Long Live Palestine - http://listen.to/Long_Live_Palestine

LEST WE FORGET
By: Nizar Sakhanini

In his address to the Knesset on 4 October 1999, the Israeli PM, Ehud Barak,
regretted "the heavy suffering that the conflict has caused, not only to us
but to all the Arab nations that have fought against us, including the
Palestinian people." He went on to state that when peace is attained
Israel would be ready to take part in an effort to heal the wounds of war.
Such efforts, however, should be "based on good will, friendship and
neighborliness - but not, under any circumstances, based on a feeling of
guilt or responsibility for the emergence of the conflict and its results, a
conflict we did not want and which we did much to prevent [sic]."

Speaking in the Knesset three months earlier, Barak said he "recognized the
suffering of the Palestinian people" but refrained from any expression of
regret, and added: "There is no point in settling accounts for historical
mistakes."

Accordingly, while Barak is trying to express sympathy, he does not admit
any responsibility on the part of Israel. Moreover, Barak wants the
Palestinians to forget history.

What Barak and the Zionists don't understand is that they cannot get away
with the injustice done to the Palestinians. We may forgive, provided
justice is served and responsibilities for the attocities committed is
acknowledged, but we will never forget.

A summary of what happened in October 1948 in the southern part of Palestine
is given below. At the time of the Israeli offensive a truce was in place
as ordered by the Security Council as of 19 July 1948. Not only the
Israelis ignored the truce, they committed an appalling and barbaric
massacre against civilians in the Palestinian village of Dawayma.

1948, Oct. 15:
Operation Ten Plagues (later renamed Operation Yoav) was launched against
the Egyptians in the southern part of Palestine. The operation was approved
at a Cabinet session on 6 October 1948.

An Israeli convoy of 16 trucks heading for the Jewish settlements was fired
on as it passed through the Egyptian positions. Several of the lead
vehicles burst into flames. The Israelis promptly blamed the Egyptians
although UN reports indicate that the Jews themselves had blown up the
trucks, so as to have a pretext for renewing combat.

Their numerically superior army launched the Israeli attack against the
poorly equipped Egyptians. The new Israeli Air Force took a heavy toll of
the Egyptian positions in the Negev and the Sinai desert. Israeli commander
Yigal Allon's principal goal was the Faluja crossroads, the junction
controlling the highway net into the Negev desert. Here, the Egyptian 4th
Brigade held out against an encircling Israeli force. Elsewhere in the
Negev, Egyptian resistance collapsed. In town after town, the advancing
Israelis expelled the Arab civilian population.

The UN made an attempt to halt the Israeli offensive. On 19 October, the
Security Council requesting a cease-fire passed a resolution. The Egyptians
immediately agreed but the Israelis wished to keep the offensive going until
they had taken all of their objectives. By the time a truce finally settled
over the desert during the last days of October, the Israelis had conquered
almost the entire Negev region. The Egyptians suffered heavy losses and
were pushed out of the central southern sector. An Egyptian brigade was
trapped in the Faluja enclave inside the new Israeli front line. Jordanian
troops did not try to help the Egyptians. They took advantage of the
situation and occupied Bethlehem and Hebron, which were evacuated by the
Egyptians. (Michael Palumbo, The Palestinian Catastrophe, pp. x - xi).

Mass murder took place in many of the towns on the southern front during the
October offensive. The Israelis knew from previous experience that news of
the atrocities would hasten the flight of the Palestinians. One of the
worst massacres during the offensive took place at Dawayma.

The American Consul in Jerusalem, William Burdett, had heard about the visit
of the UN team to Dawayma. After making inquiries, on 6 November, he
reported to Washington, "Investigation by UN indicates massacre occurred but
observers are unable to determine number of persons involved". Estimates
vary considerably but probably about 300 Arab civilians were slaughtered in
the town.

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, the Jewish 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.

The conscience-stricken 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. The fewer Arabs
who remained, the better."

Members of the Israeli government knew what had happened at Dawayma and
other towns in the Negev but most were unconcerned. However, one Israeli
leader had a conscience. On 17 November, Agriculture Minister Aharon
Zisling told the Cabinet, "I feel that things are going on which are hurting
my soul, the soul of my family and all of us here." Probably referring to
Dawayma, he added, "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).

1948, Oct. 19:
The Harel and Etzioni Brigades launched a simultaneous and complementary [to
Operation Yoav] attack, Operations "Yekev" and "Ha'har" (hill) and captured
a string of villages in the southern half of the Jerusalem corridor from the
Egyptians. Thousands of the inhabitants of the area fled to the Hebron
Hills. (Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,
1947-1949, p. 217)

1948, Oct. 21:
The 8th Brigade's 89th Battalion, the Palmach's 7th Battalion and the Negev
Brigade's 9th Battalion conquered Beersheba. Before, during and immediately
after the conquest most of the town's population fled eastwards, towards the
Hebron hills; a few went to Gaza.

On 25 October, the remaining population, were expelled to the Gaza Strip.
About 100 able-bodied civilian males were left in the town to help in the
clean up and other work, before being transferred to a POW camp. The town
was thoroughly looted by the occupying troops. (Benny Morris, The Birth of
the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, p. 221)


KAFR QASEM - 29 October 1956

As planned with Britain and France, Israeli forces over-ran Gaza on their
way across Sinai to the Suez Canal on 29 October 1956. They expected that
their occupation of Gaza would be permanent. Long-term contracts with local
industry were signed, Arabic-speaking Jews were brought in to supervise the
educational system, and a Municipal Council of local notables willing to
collaborate was set up. During the occupation in 1956, the Israelis
displayed incredible brutality toward the population of the Gaza Strip.
Many hundreds of civilians were murdered in an apparent effort to force the
refugees to flee. (Michael Palumbo, Imperial Israel, p. 30)

One of the most horrible massacres committed in cold blood against innocent
and defenseless civilians took place in Kafr Qasem on the eve of the assault
against Egypt. It was intended to cause panic and trigger flight across the
borders in a replicate to what happened in 1948 when the massacre of Deir
Yassin was committed while Plan Dalet was taking place.

The innocent victims, including women and children, were farmers coming back
from the field not aware that a curfew had been imposed on their village and
neighboring Arab communities. The curfew was declared at 4:30 P.M. to take
force at 5:00 P.M. Explicit orders were given to the soldiers "to shoot to
kill all who broke the curfew...there shall be no arrests". Hadashot
established that the slaughter was carried out against the background of a
plan devised by the Israeli army on the eve of the 1956 war - Hafarferet.
It was intended to create panic and cause the inhabitants of the area to
flee across the borders. A Border Guard battalion of the IDF carried out
the massacre. Major Shmuel Malinki and Lieutenant Gabriel Dahan were found
guilty of the killings and sentenced to 17 and 15 years respectively. The
punishment did not fit the crime. Nevertheless, the convicted men were
pardoned and released from prison within 3 years from the massacre. The
Jewish Agency gave Dahan a job as manager of the sale of Israel's government
bonds in a European capital. Malinki, who was stripped of his rank by the
court, was reinstated by Ben-Gurion. Malinki's widow, Nehama, revealed many
years later that while the trial was in progress her husband was released
from prison to meet Ben-Gurion who told him that he was a "living victim of
the state", and pleaded with him not to reveal orders he was given by his
superiors lest this implicate the cabinet and the general staff, and that he
was promised an early release and reinstatement. The PM offered Malinki a
very important post: security officer of the new, top secret nuclear plant
at Dimona, in the Negev. Malinki talked about a message he had received
from Ben-Gurion, in which he had been requested to maintain silence in
return for being granted a pardon. In spite of the special treatment he had
received, Malinki remained until his death in 1978 very bitter at the fact
of having been brought to trial in the first place and having been made a
scapegoat for the state's plans toward the Israeli Arabs.

The attack against Egypt was also exploited to carry out another mass
expulsion of Israeli Arabs across the northern border into Syria. This
episode, involving the expulsion of 2,000 - 5,000 inhabitants of the two
villages Krad al-Ghannamah and Krad al-Baqqarah, to the south of Lake Hulah,
was revealed by Yitzhak Rabin in his "Service Notebook". Rabin was the
Commanding Officer of the Northern Command at the time. (For more details,
see: Nur Masalha, A Land Without a People: Israel, Transfer and the
Palestinians 1949 - 96, London: Faber and Faber ltd., 1997, pp. 21 - 33)