Encountering the Nakba

Encountering the Nakba
The nakba in history Index: what is the Nakba / The Nakba in Numbers / What was Palesine like before the Nakba? / When did it happen? / How did it happen? / Preventing return / sources Note 1.

What is the Nakba? Noga Kadman, Bayt Mahsir J. Madvo , :UNRWA RL/Nahr el-Bared/1 “Nakba” is a word in Arabic that means “catastrophe” (نكبة). It refers to the destruction of the Palestinian villages and cities that existed in the area that became the state of Israel, and the expulsion of most of their Palestinian residents, in Makbula Nassar, Haifa The Nakba affected all of Palestinian society. It began on the territory in which the state of Israel was established, whose border was the Green Line. The word “Nakhsa” means “little disaster,” and refers to the events of 1967 (“The Six Day War”). Zochrot, al-Lajjun

Population of Israel/Palestine in 1947
The Nakba in Numbers Population of Israel/Palestine in 1947 Palestinians Jews 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000 900,000 1,000,000 1,100,000 900,000 600,000 This section of the slide show presents a number of topics dealing with 1948 which we usually don’t learn about or know: about life before 1948, about the Nakba and what happened afterwards. The slide aren’t intended to provide a complete, comprehensive historical account of the period, but to shed light on a number of unknown aspects of the Nakba. We depend on you, who are studying the topic, to make the connection between the story you’re familiar with and the information provided here, and supplement what you already know. We invite you to view all the information critically, including what is presented here. This slide show isn’t the final word, and that’s why what’s included here is very brief and sketchy. It’s an initial introduction to learning about and dealing with the subject of the Nakba, and you’re invited to delve into it more deeply (a list of recommended sources appears in the sections on additional readings in Unit 4 of the Study Guide as well as in other units). These figures refer to the area on which the state of Israel was founded Source: Abu Sitta, 2004.

Population of Israel/Palestine in 1949
The Nakba in Numbers Population of Israel/Palestine in 1949 1,100,000 1,000,000 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000 900,000 1,000,000 150,000 Palestinians Jews

Number of localities in Israel/Palestine in 1947
The Nakba in Numbers Number of localities in Israel/Palestine in 1947 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 700 350 Palestinians Jews

Number of localities in Israel/Palestine in 1949
The Nakba in Numbers Number of localities in Israel/Palestine in 1949 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 400 170 Palestinians Jews

The Nakba in Numbers In other words, from 1947 – 1949:
530 Palestinian localities were destroyed 800,000 residents were expelled and not allowed to return What do these numbers mean? Leave time for a brief class discussion.

What was Palestine like before the Nakba?
Towns There were twenty-nine towns in The large, mixed (Arab-Jewish) towns were Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. The large Arab towns were Nazareth, Nablus, Hebron, Ramle, Lydda and Gaza. Tel Aviv was the large Jewish town. In 1947, one-third of Palestine’s Arabs lived in towns. To understand the Nakba, we must go back in time and examine Palestinian and Jewish societies as they were during those years. This section will focus on Palestinian society in the towns and villages, and on relations between Jews and Arabs. Palestinian society was primarily agricultural, but beginning in the Ottoman period and during the British Mandate the economic, social and political center of gravity moved from the villages to the cities, which became an important component of Palestinian society. The large towns were the places which connected local society with innovations, inventions and ideas originating elsewhere, and where the Palestine national movement began. About 70,000 Arabs lived in each of the three large towns. Commerce, banking, light industry and transport economic branches developed there, as well as a rich cultural and social life. The working class and its organizations were very prominent in the towns, though cultural and political activities were conducted primarily by the middle-class bourgeoisie which established itself in the towns. ילדי בית הספר האורתודוכסי ביאפא, 1938

Towns : Jaffa Jaffa was one of the country’s most important towns. It was an economic, cultural, and political center, with a vibrant cultural and political life, and many leisure activities. At the beginning of the 19th century Jaffa was still a village, but by mid-century it had been rapidly transformed from a village into a town: it became a commercial center whose population grew from 17,000 in 1886 to 47,000 in The expansion of Jaffa’s port because of citrus exports and the opening of a railway line from Jaffa to Jerusalem, encouraged commercial development and the expansion of services to pilgrims from abroad. By the time Palestine was captured by the British Jaffa had become a multicultural center, where Christian, Moslem and Jewish communities coexisted in relative tolerance.

Towns : Jaffa Palestinians: 70,000 Jews: 30,000 Schools: 19 Pupils: 11,500 Mosques: 12 Churches: 10 Hospitals: 4 Daily newspapers: 7 Data from a 1946 survey for the UN; cf. There were many cafes in Jaffa, and a soccer club, and more movie theatres than in Tel Aviv. The town was a center of government for its Arab and Jewish inhabitants. Many Jewish and Arab neighborhoods were built nearby, and Jaffa was their metropolitan center. Up to the 1930’s, Jaffa was the most important cultural, commercial and political center. In the 1930’s the expansion of the Haifa port by the British and that town’s economic development, as well as the establishment of Ashkenazi-Jewish neighborhoods outside Jaffa, reduced its importance somewhat.

Villages Almost two-thirds of the Arab population was rural. The main source of income was agriculture. The village was led by the Mukhtar, who was usually a representative of its most important family. Most villages were independent social, political, and economic units. Most Palestinian Arabs lived in villages. Most made a living from agriculture. The villages were usually closed social and political entities, and were in large measure economically self-sufficient. Most villages were located on hilltops, and their houses were usually built of stone. Village society was organized around the individual village and the hamula [extended family]. The hamula’s power depended on how much property it owned. Land-ownership took various forms: collective; locally-owned private land; feudal holdings by absentee landlords living outside of Palestine. Most villages in 1948 acted autonomously: some resisted and fought while others chose not to fight. Groups of villages in some regions formed alliances and shared political views. חטין, צלם לא ידוע

Villages: Hittin The village of Hittin lies nine kilometers west of Tiberias, on the slopes of Mt. Hittin. Its location made it important strategically and commercially. The crucial battle of Hittin in 1187 between the crusader army and the Moslem army led by Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi took place near the village of Hittin. The village may be located on the site of the Canaanite settlement of Asadim whose name was changed to Kfar Hittin (“hittin” = wheat) in the third century BCE. The village is triangular in shape, its roads wide and gently sloping. It had a small market in the center, an elementary school and a mosque. The village’s agricultural land was fertile, and abundant seasonal rains and underground water sources contributed to a flourishing agriculture. Most of the villagers were farmers and the village economy thrived. The village had 1,190 inhabitants in 1945, 190 houses and more than 20,000 dunums of land.

Villages: Hittin Click on the small picture in order to hear the testimony of Siham Falah Shbaita, a refugee from Hittin.

Ceremony inaugurating a Jewish-Arab clinic in Kibbutz Amir, The sign reads, “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and I will reveal to them a greeting of peace and truth.” (Jeremiah 33:6) – In Hebrew. What was Palestine like before the Nakba? Palestinians and Jews The photograph may be interpreted as symbolizing the complexities of living together: on the one hand, erecting a Jewish-Arab clinic to serve all the inhabitants of the area; on the other hand, the sign on the clinic written only in Hebrew, which raises questions about the nature of the cooperation. Were the Arabs partners or only recipients of services from the Jews who erected the clinic? When we say “coexistence” (then as now), what do we mean? Does every group in a state defined by a single nation have equal status? Kibbutz Amir archive

Palestinians and Jews קלוגר זולטן, לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית Though neighborly relations and cooperation developed in many places in the country, the growing strength of the two national movements (particularly Zionism), and competition for resources led to tensions, suspicion and violence. Cooperation was also evident in the establishment of a number of joint political organizations and professional associations, mixed workplaces and commercial ties. On the other hand, Jewish land purchases led to the expropriation of Palestinian tenants and extended the policy of “Jewish labor” which excluded Palestinians from the developing labor market. Zionists viewed Palestinians with ambivalence: while they represented cultural authenticity and were considered to have preserved the country’s ancient Jewish culture, the Jews behaved arrogantly and contemptuously toward them. They saw themselves as the bearers of a superior European civilization and denigrated local Arab culture. Palestinian farmers and their Jewish neighbors in the Hula Valley, 1946.

Palestinians and Jews קלוגר זולטן, לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית Beginning in the 1920’s, there were groups and leaders in Palestine who opposed the approach of political Zionism favoring Jewish sovereignty. They believed in cooperation and equality that would be guaranteed by political arrangements, such as a binational state. Among them were Judah L. Magnes, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem, the “Brit Shalom” movement, “Agudat Ihud,” the Revisionists, the ultra-Orthodox community and others. Learning about these individuals and ideas allows us to re-evaluate familiar statements like “We have no choice,” and “We must always live by the sword,” and see that alternatives existed, and still exist today. Until the 1948 war, possibilities still existed, encouraging hopes of cooperation between Palestinians and Jews. Palestinian farmers and their Jewish neighbors in the Hula Valley, 1946.

When did it happen? The Nakba occurred primarily during 1948.
In November 1947, the UN proposed a partition plan which split the land almost equally between the Jewish and Arab sides. At this time, Jews comprised 1/3 of the local population and owned about 5% of the land. Why do you think the Arabs didn’t agree to the Partition Plan? According to the Partition Plan, the Jewish state would comprise fifty-five percent of Palestine, an area inhabited by some 500,000 Jews and almost 400,000 Palestinians. About 700,000 people, including some 10,000 Jews, lived in the area intended for the Palestinian state. The plan intended to establish two states in the country with a joint economy. The plan opposed forced relocation of populations, but its implementation would, in practice, have required uprooting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Despite some opposition by the Jewish public, the Zionist leadership accepted the proposed partition because it represented the first official recognition of a Jewish state, and because they viewed it as the most generous proposal that had yet been offered. The leadership of the Palestinians and of the Arabs rejected the UN decision because it was problematic for them and unrealistic: most of the inhabitants of the country were Palestinians, the state planned for them included less than fifty percent of the country’s land, and they would lose most of the country’s fertile regions. The Jews owned five percent of the land, and comprised one-third of the population; the Palestinians were being asked to relinquish most of the country’s territory. The balance of forces when the war began: At the end of 1947, the Jewish Yishuv possessed independent government and economic institutions. At this stage of the fighting its forces were composed of the Haganah (a semi-regular military organization) and forces belonging to organizations which had seceded from the Haganah – Etzel and Lehi. Together they numbered about 40,000 fighters who gradually became organized into army divisions. The Palestinian forces confronting them were usually irregular, fragmented and locally based. The main force was called “the Holy War Army” (its commander in the Jerusalem area was Abd Al-Qader Al-Husseini, and in Ramleh - Hassan Salameh). Volunteers from Arab countries fought alongside them, organized by the Arab League as the “Arab Army of Salvation”, commanded by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. The total number of fighters on the Palestinian side was about 10,000, most lacking military experience. The Arab Army of Salvation refused to coordinate operations with the Holy War Army.

When did it happen? When the partition plan was passed, and until March 1948, there was an escalation in violence between the two sides, such as firing on transportation routes and retaliations. However, at this time, the violence was not expressed as wholesale expulsion or clearing of Palestinian localities. There was total chaos in many regions of the country, and the turmoil increased as war neared. Violence between adjacent localities, Jewish and Arab, became more frequent. The British relaxed their control over the country as the date for their departure drew near, and fighting intensified. Between December, 1947, and March, 1948, it took the form of civil war: the populations lived near each other, the British were still in the country, and most of the Arab and Jewish forces operated as underground units. In the urban centers, and in particular in the mixed towns, the fighting became increasingly serious: bombs were thrown and there was continual shooting; Palestinians in rural areas often succeeded in blocking the roads connecting centers of Jewish settlement, leading to retaliation by Jews. But there were also attempts to limit the degree of violence – for example, villages which attempted to reach non-aggression pacts with the Jewish forces, or those which opposed the entry of outside fighters. However, as the violence increased, so did mutual suspicion, even between localities which in the past had enjoyed good relations. While there were no deliberate attempts to expel residents at this stage, the growing violence, direct attacks or fear of them and confusion in the towns resulted in the flight of some 75,000 Palestinians by February-March, 1948, most of them members of the upper- and middle-class from Jaffa, Haifa, Jerusalem and a few rural areas.

How did it happen? [From the text of Plan D]
“In the conquest of villages in your area, you will determine – whether to cleanse or destroy them – in consultation with your Arab affairs advisers and … You are permitted to restrict – insofar as you are able – cleansing, conquest and destruction operations of enemy villages in your area.” [From the text of Plan D] How did it happen? This situation changed in March 1948, when the Haganah embarked on “Plan D.” The purpose of this plan was to create territorial continuity for the Jewish side by controlling the largest possible territory with the smallest possible Arab population. To accomplish this task, Jewish military forces began a campaign to expel and destroy Arab villages. This was the beginning of the Nakba. Two months later, on 16 May 1948, the war between Israel and the Arab states began. Given this passage, what do you think was the significance of Plan D? At this stage, the Palestinian forces controlled the areas inhabited by Arabs and succeeded in cutting the roads between the large towns and isolated Jewish localities, and they appeared to be winning. An atmosphere of deep despair prevailed among Jews about what might occur after May 15, the day the British were to leave. Feelings of political and personal insecurity grew. In March, 1948, the Haganah declared an offensive strategy in order to defeat the Arab irregular forces before the Arab regular armies arrived. Implementation of Plan D began. Its aim was to eliminate actual or potential hostile elements from the area earmarked for the Jewish state, to create a continuous area of Jewish settlement and insure the future borders. Most villages were viewed as hostile because they housed irregular forces, and the Jewish forces believed that many village militias participated in operations against Jews. Plan D specified that Arab villages and towns would be captured, held or destroyed. Although the plan was not designed specifically to expel the civilian population, it provided the inspiration for expelling entire populations and destruction of localities, and served as the anchor and strategic and ideological foundation for the expulsions which were left to the discretion of the commanders in the field. The Haganah attacks carried out under the plan were aimed at a society which had already been under great pressure for many months, its strength eroding in a wearing process of attrition. By May 15, the date on which the state of Israel was declared and regular Arab forces invaded the country, the Haganah had taken large areas of the country which had formerly been under Arab control. During these months the mixed cities of Haifa, Tiberias and Jaffa were captured, as were many villages throughout the country. Many Palestinians were forced from their homes and many were expelled by Israeli military forces.

How did it happen? One of the main things we don’t know about the Nakba is how it happened. How did so many people leave their homes; how were so many expelled? (Note: continued in Slides 30-37).

How did it happen? The causes which determined the destruction of the 530 villages and cities were: Military assault by Jewish forces – 270 localities 51% Expulsion by Jewish forces – 122 localities 23% Fall of a neighboring town – 49 localities 9% Psychological warfare and fear of attack – 50 localities 9% Orders of Arab leaders – 5 localities 1% No information – 34 localities 6% (Salman Abu Sitta, 2004; Benny Morris, 1991)

How did it happen? The causes which determined the destruction of the 530 villages and cities were: Military assault by Jewish forces – 270 localities 51% Expulsion by Jewish forces – 122 localities 23% Fall of a neighboring town – 49 localities 9% Psychological warfare and fear of attack – 50 localities 9% Orders of Arab leaders – 5 localities 1% No information – 34 localities 6% In most localities (83%), the population exodus was directly caused by Israeli military action. As Israeli historian Benny Morris claims, the assertion that the Palestinian refugees left their villages because they were instructed to do so by their leaders is a myth.

How did it happen? The caused which determined the destruction of the 530 villages and cities were: Military assault by Jewish forces – 270 localities 51% Expulsion by Jewish forces – 122 localities 23% Fall of a neighboring town – 49 localities 9% Psychological warfare and fear of attack – 50 localities 9% Orders of Arab leaders – 5 localities 1% No information – 34 localities 6% Click the buttons to learn more.

Preventing Return makbula nassar Above: A fence erected by the JNF, preventing people from entering the area of the mosque in the village of Hittin. Below: Demolition of the home of the Baidas family, one of the last remnants of the village of Shaykh Muwannis (Ramat Aviv), in order to erect high-rise apartments. What do you see in the photos? Zochrot

“[Should the Jews] make an effort to bring the Arabs back to Haifa, or not [?] Meanwhile, so long as it is not decided differently, we have decided on a number of rules, and these include: We won’t go to Acre or Nazareth to bring back the Arabs. But, at the same time, our behavior should be such that if, because of it, they come back – [then] let them come back. We shouldn’t behave badly with the Arabs [who remained] so that others [who fled] won’t return.” Golda Meir, from Protocol of meeting of JAE, 6 May 1948 (In: Morris, 2004). Preventing Return During the war, the question of whether Palestinians should be allowed to return was an open one. While the Palestinians were being uprooted during the war, the question arose of what to do with the refugees. Should they be allowed to return when the war was over, or not? 1973, רון פרנקל, לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית

“(1) Destruction of villages as much as possible during military operations. (2) Prevention of any cultivation of land by them… (3) Settlement of Jews in a number of villages and towns so that no ‘vacuum’ is created. (4) Enacting legislation (5) Propaganda” From a memorandum by Yosef Weitz to Ben-Gurion, “Retroactive Transfer, A Scheme for the Solution of the Arab Question in the State of Israel” (June 5, 1948) (in: Morris, 2004, p.313). Preventing Return During the war, the question of whether Palestinians should be allowed to return was an open one. The vision of a Jewish state left little doubt about the answer: On June 16, 1948, the government had said, “they’re not returning.” This fateful decision, and measures to implement it, were a necessary condition for the establishment of a Jewish state with a large Jewish majority. However, as the war progressed, the Israeli side came to adopt a strict policy of preventing return. 1938, רודי ויסנשטיין, ארכיון קק"ל

(1) The surrender of A’jjur village in 1/10/1948.
Preventing Return (2) A JNF sign in the village, part of which was turned into “British Park.” Methods to Prevent their Return included destroying villages, settling Jews in areas formerly populated by Arabs, enacting legislation, and transforming village sites for other uses such as parks or ‘closed military zones’. Many times the Israeli Army shot Palestinians refugees while trying to return to their villages. The photos in this slide show how refugees from the village of A'jjur were prevented from returning: after they surrendered, and the village was captured, the government turned the land into a park for the JNF, which planted a grove of eucalyptus trees on the ruins of the village. The Absentee Property Law is one of the principal legal mechanisms used to prevent return of Palestinians. According to this law, everyone who in 1948 was found in enemy territory (including areas temporarily under enemy control even if, at the end of the war, they were within the country’s borders – such as Nazareth, for example) had ownership of his property transferred to the Custodian of Absentee Property – a body appointed by the state. This law had, and continues to have, wide-ranging effects on Palestinians, and it was the means by which internal refugees (Palestinians who remained within Israel’s borders, but were not allowed to return to their lands) were transformed into “present absentees” – that is, present in the country but absent from their homes and lands. (3) A eucalyptus grove planted over the village today.

Preparing presentation: Talia Fried
Sources Abu Sitta, Salman H. (2004). Atlas of Palestine London: Palestine Land Society. Khalidi, Walid. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. Sanbar, Elias. (2004). Les Palestiniens: La photographie d'une terre et de son people de 1839 a nos jours. Lucon: Hazan. Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Rvisited, Cambridge:University Press. אופיר, עדי. (1999). "שנת האפס", בתוך: 50 ל-48, תיאוריה וביקורת 12-13, מכון ון ליר. מאגנס, יהודה לייב. (1949). לקט רעיונות ואמרות. ירושלים: האוניברסיטה העברית. מוריס, בני. (2000). תיקון טעות: יהודים וערבים בארץ-ישראל, תל-אביב: עם עובד. עמותת "זוכרות". (2003). זוכרות את עין ע'זאל [חוברת]. תל-אביב. עמותת "זוכרות". (2003). סיור ושילוט בלוד. ב: שי, אהרון. (2002). "גורל הכפרים הערביים הנטושים במדינת ישראל ערב מלחמת ששת הימים ואחריה". קתדרה, 105, עמ' אתר אינטרנט: מפת החלוקה 1947, מתוך הערך "תכנית החלוקה" באתר ויקיפדיה: Preparing presentation: Talia Fried Filming & Editing movies: Raneen Jeries

Psychological warfare and fear of attack
“We, therefore, looked for a means that would not oblige us to use force to drive out the tens of thousands of hostile Arabs left in the Galilee and who, in the event of an invasion, could strike at us from behind. We tried to utilize a stratagem that exploited the [Arabs] defeat in Safad and in the area cleared by [Operation] Broom - a stratagem that worked wonderfully. I gathered the Jewish mukhtars,, who had ties with the different Arab villages, and I asked them to whisper in the ears of several Arabs that a giant Jewish reinforcement had reached the Galilee and were about to clean out the villages of the Hula, [and] to advise them, as friends, to flee while they could. And rumor spread throughout the Hula that the time had come to flee. The flight encompassed tens of thousands. The stratagem fully achieved its objective and we were able to deploy ourselves in face of the [prospective] invaders along the borders, without fear for our rear." Yigal Allon, Book of the Palmah, in Morris, 2004, p. 251 1949, טדי בראונר, לשכת העיתונות הממשלתית The Haganah and the IDF incited fear to cause Palestinian residents to leave.

They abandon the villages of their birth and that of their ancestors and go into exile… Women, children, babies, donkeys – everything moves, in silence and grief, northwards, without looking to right or left. Wife does not find her husband and child does not find his father… no one knows the goal of his trek. Many possessions are scattered by the paths; the more the refugees walk, the more tired they grow – and they throw away what they had tried to save on their way into exile. Suddenly, every object seems to them petty, superfluous, unimportant as against the chasing fear and the urge to save life and limb. -- Moshe Carmel, Commander of the Carmeli Brigade , Northern Battles, 1949 (in Morris, 2004, p.482). Expulsion A pattern of expulsion was repeated in numerous locations: After residents of the village surrendered, the village was surrounded from three sides, and the fourth was left open so that residents would leave in the direction of the neighboring Arab state. Men were separated into one group, and women, children, and the elderly in another. The latter were expelled by threats and shooting over their heads, and sometimes their valuables were also taken.

Expulsion A pattern of expulsion was repeated in numerous locations: After residents of the village surrendered, the village was surrounded from three sides, and the fourth was left open so that residents would leave in the direction of the neighboring Arab state. Men were separated into one group, and women, children, and the elderly in another. The latter were expelled by threats and shooting over their heads, and sometimes their valuables were also taken. Some of the men were killed in order to scare the others, and many were taken prisoners to war camps. At the left is a military order setting out such an instruction for the village of Hunin.

Expulsion There were also a number of areas where the population was expelled by trucks (Ramleh, Baysan, Majdal, and others).

Expulsion Click on the picture in order to watch the testimony of Marta Sosan Mahul, a refugee from Bir’em

Fall of a neighboring town
Many localities were abandoned following the fall of a neighboring village or city, as residents feared they would be defenseless against a coming attack. The fall of cities and large towns had a particularly strong effect, as the surrounding economic and social network broke down. The Deir Yassin massacre and the fall of Haifa have been identified as two key events which had an enormous effect on the expulsion and departure of Palestinians. The massacre in the village of Deir Yassin occurred on April 9, 1948, during an attack on the village by the Etzel, the Lehi and the Haganah and afterwards. More than one hundred Palestinain village residents, men, women and children, most of them unarmed, were murdered. News of the massacre spread throughout the country. “Arab propaganda campaign had sowed fear among the Arabs and the legend was worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel… Panic overwhelmed the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael… [It] helped us in particular in … Tiberias and the conquest of Haifa". Menahem Begin, The Revolt, 1964 (cited in Morris, 2004, p.239)

During the morning [the Jews] were continually shooting down on all Arabs who moved both in Wadi Nisnas and the Old City. This included completely indiscriminate and revolting machinegun fire, mortar fire and sniping on women and children sheltering in churches and attempting to get out… through the gates into the docks… The 40 [Royal Marine Commando] who control the docks… sent the Arabs through in batches but there was considerable congestion outside the East Gate of hysterical and terrified Arab women and children and old people on whom the Jews opened up mercilessly with fire. A British intelligence officer, cited in Morris, 2004, p. 191. Military assault In most cases, Jewish forces bombed the village, sometimes from the air, so that the population would flee.

They shelled the village center of Ayn Ghazzal, which had several stores and a cafe. At night the young people would take weapons and go on patrol. It was Ramadan. Every afternoon they started bombing us, when people wanted to eat. And what weapons did we have? Junk. Shoots maybe six meters high. How many rifles were there here for defense? Maybe 25 rifles. They made no preparation for the war. A few tough guys came from Ijzim and from Haifa and said “let’s fight,” but what did they have? Nothing. There was a tank at the entrance to the village. Our people ensnared them. They went down and around and shot at the wheels of the tank and it became stuck. They dragged the tank up with mules and horses. They killed the three Jews and took the tank… (from: remembering Ayn Ghazzal, Zochrot, 2003) Military assault In most cases, Jewish forces bombed the village, sometimes from the air, so that the population would flee. Less frequently, there was Arab and Palestinian military resistance, but the balance of power typically favored the Jewish side. Ali Hamoudi, who was displaced from Ayn Ghazzal, describes the situation in his village.

Military assault Hani Munib Zeid, displaced from Ayn al-Mansi
Ghosta Daqwar, Tarshicha In some cases, after the village surrendered, war crimes were committed such as massacres and rape. Click on the pictures at left to hear accounts by Palestinian residents, and by a Jewish soldier of two different military assaults. Micky Cohen, former soldier who participated in the assault on Beersheba

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