Ein al Zeitun massacre
Encyclopedia
Ein al-Zeitun
Ein al-Zeitun, also spelled Ein Zaytun, Ein ez-Zeitun, Ain al-Zaytun or Ain el-Zeitun, was a Palestinian Arab village, located north of Safad in the Upper Galilee. In 1945, the village had a population of 820 inhabitants and a total land area of 1,100 dunams. Ein al-Zeitun was entirely Muslim...
just north of Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, then part of the British Mandate for Palestine
Palestine (mandate)
The British Mandate for Palestine, also known as the Palestine Mandate, The British Mandate of Palestine and the Mandate for Palestine, was a legal commission for the administration of Palestine, the draft of which was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations on 24 July 1922 and...
. Between 30 and 70 Arab prisoners were killed by the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
.
Ein al Zeitun at this time was an Arab village of about 800 inhabitants. It was believed by local Jews that Arabs from the village had taken part in a 1929 massacre of Jews in Safed
1929 Safed massacre
The 1929 Safed pogrom took place on 29 August during the 1929 Palestine riots. Eighteen Jews were killed and eighty wounded. The main Jewish street was looted and burned...
and the massacre is assumed to be as a point of revenge.
The attack on Ein al Zeitun was conducted by the 3rd Battalion of the Palmach under the command of Moshe Kelman
Moshe Kelman
Moshe Kelman was the operational commander of the Palmach's Third Battalion in 1948. On 15 February 1948 Kelman led a force of 60 men which attacked the remote village Sa'sa', in the Upper Galilee. The operation coincided with a number of other attacks on Arab targets. Its intention was to...
, as a preliminary operation to prepare for an assault on the Arab quarter of Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
. Davidka
Davidka
The Davidka was a homemade Israeli mortar used in Safed and Jerusalem during the early stages of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. Its bombs were reported to be extremely loud, but very inaccurate and otherwise of little value beyond terrifying opponents; they proved particularly useful in...
mortar bombs were used for the first time. The village was taken without much difficulty. Most of the villagers fled during the battle, and the remainder, apart from 30-100 men aged 20-40 were forcibly expelled afterwards.
The Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
soldiers then began to destroy the village. Palmach officer Elad Peled
Elad Peled
Elad Peled is a former Israeli general. He commanded the 36th Division, which operated in the West Bank during the Six-Day War. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was a squad commander in the Palmach. He was also later involved in the Yom Kippur War....
recalled that
- “[a]t noon, our men began blowing up the village. The intoxication of victory blinded them and they went berserk, breaking and destroying property. The Jews of Safad saw Ein Zeitun blown up and crushed, and were "happy", seeing in it vengeance for what the Arabs of Ein Zeitun carried out against the Jews of Safad and Ein Zeitim.”
One Yiftah
Yiftah
Yiftah is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located near the Lebanese border and Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council...
HQ report says that "30" Arab prisoners were "transferred to Golani [Brigade]". But a day or two later two Palmach soldiers, acting on Third Battalion OC Moshe Kelman's orders, murdered several dozen prisoners, probably including young men from Ein al-Zeitun, in the gully between Ein al-Zeitun and Safad.
According to Palmach soldier Netiva Ben-Yehuda
Netiva Ben-Yehuda
Netiva Ben Yehuda was an Israeli author, editor and media personality. She was a commander in the pre-state Jewish underground, Palmach.-Biography:...
, the captive men were tied up and thrown into the deep gully between Ein al Zeitun and left for two days. Kelman then decided to "get rid of this problem altogether" but most of his men refused. Finally he found two willing to do it and the prisoners were killed. Two days later, word of the massacre leaked out and it was feared that British or UN investigators would arrive, so some soldiers including Ben-Yehuda were detailed to untie the corpses and bury them.
According to a testimony Aharon Yo'eli, a soldier present, obtained by Israeli historian Uri Milstein "2 Israelis came from Safad and took 23 men from Ayn Zaytoon, stripped them of watches and wallets, took them to a hill and shot them. Israelis were looking for other Israelis to kill Arabs; many Jews in Safad were Hassidis (strictly observant). Other Arabs were expelled towards Germak mountain".
Aftermath
Confirmation of the massacre is known from other IDFIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
sources (see Morris) and from Arab accounts (see Nazzal).
The Syrians subsequently charged that "women had been raped".
The destruction of Ein al Zeitun and the consequent massacre terrified the Arabs of Safed and probably contributed to their flight in the coming days.
Hans Lebrecht described:
"at the end of May 1948, I was ordered by the military unit in which I served to build a temporary pump station, and to divert the "deserted" village stream, Ayn Zaytun, to supply water to the battalion. The village had been totally destroyed, and among the debris there were many bodies. In particular, we found many bodies of women, children and babies near the local mosqueMosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
. I convinced the army to burn the bodies."