List of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
Encyclopedia
Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War
resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and unarmed soldiers.
and Jewish Zionists
and while no agreement could be found between parties, the British decided to terminate the Mandate in February 1947 and on 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted the Partition of Palestine.
The vote was immediately followed by a Civil War in which Palestinian Arabs (supported by the Arab Liberation Army
) and Palestinian Jew
s, fought against each other while the region was still fully under British rule. On 15 May 1948, a full-scale war started when Israel declared its independence and Transjordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq sent expeditionary forces to fight the Israelis.
The war caused the death of more than 20,000 people, around 1% of the population of both communities involved.
s occurred during the 1948 War
. Esber (2009), section Massacres, Psychological Warfare and Oblitaration, pp. 355–359.
The main massacres and attacks against Jewish civilians were: the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
where 39 Jews were killed by Arab irregulars in the aftermath of an Irgun
attack, and the Kfar Etzion massacre
where around 120-150 surrendering defenders were killed by Arab irregulars, with the participation of Arab Legion legionnaires. With 80 deaths, the Hadassah medical convoy attack
is also reported as a massacre because it included the mass killing of unarmed medical personnel by Arabs.
On the other side, "Yishuv
troops probably murdered some 800 civilians and prisoners of war". Most of these killings and massacres occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the Second phase of the Civil War, Operation Dani, Operation Hiram
and Operation Yoav
. According to Ilan Pappé
, in the context of what he calls 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."
According to Benny Morris the Israelis were responsible for 24 massacres during the war. Aryeh Yizthaki attests 10 major massacres with more than 50 victims each. Palestinian researcher Salman Abu-Sitta records 33, half of them occurring during the civil war period and Saleh Abdel Jawad
has listed 68 villages where acts of indiscriminate killing of prisoners, and civilians, where no threat was posed to Israeli soldiers, took place.
Both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm atrocities occurred in numerous villages. According to Benny Morris, the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre
with 70 to 80 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre
with around 100, Lydda massacre with around 250, the Al-Dawayima massacre
with hundreds and the Abu Shusha massacre with 70. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports the village's mukhtar account that 455 people were killed at al-Dawayima
including 170 women and children.
Controversy surrounds the assertion that a massacre by Israelis took place at al-Tantura
.
's Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80. During the night between 5 and 6 January, at Jerusalem, the Haganah bombed the Semiramis Hotel that had been reported to hide Arab militiamen, killing 24 people. The next day, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing around 16. Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on February 18, killing 7 residents and injuring 45. On 28 February, the Palmah organised a bombing attack against a garage at Haifa, killing 30 people.
On 22 February 1948, supporters of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
organised, with the help of British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Using car bomb
s aimed at the headquarters of the Palestine Post
, the Ben Yehuda Street
market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively.
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.
considers that the killings and massacres occurred "[l]ike [in] most wars involving built-up areas."
During the first stage of the war, the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
, Haganah
operatives had been cautioned against harming women and children but Irgun
[and Lehi
] didn't practice this distinction, while "Palestinian Arab militias often deliberately targeted civilians." Due to the fact the British Mandate was not yet over, both sides were not able to set up regular POW camps and therefore didn't take prisoners.
During the regular war, the fighting armies were more or less disciplined and "the killings of civilians and prisonners of war almost stopped, except for the series of atrocities committed by the IDF troops".
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
. On the contrary, 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.
With regard to massacres perpetrated by the IDF at the end of the war and particularly during Operation Hiram
, where around 10 massacres occurred, Morris and Gelber have claimed that lack of discipline cannot explain the events. Yoav 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. Benny Morris
thinks that they were related to a "general vengefulness and a desire by local commanders to precipitate a civilian exodus
".
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". 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".
. 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.
Additionally, the Deir Yassin massacre became a strong argument for the Arab states to intervene against Israel. Arab League chief Azzam Pasha is one record for starting 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'.
According to the Israeli traditional historiography, these statements reflected the Arab intentions. 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, he argues that the Yishuv
was indeed threatened with extinction and feared what would happen if the Arabs won. Yoav 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'.
soon after, on 2 December 1947, in which 82 Jews were killed.
The New York Times reported a memorandum of the World Jewish Congress
expressing concerns about this situation in the edition of 16 May 1948 in an article enitled : "Jews in grave danger in all Moslem lands: Nine hundred thousand in Africa and Asia face the wrath of their foes". At Cairo in Egypt, between June and November 1948, several bombing attacks took place against Jews, killing several dozens of them.
" was used to distinguish between the respective attitudes of the Irgun and Haganah towards Arabs, with the latter priding itself on its adherence to principle. 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". But if it "remained a central value in education" it was "rather vague and intentionally blurred" at the practical level.
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" and during the 1948 War, the Mapam
, the political party affiliated to Palmach
, asked "a strict observance of the Jewish Purity of arms
to secure the moral character of [the] war".
When he was criticized by Mapam members for his attitude concerning the Arab refugee problem
, David Ben Gurion reminded them the events of Lydda and Ramla and the fact Palmah officers had been responsible for the "outrage that had encouraged the Arabs' flight made the party uncomfortable."
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'. Benny 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'.
According to the analysis of Yoav Gelber
, 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. Benny 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. 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.
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.'
Nadine Picaudou also 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 (...)'.
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." In Morris' first book, he states that "rapes and mutilations" occurred at Deir Yassin; but in subsequent books, Morris adds "but we don't know if this is true." 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. A study conducted forty years later based on interviews with remaining survivors concluded that only 100 to 120 were killed.
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 before all the result of a battle and not of a massacre. Nevertheless, he goes farther and on the contrary to his peers, reject the reality of the atrocities that followed the attack of the village. Nadine Picadou also nuances the events and consider that in the Palestinian historiography, 'the massacre of Deir Yassin eclipsed the battle of Deir Yassin'. Benny Morris
considers that the capture of the village, insignificant on the military point of view, can hardly be considered as a "battle".
, at Jerusalem from where it dominated several Arab quarters. On 14 April, a convoy carrying medical personnel, some injured fighters and munitions, and protected by Haganah soldiers and armoured cars, 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.
While the whole event is usually seen as a massacre, Benny Morris
considers it to have been, rather, a battle, given that there was shooting between Arab and Haganah militia and targeted a medical supply convoy headed for Mount Scopus (a hospital that ironically also treated Arab injured). He points out however that the death toll incurred by medical personal, who were unarmed, was massive and that seventy-eight people were "slaughtered".
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. According to Benny Morris, the description of this raid written by one of the soldiers "combine[s] elements of a battle and a massacre".
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 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 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.
There is a controversy among historians for the events that followed. According to Benny Morris
, at the Dahaimash 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. 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. Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that there is a confusion between two mosques. According to them, detenees 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 Dahaimash mosque. Its storming resulted in the death of 30 Arab militiamen and civilians, including elderly, women and children.
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." Benny Morris
writes that the "jittery Palmahniks massacr[ed] detenees in a mosque compound." According to Yoav Gelber
, it was a "bloodier massacre" than at Deir Yassin
. 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."
1948 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war refers to the events in the British Mandate of Palestine between the United Nations vote on the partition plan on November 30, 1947, to the end of the first Arab-Israeli war on July 20, 1949.The war is divided into two phases:...
resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and unarmed soldiers.
Background
After about 30 years of nationalist conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine between Palestinian ArabsPalestinian nationalism
Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people. It has roots in Pan-Arabism and other movements rejecting colonialism and calling for national independence. More recently, Palestinian Nationalism is expressed through the Israeli–Palestinian conflict...
and Jewish Zionists
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and while no agreement could be found between parties, the British decided to terminate the Mandate in February 1947 and on 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted the Partition of Palestine.
The vote was immediately followed by a Civil War in which Palestinian Arabs (supported by the Arab Liberation Army
Arab Liberation Army
The Arab Liberation Army , also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji...
) and Palestinian Jew
Palestinian Jew
A Palestinian Jew is a Jewish inhabitant of Palestine at various points in the region's history . Jews in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel are more commonly referred to as "Yishuv"...
s, fought against each other while the region was still fully under British rule. On 15 May 1948, a full-scale war started when Israel declared its independence and Transjordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq sent expeditionary forces to fight the Israelis.
The war caused the death of more than 20,000 people, around 1% of the population of both communities involved.
Massacres
According to the sources and to the definition, between 10 and 70 massacreMassacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
s occurred during the 1948 War
1948 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war refers to the events in the British Mandate of Palestine between the United Nations vote on the partition plan on November 30, 1947, to the end of the first Arab-Israeli war on July 20, 1949.The war is divided into two phases:...
. Esber (2009), section Massacres, Psychological Warfare and Oblitaration, pp. 355–359.
The main massacres and attacks against Jewish civilians were: the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
The Haifa Oil Refinery massacre took place on 30 December 1947. After operatives of the Zionist paramilitary organisation, the Irgun, threw a number of grenades at a crowd of 100 Arab day-labourers who had gathered outside the main gate of the then British-owned Haifa Oil Refinery looking for work,...
where 39 Jews were killed by Arab irregulars in the aftermath of an Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
attack, and the Kfar Etzion massacre
Kfar Etzion massacre
The Kfar Etzion massacre was an act committed by Arab armed forces on May 13, 1948, the day before the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel.-Background:...
where around 120-150 surrendering defenders were killed by Arab irregulars, with the participation of Arab Legion legionnaires. With 80 deaths, the Hadassah medical convoy attack
Hadassah medical convoy massacre
The Hadassah medical convoy massacre took place on April 13, 1948, when a convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and fortification supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces....
is also reported as a massacre because it included the mass killing of unarmed medical personnel by Arabs.
On the other side, "Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
troops probably murdered some 800 civilians and prisoners of war". Most of these killings and massacres occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the Second phase of the Civil War, Operation Dani, Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army forces led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji and a Syrian battalion...
and Operation Yoav
Operation Yoav
Operation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba–Hebron–Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev...
. According to Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist...
, in the context of what he calls 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."
According to Benny Morris the Israelis were responsible for 24 massacres during the war. Aryeh Yizthaki attests 10 major massacres with more than 50 victims each. Palestinian researcher Salman Abu-Sitta records 33, half of them occurring during the civil war period and Saleh Abdel Jawad
Saleh Abdel Jawad
Saleh Abd al-Jawad is a Palestinian historian. He received his PhD in Political Science from Paris X-Nanterre University in 1986 and works as Professor of History and Political Science at Birzeit University since 1981.- Publications :...
has listed 68 villages where acts of indiscriminate killing of prisoners, and civilians, where no threat was posed to Israeli soldiers, took place.
Both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm atrocities occurred in numerous villages. According to Benny Morris, the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre
Saliha
Saliha is one of the Seven Lebanese Villages that was later transferred to the British Mandate of Palestine. Originally part of the Jabal Amel district of South Lebanon, this term has been historically used to denote the homeland of Shi'a Muslims in Southern Lebanon...
with 70 to 80 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
with around 100, Lydda massacre with around 250, the Al-Dawayima massacre
Al-Dawayima massacre
On October 28, 1948, the Arab town al-Dawayima was conquered by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during the Operation Yoav. The Battalion, whose first commander was Moshe Dayan, was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces...
with hundreds and the Abu Shusha massacre with 70. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports the village's mukhtar account that 455 people were killed at al-Dawayima
Al-Dawayima massacre
On October 28, 1948, the Arab town al-Dawayima was conquered by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during the Operation Yoav. The Battalion, whose first commander was Moshe Dayan, was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces...
including 170 women and children.
Controversy surrounds the assertion that a massacre by Israelis took place at al-Tantura
Al-Tantura
Tantura was a Palestinian Arab fishing village located 8 kilometers northwest of Zikhron Ya'akov on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. It was built on the ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Dor.-Antiquity:...
.
Bombing attacks
At the beginning of the civil war, the Jewish militias organized several bombing attacks against civilians and military Arab targets. On 12 December, Irgun placed a car bomb opposite the Damascus Gate, killing 20 people. On 4 January 1948, the Lehi detonated a lorry bomb against the headquarters of the paramilitary Najjada located in JaffaJaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
's Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80. During the night between 5 and 6 January, at Jerusalem, the Haganah bombed the Semiramis Hotel that had been reported to hide Arab militiamen, killing 24 people. The next day, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing around 16. Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on February 18, killing 7 residents and injuring 45. On 28 February, the Palmah organised a bombing attack against a garage at Haifa, killing 30 people.
On 22 February 1948, supporters of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine. From as early as 1920, in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state he actively opposed Zionism, and was implicated as a leader of a violent riot...
organised, with the help of British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Using car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
s aimed at the headquarters of the Palestine Post
Palestine Post
Palestine Post is the company responsible for postal service in the parts of Palestinian territories controlled by the Palestinian National Authority.-See also:* Postage stamps and postal history of the Palestinian National Authority...
, the Ben Yehuda Street
Ben Yehuda Street
Ben Yehuda Street , known as the "Midrachov" is a major street in downtown Jerusalem, Israel. It is now a pedestrian mall and closed to vehicular traffic. The street runs from the intersection of King George Street to Zion Square and Jaffa Road...
market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively.
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.
Causes
Benny MorrisBenny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
considers that the killings and massacres occurred "[l]ike [in] most wars involving built-up areas."
During the first stage of the war, the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
The 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine lasted from 30 November 1947, the date of the United Nations vote in favour of the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the UN Partition Plan, to the termination of the British Mandate itself on 14 May 1948.This period constitutes the...
, Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
operatives had been cautioned against harming women and children but Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
[and Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
] didn't practice this distinction, while "Palestinian Arab militias often deliberately targeted civilians." Due to the fact the British Mandate was not yet over, both sides were not able to set up regular POW camps and therefore didn't take prisoners.
During the regular war, the fighting armies were more or less disciplined and "the killings of civilians and prisonners of war almost stopped, except for the series of atrocities committed by the IDF troops".
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
Atarot
Atarot was a moshav in Mandatory Palestine, north of Jerusalem along the highway to Ramallah. The village was captured and destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
, Neve Yaakov
Neve Yaakov
Neve Yaakov also Neve Ya'aqov, , is a neighborhood located in northeastern Jerusalem, north of Pisgat Ze'ev and south of al-Ram. Established in 1924 during the period of the British Mandate, it was abandoned during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
, Nitzanim
Battle of Nitzanim
The Battle of Nitzanim was a battle fought between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, on June 7, 1948...
, Gezer and Mishmar Hayarden
Mishmar HaYarden, Palestine
Mishmar HaYarden was a moshava that was established in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel during the First Aliyah. It was destroyed during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. It's Hebrew name meant Guardian of the Jordan....
. On the contrary, on 28 May, when the inhabitants and fighters of the Old City surrendered, in fear for their lives, the Transjordanian Arab Legion
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
protected them from the mob and even wounded or shot dead other Arabs.
With regard to massacres perpetrated by the IDF at the end of the war and particularly during Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army forces led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji and a Syrian battalion...
, where around 10 massacres occurred, Morris and Gelber have claimed that lack of discipline cannot explain the events. Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin....
points out the "hard feelings [of the soldiers] towards the Palestinians" and the fact that the Palestinians had not fled like in former operations. Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
thinks that they were related to a "general vengefulness and a desire by local commanders to precipitate a civilian exodus
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
".
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
Arab Liberation Army
The Arab Liberation Army , also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji...
failed to take any settlements and the Arab armies that invaded in mid-May overran fewer than a dozen Jewish settlements". 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".
Consequences
According to historians, whether deliberate or otherwise, the massacres did have a strong impact on the exodus of the Palestinian Arab population1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
. For example, the Deir Yassin massacre
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
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.
Additionally, the Deir Yassin massacre became a strong argument for the Arab states to intervene against Israel. Arab League chief Azzam Pasha is one record for starting 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'.
Against Jews of Palestine
After the Partition vote, Arab leaders threatened the Jewish population of Palestine. They spoke of "driving the Jews into the sea" and ridding Palestine "of the Zionist Plague".According to the Israeli traditional historiography, these statements reflected the Arab intentions. While Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
considers the real picture of the Arab aims to be more complex, notably because they were well aware they could not defeat the Jews, he argues that the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
was indeed threatened with extinction and feared what would happen if the Arabs won. Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin....
, 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'.
Against Jews outside Palestine
Jewish population centers in Arab countries outside Palestine also became threatened, in relation to the partition plan. On November 14, 1947, the Egyptian delegate at the United Nations stated that: 'The proposed solution might endanger a million Jews living in the Muslim countries. Partition of Palestine might create in those countries an anti-Semitism even more difficult to root out than the antisemitism which the Allies tried to eradicate in Germany'. Indeed, the UN declaration of partition, though it was generally met with by peaceful protests in Arab countries, provided the pretext for a pogrom in AdenAden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
soon after, on 2 December 1947, in which 82 Jews were killed.
The New York Times reported a memorandum of the World Jewish Congress
World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...
expressing concerns about this situation in the edition of 16 May 1948 in an article enitled : "Jews in grave danger in all Moslem lands: Nine hundred thousand in Africa and Asia face the wrath of their foes". At Cairo in Egypt, between June and November 1948, several bombing attacks took place against Jews, killing several dozens of them.
"Purity of arms"
During the conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine before the war, the criterion of "Purity of armsPurity of Arms
The code of purity of arms is one of the values stated in the Israel Defense Force's official doctrine of ethics, The Spirit of the IDF....
" was used to distinguish between the respective attitudes of the Irgun and Haganah towards Arabs, with the latter priding itself on its adherence to principle. 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". But if it "remained a central value in education" it was "rather vague and intentionally blurred" at the practical level.
In 1946, at a meeting held between the heads of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, 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" and during the 1948 War, the Mapam
Mapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
, the political party affiliated to 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...
, asked "a strict observance of the Jewish Purity of arms
Purity of Arms
The code of purity of arms is one of the values stated in the Israel Defense Force's official doctrine of ethics, The Spirit of the IDF....
to secure the moral character of [the] war".
When he was criticized by Mapam members for his attitude concerning the Arab refugee problem
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
, David Ben Gurion reminded them the events of Lydda and Ramla and the fact Palmah officers had been responsible for the "outrage that had encouraged the Arabs' flight made the party uncomfortable."
According to Avi Shlaim
Avi Shlaim
Avi Shlaim FBA is a British/Israeli historian. He is a professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy.Shlaim is especially well known as a historian of the Arab-Israeli conflict...
, "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'. Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
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'.
Events of al-Tantura
There is a controversy among historians concerning the events of al-Tantura. On the night between 22 and 23 May 1948, soldiers of the Alexandroni brigade attacked the village. The fighting caused the deaths of a few dozens of Arabs and 14 Israeli soldiers.According to the analysis of Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin....
, 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. Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
's analysis concludes that the documentation and the interviews do not prove that a massacre occurred but that the hypothesis cannot be simply dismissed. Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist...
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.
Palestinian historiography
Nadine Picaudou studied the evolution of Palestinian historiography on the 1948 war. She argues that the Deir Yassin massacreDeir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
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.'
Nadine Picaudou also 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 (...)'.
"Battles" and "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
The village of Deir Yassin was located west of Jerusalem, but its strategic importance was debatable and its inhabitants were not participants in the war. On 9 April, around 120 men from the IrgunIrgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and the Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
attacked the village in the context of the Operation Nachshon
Operation Nachshon
Operation Nachshon was an Jewish military operation during the 1948 war. Lasting from 5–20 April 1948, its objective was to break the Siege of Jerusalem by opening the Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem road blockaded by Palestinian Arabs and to supply food and weapons to the isolated Jewish community of...
. 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." In Morris' first book, he states that "rapes and mutilations" occurred at Deir Yassin; but in subsequent books, Morris adds "but we don't know if this is true." 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. A study conducted forty years later based on interviews with remaining survivors concluded that only 100 to 120 were killed.
In 2007, Israeli military historian Uri Milstein
Uri Milstein
Uri Milstein is an Israeli military historian and poet.-Biography:Uri Milstein was born in Tel Aviv to Avraham Milstein, a volunteer in the British army in World War II, and Sarah Milstein, a kindergarten teacher. He studied at Hayil school in Tel Aviv's Yad Eliyahu neighborhood, Hadassim youth...
published a controversial book, Blood Libel at Deir Yassin in which he claims that the events of Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
were before all the result of a battle and not of a massacre. Nevertheless, he goes farther and on the contrary to his peers, reject the reality of the atrocities that followed the attack of the village. Nadine Picadou also nuances the events and consider that in the Palestinian historiography, 'the massacre of Deir Yassin eclipsed the battle of Deir Yassin'. Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
considers that the capture of the village, insignificant on the military point of view, can hardly be considered as a "battle".
Hadassah medical convoy
In 1948, Hadassah hospital was located in the enclave of the Mount ScopusMount Scopus
Mount Scopus , جبل المشهد , جبل الصوانة) is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem. In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Mount Scopus became a UN protected Jewish exclave within Jordanian-occupied territory until the Six-Day War in 1967...
, at Jerusalem from where it dominated several Arab quarters. On 14 April, a convoy carrying medical personnel, some injured fighters and munitions, and protected by Haganah soldiers and armoured cars, 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
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
. 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.
While the whole event is usually seen as a massacre, Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
considers it to have been, rather, a battle, given that there was shooting between Arab and Haganah militia and targeted a medical supply convoy headed for Mount Scopus (a hospital that ironically also treated Arab injured). He points out however that the death toll incurred by medical personal, who were unarmed, was massive and that seventy-eight people were "slaughtered".
Lydda
In July 1948, the Israelis launched the Operation DannyOperation Danny
Operation Danny was an Israeli military offensive launched at the end of the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The objectives were to capture territory east of Tel Aviv and then to push inland and relieve the Jewish population and forces in Jerusalem...
to conquer the cities of Lydda
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
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. According to Benny Morris, the description of this raid written by one of the soldiers "combine[s] elements of a battle and a massacre".
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 Legionnaires
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
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 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.
There is a controversy among historians for the events that followed. According to Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
, at the Dahaimash 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. 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. Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that there is a confusion between two mosques. According to them, detenees 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 Dahaimash mosque. Its storming resulted in the death of 30 Arab militiamen and civilians, including elderly, women and children.
The deaths of July 12 are regarded in the Arab world and by several historians as a massacre. Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center...
calls it "an orgy of indiscriminate killing." Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
writes that the "jittery Palmahniks massacr[ed] detenees in a mosque compound." According to Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber
Yoav Gelber is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, and was formerly a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin....
, it was a "bloodier massacre" than at Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people...
. Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela
Avraham Sela
Avraham Sela is a scholar on the Middle East and international relations, currently the A. Ephraim and Shirley Diamond Professor of International Relations and a senior research fellow at the Harry S...
write that it was "an intense battle where the demarcation between civilians, irregular combatants and regular army units hardly existed."
Table of killings and massacres
Here is a non exhaustive table of killings or massacres that took place during the war :| Date | Event | Victims | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 December 1947 | Beit Nabala, Ramla | Convoy | |
| 18 December 1947 | Al Khisas, Safed | Villagers | 10 Arabs dead including five children |
| 30 December 1947 | Haifa Haifa Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher... Oil Refinery |
Workers | Following Irgun attack |
| 31 December 1947 | Balad al-Shaykh massacre Balad al-Shaykh massacre Balad al-Shaykh, was an Arab village, now part of the Israeli town of Nesher where a massacre was perpetrated on the night of December 31, 1947, to January 1, 1948... , Haifa |
Villagers | Following Haifa Oil Refinery massacre |
| 5 January 1948 | Jaffa Jaffa Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:... Town Hall |
--- | |
| 5 January 1948 | Semiramis Hotel bombing, Jerusalem | Civilians | |
| 8 January 1948 | Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem | Civilians | |
| 14 Feb 1948 | Sa'Sa' Sa'sa' Sa'sa was a Palestinian village, located 12 kilometres northwest of Safed that was depopulated by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war... , Safed |
Villagers | 60 Arabs killed including small children and demolished 16 houses |
| 22 February 1948 | Ben Yehuda Street Ben Yehuda Street Ben Yehuda Street , known as the "Midrachov" is a major street in downtown Jerusalem, Israel. It is now a pedestrian mall and closed to vehicular traffic. The street runs from the intersection of King George Street to Zion Square and Jaffa Road... , Jerusalem |
Civilians | Killing 58 Jewish civilians and injuring 140 |
| 13 & 16 March 1948 | Al-Husayniyya Al-Husayniyya Al-Husayniyya was a Palestinian village, depopulated in 1948.On the 13th of May 1948, Haganah paramilitary forces committed a crime by killing more than 30 children and women, which lead to the rest of people living in the village to flee and seek shelter in Lebanon and Syria.-Location:The... , District of Safed |
Villagers | 'the total death toll was put at dozens by Israeli sources |
| 9 April 1948 | Deir Yassin Deir Yassin Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews... , Jerusalem |
Unarmed fighters and villagers | Accounts vary. Arab resources: between 250-360 Arabs killed and mutilated. Israeli resources: 107 Arabs killed. |
| 13 April 1948 | Hadassah Hospital convoy, Jerusalem | Convoy | |
| 1 May 1948 | Ein al Zeitun, Safed | Villagers | |
| 13 May 1948 | Kfar Etzion Kfar Etzion Kfar Etzion is a religious Israeli settlement and kibbutz located in the Judean Hills between Jerusalem and Hebron in the southern West Bank. It has a population of 400 and falls under the jurisdiction of Gush Etzion Regional Council... , Hebron |
Unarmed prisoners | |
| 13–19 May 1948 | Abu Shusha Abu Shusha Abu Shusha was an Arab village in Palestine, 8 km southeast of Ramle which was depopulated in 1948.Abu Shusha was located on the slope of Tel Jazar, which is commonly identified with the ancient city of Gezer.... , Haifa |
Villagers | |
| 20 May 1948 | Al-Kabri Al-Kabri Al-Kabri was a Palestinian Arab town in the Galilee located northeast of Acre. It was captured by the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. In 1945, it had a population of 1,520 and a total land area of 28,729 dunams. It is near the site of Tel Kabri.-History:Al-Kabri was known... , Acre |
Villagers | |
| 23 May 1948 | Al-Tantura Al-Tantura Tantura was a Palestinian Arab fishing village located 8 kilometers northwest of Zikhron Ya'akov on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. It was built on the ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Dor.-Antiquity:... , Haifa |
Villagers | There is no consensus among historians concerning these events. However, the M.Sc. thesis that raised the accusation was revoked, and a court of law upheld an agreement according to which the author, Teddy Katz, apologized and paid the expenses for publishing the apology. |
| 11–12 July 1948 | Lydda | Civilians | |
| 24–28 August 1948 | 'Arab Suqrir, Gaza | Bedouins | "ten Arabs who tried to escape were killed." |
| 28 October 1948 | Al-Dawayima Al-Dawayima Al-Dawayima was a Palestinian town, located northwest of the city of Hebron. It is identified with the Old Testament town of Bosqat. According to a 1945 census, the town's population was 3,710, and the village lands comprised a total land area of 60,585 dunums of which nearly half was cultivable... , Hebron |
Villagers | |
| 29 October 1948 | Saf Saf, Safed | Villagers | Between 52 and 70 Arab men shot |
| 30 October 1948 | Saliha Saliha Saliha is one of the Seven Lebanese Villages that was later transferred to the British Mandate of Palestine. Originally part of the Jabal Amel district of South Lebanon, this term has been historically used to denote the homeland of Shi'a Muslims in Southern Lebanon... , Safed |
Villagers | |
| 30 October 1948 | Eilabun massacre Eilabun massacre The Eilabun massacre was committed by soldiers of Israel Defence Force during Operation Hiram on 30 October 1948. A total of 14 men from the Palestinian Christian village of Eilabun were killed, 12 of them executed by the Israeli forces after the village had surrendered... , Tiberias |
Villagers | Appears to be different from 2 November event |
| 30 October 1948 | Sa'Sa' Sa'sa' Sa'sa was a Palestinian village, located 12 kilometres northwest of Safed that was depopulated by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war... , Safed |
Villagers | |
| 31 October 1948 | Hula, Lebanon Hula, Lebanon Hula is a small village in southern Lebanon on the southern side of the Litani river near the Lebanese-Israeli borders... |
Villagers | |
| 2 November 1948 | Arab al-Mawasi, Tiberias | Bedouins | 15 Arab men taken to Eilabun and shot. |
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- Mordechai WeingartenMordechai WeingartenMordechai Weingarten was a Jewish community leader in Jerusalem during the British Mandate.Mordechai Weingarten, a long-time resident of the Old City of Jerusalem, was the mukhtar of the Jewish Quarter from 1935 to 1948. His family had lived in the courtyard of the Or HaChaim synagogue, on the way...
- 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine - 1948 Arab-Israeli War1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
- 1948 Palestinian exodus1948 Palestinian exodusThe 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
- List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- The Sons of EilabounThe Sons of EilabounThe Sons of Eilaboun is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker Hisham Zreiq , that tells the story of the Nakba in Eilaboun and Eilabun massacre, which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948...
a documentary film about the massacre in Eilabun
External links
- Benny MorrisBenny MorrisBenny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
, 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