded and three captured (Haganah casualties were two lightly wounded). The Arabs subsequently alleged that ‘there had been a second Deir Yassin’ in Nasir ad Din – and, indeed, some non-combatants, including women and children, were killed."
62. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. "12 April 1948: Nasir al-Deen and Sheikh Qadumi hill (Tiberias area): Indiscriminate killings occur. The two locations are attacked by Haganah’s Golani Brigade to aid the demoralisation of the besieged city of Tiberias. 12-20 civilians are massacred by machine guns and homes in Nasir al-Deen and Sheikh Qadumi are blown up. The majority of the dead are women and children."
63. Professor Efraim Karsh (27 April 2010). Palestine Betrayed. Yale University Press. pp. 279–. ISBN   978-0-300-12727-0 . Retrieved 10 November 2012.
64. Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. "Mass indiscriminate killings occur."
65. Morris (2004), p. 289
66. Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. "4 May 1948: Kofr Ana (Lod area): Indiscriminate killings occur. The village is demoralised and occupied after a period of resistance. Ten civilians are killed on the day of the occupation. Those murdered are either elderly people, who remained in the village, or men, who attempted to flee."
67. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3
68. Morris 2004 "Burayr, northeast of Gaza, was taken on 12–13 May. Its inhabitants fled to Gaza. The 9th Battalion troops killed a large number of villagers, apparently executing dozens of army-age males."
69. W Khalidi 1992, "During the night of 12-13 May, the Palmach's Negev Brigade struck at the village in coordination with the Giv'ati Brigade's Operation Barak"
70. Allon, Yigal, (1970) "Shield of David - The Story of Israel's Armed Forces". Weidenfeld and Nicolson; ISBN   0-297-00133-7, pg. 196.
71. Gilbert, Martin (1977) "Jerusalem - Illustrated History Atlas". Published in conjunction with the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Map 50, page 93.
72. Benvenisti, 1996, p. 248
73. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War
74. Morris (2004) p. 494
75. Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "Sources emphasise different details, but agree that civilians and fighters who had surrendered are rounded up and killed. Those killed include four Maronite Christians, a woman and her baby, ten Morrocan prisoners, and surrendered soldiers. There are at least 100 fatalities (author’s estimate)."
76. Morris 2004, "In Jish, the troops apparently murdered about 10 Moroccan POWs (who had served with the Syrian Army) and a number of civilians, including, apparently, four Maronite Christians, and a woman and her baby."
77. Morris (2004) p. 487
78. Morris (2004), pp. 475, 479, 499.
79. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "30 October [...] Indiscriminate killings occur. Many villagers, including cripples, are massacred after the surrender of the village."
80. Khalidi 1992, "The second massacre was perpetrated on 30 October, at the time that the village was occupied, during Operation Hiram"
81. Morris 2004, "Civilians appear to have been murdered in Sa‘sa as well."
82. Morris (2004), pp. 481,487,501,502.
83. Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3
84. Morris 2004 "The soldiers selected five men and, according to a UN report, ‘lined them up alongside a wall next to the water pump and shot them’. The soldiers then searched the houses, killing another four inhabitants, including two women, in the process."
85. Simha Flapan, 1987, 'The Palestinian Exodus of 1948', J. Palestine Studies 16 (4), p.3-26.
86. Benny Morris (2004), pp.239-240.
87. Gelber 2006 Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine , p. 314.
88. Larry Collins interview with Hazem Nusseibeh, May 1968, Larry Collins papers, Georgetown University library, cited in Morris 2004, footnote 572, p. 295.
89. Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis, 1986, p.89.
90. Benny Morris (2008), p.396.
91. Mitchell Bard, 1948 War , on the website of the Jewish Virtual Library.
92. Benny Morris (2004), pp.589-590.
93. Yoav Gelber, The Jihad that wasn't , Autumn 2008, n°34.
94. Anita Shapira (1992), p. 252
95. Avi Shlaim, The Debate About 1948 , International Journal of Middle East Studies, 27:3, 1995, pp. 287–304
96. Anita Shapira (1992), p. 295
97. Yoav Gelber (2006), p. 291
98. Pappé (2006), p.197.
99. Benny Morris (2008), pp. 219-20.
100. Friedman, Saul S. , A History of the Middle East. , McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers,2005
101. Hillel Cohen , Good Arabs, The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 19481967 , University of California Press,June 1, 2010
102. Jonathan Matusitz, Symbolism in Terrorism: Motivation, Communication, and Behavior, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Maryland, 2014
103. Yoav Gelber (2006), pp.227-228.
104. Folklore versus History: The Tantura Blood Libel Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine , Appendix III of Yoav Gelber (2006).
105. "The Tantura "Massacre" Archived 23 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine , 9 February 2004, The Jerusalem Report
106. Ilan Pappé, The Tantura case in Israel ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, Journal of Palestine Studies, 2001, pp. 19-39.
107. Nadine Picaudou, The Historiography of the 1948 Wars , Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, November 2008.
108. Morris 2004, p.91.
109. Gelber 2006 Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine , p. 308. "Deir Yassin’s dignitaries were reluctant to be involved in hostilities and undertook to either frustrate on their own future attempts by gangs to use their village, or to report the al-Najada’s presence to the Jews if they could not expel them."
110. Hirst 2003, pp. 252–53.
111. Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Revisited, p. 237
112. Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, pp.309-310.
113. Benny Morris, 1948, pp. 125–127
114. Khalidi, Walid, "Dayr Yasin: Friday, 9 April 1948". Centre of Palestinian Studies, Beirut. 1999. (Arabic).
115. Uri Milstein, Blood Libel at Dir Yassin Archived 3 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine , on the website of the author.
116. Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine  : Tome 3 - L’accomplissement des prophéties (1947-1967), t. 3, Fayard, 13 juin 2007, 838 p. ( ISBN   9782213633589), p. 76.
117. Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul in Jerusalem, reported to the State Department on April 15, 1948 : "American correspondent eye witnessed removal from trucks large quantities arms and ammunition and speculated whether for escort or other purpose." - Telegram 439, Jerusalem Consular Files, Series 800 Palestine, Record Group 84, National Archives. Quoted in Stephen Gree, Taking Sides, Faber & Faber, 1984.
118. Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul in Jerusalem, reported to the State Department on April 17, 1948 : "... queried as to whether convoy included armoured cars, Haganah guards, arms and ammunition in addition to doctors, nurses and patients, Kohn [of the Jewish Agency] replied in affirmative saying it was necessary to protect convoy." - Telegram 455, Jerusalem Consular Files, Series 800 Palestine, Record Group 84, National Archives. Quoted in Stephen Gree, Taking Sides, Faber & Faber, 1984.
119. Henry Laurens, "La Question de Palestine: L'accomplissement des prophéties, 1947-1967", (tome 3) Fayard, 2007, p. 76.
120. Benny Morris, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israeli/Palestine conflict, Yale University Press, 2009, p. 55.
121. Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', p.426.
122. Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', footnote 78, p. 473
123. Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', pp. 427–428
124. Spiro Munayyer, The Fall of Lydda Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine , Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol 27, issue 4, p.
125. Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela (2005) "Myths and historiography of the 1948 Palestine War revisited: the case of Lydda," The Middle East Journal, 22 September 2005.
126. Walid Khalidi, Introduction to Spiro Munayyer's "The Fall of Lydda" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine , Journal of Palestine Studies (1998), Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 80-98.
127. Benny Morris (2008), p.290.
128. Yoav Gelber. Palestine 1948, Sussex Academic Press, 2001, pp. 162, 318.

• Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, University of California Press, 1998.
• Rosemarie Esber, Under the Cover of War. The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians, Arabicus Books and Media, 2009.
• Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, Sussex Academic Press, 2006.
• Saleh Abdel Jawad, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War , in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Springer, 2007.
• Efraim Karsh, The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, 2002.
• Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, Yale University Press, 2008.
• Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992.
• Ilan Pappé, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, OneWorld Publishing
• Howard Sachar, A History of Israel - From the Rise of Zionism to our Time, Knopf, 2007.
• Anita Shapira, Land and power, Stanford University Press, 1992.
• Malka Hillel Shulewitz, The Forgotten Millions, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000.

Notes

1. Date of December 11 given in Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War
2. Morris 2004, "a Palmah strike against Husseiniyya on the night of 12-13 March. A number of houses were reportedly blown up and several dozen Arabs, who included members of an Iraqi volunteer contingent and women and children, were killed and another 20 wounded."
3. Khalidi 1992, p.456, "on 16-17 March, "more than 30 Arab adults (excluding women and children) were killed" in another attack on al-Husayniyya, according to a report filed by a Palmach battalion. The total death toll was put at dozens by Israeli sources, and the village was said to have been abandoned by all its residents, who "fled across the border.""

External links

• Benny Morris, Arab-Israeli War , in Roy Gutman (Editor), Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.
• Film about the massacre in Eilabun