[هدى نورالدين الخطيب]

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The Massacre: On the night of 14 February 1948, a force belonging to the third “Palmach” battalion attacked the village of “Saasaa” and destroyed 20 houses over their inhabitants, though the villagers raised the white flags and offered a “sheep” to the army. The massacre resulted in killing around 60 people, most of them were women and children.


The Zionist daily “Yediot Aharonot” published on 14 April 1972 an account by the terrorist “Moshe Coleman”, commander of “Yiftah” brigade, the perpetrator of the massacre. He said: “We proceeded to work on the night of 14 February 1948 in a purely Arab area. The target was 25 kms from our base. I led 68 men armed with light weapons and explosives. We sneaked into the village from the north in order to penetrate it by surprise. We placed 35 explosive charges and withdrew under darkness. A number of women and children were injured as a result of the operation.(29)

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“Al-Quds”( Jerusalem) Massacre – 20 February 1948

The “Lehi” Stern Zionist gang stole a British army vehicle, filled it with explosives then parked it in front of al-Salaam building in Jerusalem. Its explosion killed 14 Arabs and injured 26.(30)

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“Haifa” Massacre – 20 February 1948

The Zionist invaders attacked the Arab quarters in the city of Haifa, killing 6 and injuring 36.(31)

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“Al-Hussainiyya” Massacre – 13 March 1948

Al-Hussainiyya is an Arab village in the district of “Safad”.
The Massacre : On 13/3/1948, the “Haganah” Zionist terrorist gang attacked the village, destroying its houses with explosives, killing 30 of the inhabitants.(32)

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“Abu Kabir” Massacre - 31 March 1948

The “Haganah” Zionist gangs attacked the quarter of Abu Kabir” in the city of “Jaffa”, destroyed homes and killed the inhabitants who were fleeing for safety.(33)

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“Haifa-Jaffa Train” Massacre – 31 March 1948

The “Haganah” Zionist gang blew up the Jaffa-Haifa Train” while passing near “Nataniya”, killing 40 people.(34)

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“Cairo-Haifa Train” Massacre – 31 March 1948

The “Stern” Zionist gang planted mines in the“Cairo-Haifa” express train,
killing 40 persons and injuring 60.(35)

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Al-Ramleh” Massacre – March 1948

The Zionist terrorists planned this massacre and executed it in March 1948 in the marketplace of Al-Ramleh town, where 25 Arab citizens were killed.(36)

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“Deir Yassin” Massacre – 9/10 April 1948

Deir Yassin is an Arab village about 6 kms to the west of “Jerusalem”. In 1945, its population counted 610, its area covered 12 donums, and its land area 2857 donums. The Zionist invaders occupied it on the same day of the massacre.
The Massacre: On the morning of Friday, 9 April 1948, the thugs of “Irgun” and “Stern” Zionist terrorist gangs surprised the inhabitants of Deir Yassin and attacked them without any distinction between child, woman or old people. They mutilated the bodies of the victims and threw them in the water well of the village. Most victims were women, children and old people. The British did not dare to send their troops.

The massacre was perpetrated according to a scheme orchestrated by the “Jewish Agency”, with the knowledge of the “Haganah”. The Zionists had in mind a remote objective, and they succeeded in achieving it. They planted fear and terror in all Arab villages whose people began to flee in panic. The Arab press at the time unintentionally helped in fulfilling the Zionist objective by recounting the gruesome details of the abominable, brutal crime.(37)

The force comprised 3000 terrorists, accompanied by armored vehicles.(38) Menachem Begin led the “Irgun” or “ITZL” gang, while Yitzhak Shamir led the “Stern” or Lehi gang. The commander of the attack was “Yehusha Zattler”.(39) The commander of the unit that buried the victims was called “Nishrin Shev”.(40) It was also said that the commander of the attack was “Labidot”.(41) The massacre lasted for 13 hours, that is, until noon of Saturday, 10 April 1948.(42) There were conflicting reports about the number of victims. Some reports estimated them at between 87 and 256, others estimated them at 300, and others at over 100. The Red Cross discovered on 10 April the bodies of 254 men, women and children.(43) Twenty-five pregnant women were massacred, as well as 25 children under ten. At least half of the victims were women and children.(44)
The methods used in perpetrating the massacre included, inter alia, lining the men against the wall and firing at them.(45) Each time the killers occupied a house, they would blow it up. Whole families were lined against the wall and shot dead with rifles... Young girls were raped … A pregnant woman was butchered first, then they slit open her abdomen with a butcher’s knife … A small girl tried to take the embryo but was shot dead… Some of the “Irgun” gang dismembered the bodies into pieces… The hands and ears of women were cut off or chopped, in order to steal their bracelets, rings or earrings… Limbs of children were cut …and the killers destroyed a children’s school completely and killed the schoolteacher.

Reserve Colonel “Meir Baeel”, who was in the ranks of the “Irgun” on the day of the massacre, described what he saw. He said in the Zionist daily Yediot Aharonot on 4 April, 1972: “After the fire stopped, it was noontime, the attackers began clearing up the houses. They took out 25 men and transported them in a truck; and we paraded in the Jewish quarter of “Mahaneh”. At the end of the tour, they were brought to the stone quarry between “Gafaat Shaoul” and “Deir Yassin” and were murdered in cold blood.(47)

The Deir Yassin massacre accelerated the departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, only a few weeks prior to the creation of the Zionist entity on 15 May, 1948.(48)

The terrorist “Menachem Begin”, leader of the “Irgun” Zionist terrorist gang, which perpetrated the massacre, said: “A wave of indignation swept throughout the Arab countries and the entire world for what they called the ‘Jewish massacres’. This Arab propaganda was meant to distort our reputation, but produced for us much good. Fear pervaded the hearts of the Arabs. The village of ‘Kalonia’, which used to repel the continuous ‘Haganah’ attacks, was deserted by its inhabitants overnight and surrendered without any fight. The inhabitants of ‘Beit Iksa’ fled too; this village and ‘Kalonia’ were overlooking the highway. By falling and with the occupation of ‘Al-Kastal’, the Jewish forces were able to control the road to Jerusalem … In many other places, the Arabs were fleeing without clashing with the Jews in any fight. The Deir Yassin legend helped us keep ‘Tiberias’ and occupy ‘Haifa’”.(49)

Listed below are the names of the victims of the DeirYassin massacre whose names were known:(50)

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