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We know that at the very heart of Deir Yassin remembrance are the many small and personal commemorations that have always taken place around the world.
Do consider holding a commemoration for Deir Yassin. It can be as large or as small, as elaborate or as simple, as grand or as modest as you like - but do let us know so we can offer you resources and do send us a record for the archives.
Deir Yassin Day is April 9 but commemorations will be held from April 1-14
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By Khalid Amayreh
Israel has well-established traditions of murder and lies. The so-called “Jewish state,” one can safely argue, has been an ongoing crime against humanity ever since the forefathers of Zionism claimed that Palestine was a land without a people for a people without a land.
In order to achieve their pre-planned and pre-meditated goal of ethnic cleansing in Palestine, two major tools were used by the Zionists:
The first massacre committed by the Zionists took place at Balad al-Shaikh on 31 December 1947 when the Haganah stormed the village killing hundreds of women and children, most of whose corpses were found inside the houses of the village.
On 10 April 1948, the Zionist gangs raided the Arab village of Deir Yassin at 2:00 a.m. and began killing everyone within shooting range. After this they began throwing bombs inside the houses to destroy them along with everyone in them.
Menachem Begin boasts about this massacre in a book of his, where he writes, "This operation had tremendous, unanticipated results. After hearing the news of Deir Yassin, the Arabs were panic-stricken and began fleeing in terror..."
This massacre in Deir Yassin resounded throughout Palestine, and coupled with other massacres in other villages, spread panic leading to a widespread exodus of Palestinian Arabs.
On 19 July 1948, a second truce in the war was agreed upon. On 24 July 1948, and inspite of the truce, Israel launched a military operation against the three villages of Jaba, Ijzim and Ein Ghazal comprising the 'Little Triangle' about 20 kilometers south of Haifa. Units of the Golani, Carmeli and Alexandroni brigades moved in and captured the three villages on 26 July, with almost all the inhabitants being forced to leave or spontaneously fleeing eastwards while Israeli soldiers and aircraft repeatedly fired upon the fleeing refugees.
On 15 October 1948, and again inspite of the truce, Israel launched an operation against the Egyptian army in the South.
Mass murder took place in many of the towns on the southern front during the October offensive. One of the worst massacres during the offensive took place at Dawayma.
A Company of the 89th Commando Battalion, which was composed of former Irgun and Stern terrorists, took Dawayma. A veteran of the unit has published an account of the massacre. He noted that in order "to kill the children they fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one house without corpses". After murdering the children, Israeli soldiers herded the women and men into houses where they were kept without food or water. Then the houses were blown up with the helpless civilians inside.
An Israeli veteran who revealed these events stressed that "Educated and well-mannered commanders who were considered good guys" committed them. They became "base murderers and this was not in the storm of battle but as a method of expulsion and extermination..."
On 17 November, Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling told the Israeli Cabinet, "I feel that things are going on which are hurting my soul, the soul of my family and all of us here… Jews too have behaved like Nazis and my entire being has been shaken." (Michael Palumbo, The Palestinian Catastrophe, pp. xii-xiv, citing US State Dept. Files, National Archives – Washington D.C.; Davar, 6 September 1979; and Tom Segev, 1949, The First Israelis, p. 26)
Many other massacres were committed during the 1948 war and continued to be committed ever since. The list is long and includes, among many others, the massacres committed in Lydda (July 1948), Eilaboun (October 1948), Qibya (1October 1953), Kufur Qasim (October 1956), Sabra and Shatila (September 1982), al-Aqsa Mosque (October 1990), the Ibrahimi Mosque (February 1994) …
In addition to the massacres committed during the war in 1948, over 400 Arab villages were fully destroyed.
Massacres and killing of Palestinian Arabs as well as demolition of their homes are still going on to this day.
It is about time for the Arab Governments and rulers to wake up and support Palestinian struggle for Return and Restoration of Stolen Lands, Homes and Rights. Peace and Zionism are incompatible; stop this hopeless marathon of endless talks over an illusive peace.
Nizar Sakhnini, 21 April 2008
We all know Israel does not take to criticism well but it
is most livid when it comes to any reference to the
Holocaust. Is it possible that Israel’s radical response
is simply a reaction to the fact that Falk’s comments hit
too close to home?
It was not long ago that a member of Israel’s highest
political echelons made an offensive comment that could
only be construed as a direct reference to the Holocaust.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said last
February that Palestinians could face a bigger “shoah”
[the Hebrew word for Holocaust] if the rocket attacks on
Israeli territory did not cease.
Of course, Israel mopped up its media mess almost
immediately after it was spilled, saying shoah actually
means disaster and was not necessarily synonymous
with Holocaust. However, the comparison was not lost
on anyone and the statement begged the question of why
an Israeli official would handpick this word to use in
reference to the Palestinians.
The truth is that while the events of the Holocaust are
horrific beyond imagination, Israel has systematically
continued to persecute the Palestinians over the past
half century through utilizing methods of oppression
also extremely horrific. Coincidence would have it that
the same day Israel’s statements on Richard Falk were
released, Palestinians marked the anniversary of the
massacre of Deir Yassin.
On April 9, 1948 the Stern and Irgun gangs entered the
Palestinian village of Deir Yassin and massacred 100 men,
women and children. The attack, one of many carried out
by Jewish gangs in Israel’s bid to create a Jewish state in
Palestine, was also one of the most horrendous. Several
weeks before the end of the British Mandate, the Zionist
movement was in full force, scrambling to take over as
much Palestinian territory around Jerusalem as possible.
Following the massacre, which was carefully planned, Zionist
leaders justified the attack saying Deir Yassin had become a
meeting point for Arabs planning to attack the western
suburbs of Jerusalem already in Jewish hands.
The fact that over 100 people were killed in cold blood,
dozens of children orphaned and made homeless and still
other men carted out to a stone quarry following the
bloodbath only to face their death by firing squad, did not
seem to faze the Zionist leadership one bit.
Deir Yassin was, unfortunately not an isolated incident.
Jewish gangs, particularly the Haganah, Irgun and Stern
gangs, systematically shot and bombed several Palestinian
villages and locations prior to the establishment of Israel in
May that year, while the official Israeli army took on the
gruesome duty after the state’s creation. While several
massacres were later documented, some of the most
appalling include the Kufr Qassem massacre on October
29, 1956 in which nearly 50 villagers, mostly farmers
coming in from their fields to meet an Israeli imposed
curfew were gunned down by awaiting officers. One
commanding officer even yelled to his soldiers to “reap
them” before fire was opened on the unknowing farmers.
On November 3, 1956, Israeli troops entered and occupied
the Gaza Strip city and adjacent refugee camp of Khan
Younis, ostensibly on reports of “resistance groups.”
Later reports would verify that all the victims were
unarmed civilians, many who were killed from gunshot
wounds to the back while their hands were tied in front
of them. According to a subsequent UNRWA investigation,
Israeli army soldiers killed 275 Khan Younis residents
that day.
The list is undoubtedly too long to cover here. However, the
point that must be made is that Israel has, for too long, been
immune to international scrutiny for the obvious atrocities it
has and continues to commit. When Richard Falk made his
statement comparing Israel to the Nazis, he was referring to
Israel’s actions in Gaza, which he said was comparable to the
Nazis because of their collective nature.
"If this kind of situation had existed, for instance, in the
manner in which China was dealing with Tibet or the
Sudanese government was dealing with Darfur I think
there'd be no reluctance to make that comparison,"
Falk said in a BBC interview. He was also quoted as
saying that Israel has been unfairly shielded from
international criticism. To add to his credibility, it
should be noted that not only is Falk professor emeritus
of international law at Princeton University,
he is also Jewish.
So, why is it that Israel is so immune to international
scrutiny, even when its own officials slip up and admit
to a possible Holocaust against the Palestinians? Why
can Israel kill hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza over
the course of a few weeks and justify them in the name
of Israeli security?
Surely there are several factors that come into play, but
no doubt the Holocaust, in all of its horrendousness, is a
major component in Israel’s invisible shield against any
condemnation of its behavior, which would have elicited
international sanctions or even war if perpetrated by
another country.
Israel has ingeniously wrapped itself in the protective
blanket of eternal victimization as a result of the
Holocaust and has, deliberately, fashioned out of this
blanket an equally eternal immune system, which
protects it from any outside criticism. That is why
when Matan Vilnai made such a hateful statement,
the world did not react like it should have. This
listlessness on the part of the international community
is basically an acute fear of being called an anti-Semetic
or a Holocaust-denier or whatever other preposterous
name-calling Israel uses as a means of diverting attention
away from its brutality against the Palestinians. It is all
right for Vilnai to say the Palestinians could expect a
holocaust but it is completely unacceptable for a renowned
UN official to draw any comparisons between Israel and
the Nazi regime?
For Israel, the comparison is simply too close for comfort.
Just like the Jewish ghettos in Europe in the 1940s, Israel
is confining Palestinians in the West Bank to similar cantons.
Palestinians are persecuted, killed and oppressed on the
sole basis of their identity. Israel does not have gas
chambers, thank God. But it does have 500-pound bombs
that it drops on apartment buildings and kills whole families
at a time. It has carried out massacres like Deir Yassin and
Kufr Qassem with impunity. Surely, some form of comparison
is warranted.
The wall surrounding the Qalandiya Checkpoint is full of
graffiti and artwork. Some show the wall with a huge gap,
the bright blue sky on the other side. There is only one
spray-painted phrase Israel would not allow. It is no
coincidence that the chilling slogan of Nazi concentration
camps during World War II “Arbeit Macht Frei”
[Work shall set you free] was painted over almost as
quickly as it went up. Apparently, Falk was not the
only one to see the similarities.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and
Information Programme at the Palestinian Initiative
for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
(MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mip@miftah.org .
