View source for Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war

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During the [[1948 Palestine war]], massacres and acts of terror were conducted by and against both sides. A campaign of massacres and violence against the Arab population, such as occurred at [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle|Lydda and Ramle]] and the [[Battle of Haifa (1948)|Battle of Haifa]], led to the [[1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight|expulsion and flight of over 700,000 Palestinians]], with [[Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel|most of their urban areas being depopulated and destroyed]]. This violence and dispossession of the Palestinians is known today as the [[Nakba]] ([[Arabic]] for "the disaster").<ref name="refugees">
*{{cite book |first=Benny |last=Morris |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA602 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited |pages=602–604 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |quote=It is impossible to arrive at a definite persuasive estimate. My predilection would be to opt for the loose contemporary British formula, that of 'between 600,000 and 760,000' refugees; but, if pressed, 700,000 is probably a fair estimate}}
*{{cite book |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1949v06&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=973 |title=Memo US Department of State, 4 May 1949 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712104802/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1949v06&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=973 |archive-date=12 July 2019 |series=[[Foreign Relations of the United States (book series)|Foreign Relations of the United States]] |year=1949 |page=973 |quote=One of the most important problems which must be cleared up before a lasting peace can be established in Palestine is the question of the more than 700,000 Arab refugees who during the Palestine conflict fled from their homes in what is now Israeli occupied territory and are at present living as refugees in Arab Palestine and the neighbouring Arab states.}}
*{{cite book |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1949v06&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=984 |title=Memorandum on the Palestine Refugee Problem, 4 May 1949 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712104751/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1949v06&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=984 |archive-date=12 July 2019 |series=[[Foreign Relations of the United States (book series)|Foreign Relations of the United States]] |year=1949 |page=984 |quote=Approximately 700,000 refugees from the Palestine hostilities, now located principally in Arab Palestine, Transjordan, Lebanon and Syria, will require repatriation to Israel or resettlement in the Arab states.}}</ref>
==Background==
{{Main|Arab–Israeli conflict|1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|1948 Arab–Israeli War}}
After about 30 years of conflict in [[Mandatory Palestine]] between [[Palestinian people|Palestinian Arabs]], the [[British Mandate-Palestine|British authorities]] and [[Palestinian Jews]], the British decided in February 1947 to terminate the Mandate and, on 29 November 1947, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted Resolution 181 (II) recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan of [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|partition of Palestine]].
The vote was rejected by the Arab parties, and was immediately followed by a [[1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]] between Palestinian Arabs who were supported by the [[Arab Liberation Army]] against the Palestinian Jews, while the region was still fully under British rule.
The day after the vote, Arabs launched attacks against the Jews, killing 126 of them during the first two weeks and 75 were massacred in a refugee camp in [[Aden]] as a retaliation. In Jerusalem, attacks targeted Jewish businesses and residents of Jewish neighborhoods, some of whom were stabbed in the street or murdered on buses. Jews were also attacked in Arab neighborhoods. In the Kibbutz of [[Gvulot]], six Jewish teenage girls were murdered.<ref name="gilbert">Martin Gilbert, Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2005.</ref> In major cities, snipers (including mercenaries) fired at Jewish pedestrians and traffic. The [[Carmel Market]] was also attacked and grenades were thrown in the Jewish quarters.<ref>Itamar Radai, Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1948: A Tale of Two cities, 2015</ref> Across the country, Jewish cars were the target of [[stone throwing]], while the consulates of Poland and Sweden, which voted in favor of partition, were attacked.<ref name="karsh">Efraim Karsh, The Arab-Israeli conflict: The Palestine war 1948 ,2008</ref> In December 1947, one of the striking images remains the attack on the new [[Mamilla Mall]].<ref name="karsh"/>
On 15 May 1948, following the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]] the previous day, the armies of a number of Arab countries invaded what had just ceased to be Mandatory Palestine, turning the conflict into the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. The [[yishuv]] ( now officially called [[Israel]]) suffered between 5,700 and 5,800 casualties.<ref name="Morris406">Morris (2008) p.406</ref> The death toll on the [[Arab people|Arab]] side is unclear, but according to [[Benny Morris]], it might have been slightly higher or much higher than the Jewish one. In his book, Morris mentions an estimate of 12,000 provided by [[Haj Amin al-Husseini]] in 1950.<ref name="Morris406"/> These numbers amount to around 1 percent of the population of each side.<ref name=Morris2008p404>Morris 2008, pp. 404-06.</ref>
==Massacres==
According to several historians, between 10 and 70 [[massacre]]s occurred during the [[1948 Palestine war|1948 war]].<ref name=Morris2008p404/><ref>[[Saleh Abdel Jawad|Jawad]] (2007), ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War'', in E. Benvenisti & al, ''Israel and the Palestinian Refugees'', Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York: Springer, pp. 59-127</ref><ref>Esber (2009), section ''Massacres, Psychological Warfare and Oblitaration'', pp. 355–59.</ref> According to [[Benny Morris]] the Yishuv (or later Israeli) soldiers killed roughly 800 Arab civilians and prisoners of war in 24 massacres.<ref name=Morris2008p404/> [[Aryeh Yizthaki]] list 10 major massacres with more than 50 victims each.<ref name="Esber 2009, p.356">Esber (2009), p. 356</ref> Palestinian researcher [[Salman Abu Sitta|Salman Abu-Sitta]] lists 33 massacres, half of them occurring during the civil war period.<ref name="Esber 2009, p.356"/> [[Saleh Abdel Jawad]] lists 68 villages where acts of indiscriminate killing of prisoners, and civilians took place, where no threat was posed to Yishuv or Israeli soldiers.<ref name="Zionist Massacres pp. 59-127">[[Saleh Abdel Jawad]] (2007), ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War'', in E. Benvenisti & al, ''Israel and the Palestinian Refugees'', Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York : Springer, pp. 59-127</ref>
The main massacres and attacks against Jewish civilians were the [[Haifa Oil Refinery massacre]] where 39 Jews were killed by Arab workers after [[Irgun]] members had thrown a bomb into the crowd and the [[Kfar Etzion massacre]] where around 120-150 residents and defenders were killed by Arab irregulars, according to some accounts with the participation of Arab Legion soldiers. The [[Hadassah medical convoy massacre]], with 80 deaths,  included the mass killing of medical personnel by Arabs.<ref name=Morris2008p404/><ref>Gelber (2006), pp. 21, 77.</ref><ref>Karsh (2002), pp. 33, 44, 51</ref>
According to [[Rosemarie Esber]], both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm killings occurred in numerous Arab villages.<ref name="Esber 2009, p.356"/> Most of these killings occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the [[1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|Second phase of the Civil War]], [[Operation Dani]], [[Operation Hiram]] and [[Operation Yoav]].<ref name=Morris2008p404/><ref>Esber (2009), p.356 referring to [[Aryeh Yitzhaki]], Israeli historian who served as director of the IDF archives who stated : "In almost every conquered village (...), Zionist forces committed war crimes such as indiscriminate killings, massacres and rapes."</ref> Morris said that the "worst cases" were the [[Saliha#1948 war and aftermath|Saliha massacre]] with 60 to 70 killed, the [[Deir Yassin massacre]] with around 112, [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle#Massacre in Lydda|the Lydda massacre]] with around 250, the [[Tantura massacre]] with between 40 and 200+,<ref name=Morris2008p404/><ref>Pappé (2006), pp.133-137</ref><ref>Gelber (2006), Appendix III - ''Folklore versus History. The Tantura Blood Libel'', pp. 319-27.</ref> and the [[Abu Shusha massacre]] with 60–70.<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=380986|title=Interview with Benny Morris by Ari Shavit in Ha'aretz on September 1st 2004|website=Haaretz}}</ref> In [[Al-Dawayima]], accounts of the death toll vary. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports 100-200 casualties,<ref name="Zionist Massacres pp. 59-127"/> Morris has estimated "hundreds"<ref name="haaretz.com"/> and also reports the IDF investigation which concluded 100 villagers had been killed.<ref name="Morris_2008">[[Benny Morris]] (2008), ''1948: An History the First Arab-Israeli War'', p. 333.</ref> [[David Ben-Gurion]] gave the figure of 70–80.<ref>Morris, 2004, p. 469–470.</ref> [[Saleh Abd al-Jawad]] reports on the village's mukhtar account<ref>Pappé (2006), p. 196.</ref> that 455 people were missing following the [[al-Dawayima massacre]], including 170 women and children.<ref name="Zionist Massacres pp. 59-127"/>
==Bombing attacks==
At the beginning of the Civil War, Jewish militias organized several bombing attacks against civilians and military Arab targets. On 12 December 1947, the Irgun placed a car bomb opposite the [[Damascus Gate]], the main entrance to the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]] of Jerusalem, killing 20 people.<ref name="Karsh 2002, p.32">Karsh (2002), p. 32</ref> On 4 January 1948, the Lehi detonated a lorry bomb against the headquarters of the paramilitary [[al-Najjada]] located in [[Jaffa]]'s Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80.<ref name="Karsh 2002, p.32"/><ref>[[Yoav Gelber]], 'Palestine 1948', p. 20; The Scotsman newspaper, 6 January 1948; Walid Khalidi states that 25 civilians were killed, in addition to the military targets. 'Before Their Diaspora', 1984. p. 316, picture p. 325; Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949', Cambridge University Press, p. 46.</ref>
During the night between 5 and 6 January, in [[Jerusalem]], the Haganah bombed the [[Semiramis Hotel bombing|Semiramis Hotel]] that had been reported to hide Arab militiamen, killing 24 people.<ref>Benny Morris, ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', p. 123.</ref> The next day, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb<ref>Larry Collins/Dominique Lapierre, 'O Jerusalem'.History Book Club Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1972. p. 135: 'two fifty-gallon oil drums packed tight with old nails, bits of scrap iron, hinges, rusty metal filings. At their center was a core of TNT...'</ref> into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the [[Jaffa Gate]], killing 20.<ref>Collins/Lapierre. Page 138: 17 killed</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The faithful city: the siege of Jerusalem, 1948|first=Dov|last=Joseph|author-link=Dov Yosef|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1960|lccn=60-10976|oclc=266413|url=https://archive.org/details/thefaithfulcity0000unse/page/56/mode/2up|url-access=registration|page=56|quote=It killed fourteen Arabs and wounded forty others.}}</ref><ref>[[The Scotsman]], 8 January 1948: 16 killed, 41 injured.</ref><ref>Palestine Post, 9 January 1948, p.1: "Jaffa Gate toll reaches 20".</ref> Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on 18 February, killing 7 residents and injuring 45.<ref>Embassy of Israel, London, website. 2002. Quoting Zeev Vilnai - 'Ramla past and present'.</ref> On 28 February, the [[Palmach]] organised a bombing attack against a garage in [[Haifa]], killing 30 people.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem revisited'', p. 221.</ref>
From 1 February 1948, supporters of Amin al-Husseini 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 ''[[The Jerusalem Post|Palestine Post]]'', the [[Ben Yehuda Street (Jerusalem)|Ben Yehuda Street]] market and the backyard of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]]'s offices, killing 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively.<ref>[[Yoav Gelber]] (2006), p. 24</ref><ref>[[Efraïm Karsh]], 2002, p.36.</ref><ref>Scotsman 24 February 1948: 'Jerusalem (Monday) - The 'High Command' of the Arab military organisation issued a communique to the newspapers here to-day claiming full responsibility for the explosion in [[Ben Yehuda Street (Jerusalem)|Ben Yehuda Street]] on Sunday. It was said to be in reprisal for an attack by Irgun at [[Ramla|Ramleh]] several days ago.'</ref>
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 Maritima|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.<ref>''The Palestine Post'', 1 April 1948</ref><ref>''New York Times'', 1 April 1948</ref>
==List of killings and massacres==
Here is a non-exhaustive list of killings and massacres that took place during the war:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Date
!Event
!Perpetrators
!Victims
!Notes
|-
! 30 November 1947
| [[Fajja bus attacks]]
| Palestinian irregulars
| 7 Jewish people
| One attack killed 5, and another killed 2
|-
! 11/12 Dec 1947
| Attack on [[Balad al-Shaykh]]
| [[Haganah]]
| 6 Palestinians
| {{refn|Morris 2004, "The first large Haganah reprisal, against the village of Balad al Sheikh, just east of Haifa, took place on 12 December (six Arabs were killed)"}}{{efn|Date of December 11 given in Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War}}
|-
! 11–12 December 1947
| Attack on [[Tirat Haifa]]
| [[Irgun]]
| 13 Palestinians
| {{refn|Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "On 11 and 12 December 1947, the village of Tieret Haifa suffered a terror attack."}}{{refn|Ilan Pappé, 2006, ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine''. "massacre in Tirat Haifa on 11 December 1947", "The Irgun bombarded it ''[Tirat Haifa]'' as early as December 1947, killing thirteen people, mainly children and the elderly. After the shelling a raiding party of twenty Irgun members approached and began firing at an isolated house on the edge of the village."}}
|-
! 13 December 1947
| Attack on [[Al-'Abbasiyya|Al-'Abbasiyya / Yahudiya]]
| [[Irgun]]
| Unknown. The New York Times reported the following day that seven Palestinian villagers were killed
| <ref>Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War.</ref><ref>Walid Khalidi, 1992, ''All That Remains''; {{ISBN|0-88728-224-5}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes14Dec1947">[http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/12/14/87565211.html?pageNumber=1 Irgun Attacks in Palestine: 21 Arabs, 3 Jews Are Slain] NY Times, December 14, 1947</ref>
|-
! 18 December 1947
| [[Al-Khisas massacre]]
| [[Palmach]]
| 10-15 Palestinian villagers, including 5 children
| {{refn|Pappé 2006, "Fifteen villagers, including five children, were killed in the attack."}}{{refn|Benny Morris, ''1948 and After'' (1990), "ten Arab civilians, including five children"}}<ref name="khalidi">All That Remains, [[Walid Khalidi]]; {{ISBN|0-88728-224-5}}, pp, 465, 491, 546, quoting ''New York Times''</ref>
|-
! 29 December 1947
| [[Damascus Gate]] bombing
| Irgun
| 15-17 Palestinians
| {{refn|John Bowyer Bell, 1977, ''Terror out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine Underground, 1929–1949'', "Irgun attempts at retaliation were brutal, ruthless, and ineffectual. On December 29, a bomb at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem detonated in the midst of a crowd. Fifteen Arabs were killed and over fifty wounded."}}{{refn|Bose, Sumantra. Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka. Harvard University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pncnv2. "On 29 December 1947, Irgun men hurled grenades into an Arab crowd gathered at the Nablus Gate to Jerusalem's old city, killing seventeen"}}
|-
! 30 December 1947
| Attack at Haifa Oil Refinery
| Irgun
| 6 Palestinians
| Grenades thrown into a crowd of Arab workers outside the Haifa Oil Refinery. Attack precipitates the [[Haifa Oil Refinery massacre]].
|-
! 30 December 1947
| [[Haifa Oil Refinery massacre]]
| Mob of Palestinian workers
| 39-41 Jewish workers
| Jewish workers of the Haifa Oil Refinery killed by Arab co-workers after Irgun bombing.
|-
! 31 December 1947
| [[Balad al-Shaykh massacre]], Haifa
| [[Palmach]]
| Between 60 and 70 Palestinian villagers
| Retaliation for the [[Haifa Oil Refinery massacre]]. The raiding unit's orders were to 'kill maximum adult males.'<ref>Morris (2004), p. 101</ref>
|-
! 4 January 1948
| Bombing at [[Jaffa]] 'Saraya' building
| [[Irgun]]
| 26 Palestinians
| {{refn|Flapan, S. (1987) ''The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities''. "On January 4, 1948, the Irgun used a car bomb to blow up the government center in Jaffa, killing twenty-six Arab civilians.}}{{refn|Pappé 2006, "In the first week of January alone the Irgun executed more terrorist attacks than in any period before. These included detonating a bomb in the Sarraya house in Jaffa, the seat of the local national committee, which collapsed leaving twenty-six people dead."}}{{refn|Walid Khalidi, 1984, ''Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876–1948'', "January 4: Irgun uses car bomb to blow up Grand Serai (government center) in Jaffa, killing 26 Palestinian civilians."}}
|-
! 5 January 1948
| [[Semiramis Hotel bombing]], Jerusalem
| [[Haganah]]
| 24-26 Palestinians and 1 foreign diplomat
| <ref>Morris (2004) p.103</ref>
|-
! 7 January 1948
| Bomb attack at [[Jaffa Gate]], Jerusalem
| [[Irgun]]
| 25 Palestinians
| {{refn|Flapan, S. (1987) ''The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities''. "On January 4, 1948, the Irgun used a car bomb to blow up the government center in Jaffa, killing twenty-six Arab civilians. Three days later, they planted explosives at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, and another twenty-five Arab civilians were killed.}}
|-
! 14-15 Feb 1948
| [[Sa'sa' massacre]], Safed
| [[Palmach]]
| 60 Palestinian villagers
| 60 Arabs killed inside their houses, including small children; 16 houses were demolished. Considered a model raid by Israeli forces.<ref>Benvenisti, 2000, p. 107</ref>
|-
! 22 February 1948
| [[Ben Yehuda Street bombings|Ben Yehuda Street bombing]], Jerusalem
| British deserters and Arab irregulars
| 49 to 58 Jewish civilians
| Killing 49 to 58 Jewish civilians and injuring 140. Arab High Command took responsibility, imploring the Jewish community to stick to the rules of war.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qf6AAAAAQBAJ|title=Social Mobilization in the Arab/Israeli War of 1948: On the Israeli Home Front|last=Naor|first=Moshe|date=2013-08-21|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136776489|page=140|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wwPNjSnxcYC&q=ben%2520yehuda%2520bombing%25201948%2520civilians&pg=PA113|title=Encyclopedia of Terrorism|last=Chalk|first=Peter|date=2012-11-01|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313308956|page=113|language=en}}</ref>
|-
! 3 March 1948
| Car-bombing in Haifa
| Lehi
| 11 Palestinians
| {{refn|Bose, Sumantra. Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka. Harvard University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pncnv2. "On 3 March a Stern Gang car bombing in Haifa killed eleven Arabs"}}{{additional citation needed|date=October 2024}}
|-
! 11 March 1948
| Bomb attack at [[Jewish Agency]] headquarters in Jerusalem
| Arab forces
| 13 Jewish non-combatants
| <ref name="RAABIC">{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Martin|title=Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict|year=2005|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=0415359015}}</ref><ref>Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, ''O Jerusalem!'' (1971)</ref>
|-
! 12–13 March 1948
| Attack on [[al-Husayniyya, Safad]]
| [[Palmach]]
| 15 Palestinian villagers per [[Walid Khalidi]]{{refn|Khalidi 1992, p.456 "Fifteen Arabs were killed and twenty wounded"}}
| Attack by [[Palmach]]'s Third Battalion.<ref>Khalidi 1992, p. 456</ref>{{efn|Morris 2004, "a Palmah strike against Husseiniyya on the night of 12–13 March. A number of houses were reportedly blown up and several dozen Arabs, who included members of an Iraqi volunteer contingent and women and children, were killed and another 20 wounded."}}
|-
! 16–17 March 1948
| Attack on [[al-Husayniyya, Safad]]
| [[Palmach]]
| Unknown. Estimates range from "dozens" to 30+
| Attack by [[Palmach]]'s Third Battalion.{{efn|Khalidi 1992, p.456, "on 16–17 March, "more than 30 Arab adults (excluding women and children) were killed" in another attack on al-Husayniyya, according to a report filed by a Palmach battalion. The total death toll was put at dozens by Israeli sources, and the village was said to have been abandoned by all its residents, who "fled across the border.""}}
|-
!18 March 1948
|Attack in [[Acre, Israel|Acre]]
|Arabs
|5 British soldiers and 4 Jewish civilians
|Arabs attacked and killed four Jewish workers for an electric cable company along with five members of a British military convoy who had been escorting them to the city.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
|-
! 31 March 1948
| [[Cairo–Haifa train bombings 1948|Cairo–Haifa train bombing]]
| [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]]
| 40 Palestinians killed, 60 injured
| {{refn|[[Nur Masalha]], 1992, ''Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought, 1882-1948''. "The [[Stern Gang]]'s blowing up of the Cairo-Haifa passenger train (forty Arab civilians killed, sixty injured) in March 1948"}}
|-
! 9 April 1948
| [[Deir Yassin massacre]], Jerusalem
| [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], supported by [[Palmach]]
| 93-140 Palestinian villagers
|
|-
! 12 April 1948
| Attack on [[Nasr al-Din, Palestine|Nasr al-Din]]
| [[Golani Brigade]]
| Unknown. At least 12-20 Palestinians
| {{refn|Morris 2004, "On the 12th, a company of the 12th Battalion, Golani Brigade, attacked and captured the small tenant farmer village of Khirbet Nasir ad Din", "The Haganah recorded 22 Arabs killed, six wounded and three captured (Haganah casualties were two lightly wounded). The Arabs subsequently alleged that ‘there had been a second Deir Yassin’ in Nasir ad Din – and, indeed, some non-combatants, including women and children, were killed."}}{{refn|Jawad, S.A. (2007). ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War''. "12 April 1948: Nasir al-Deen and Sheikh Qadumi hill (Tiberias area): Indiscriminate killings occur. The two locations are attacked by Haganah’s Golani Brigade to aid the demoralisation of the besieged city of Tiberias. 12-20 civilians are massacred by machine guns and homes in Nasir al-Deen and Sheikh Qadumi are blown up. The majority of the dead are women and children."}}
|-
! 13 April 1948
| [[Hadassah medical convoy massacre]], Jerusalem
| Arab forces
| 79 Jewish doctors, nurses, members of Haganah and scientists and 1 British soldier.
| Arab retaliation for the [[Deir Yassin massacre]].<ref name="Karsh2010">{{cite book|author=Professor Efraim Karsh|title=Palestine Betrayed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2oVyDp_OAx4C&pg=PT279|access-date=10 November 2012|date=27 April 2010|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12727-0|pages=279–}}</ref>
|-
! 21–22 April 1948
| [[Battle of Haifa (1948)|Battle of Haifa]]
| Haganah
| Unknown number of Palestinians
| {{refn|[[Saleh Abdel Jawad]], 2007, ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War''. "Mass indiscriminate killings occur."}}
|-
! 2 May 1948
| [[Ein al-Zeitun massacre]], Safed
| [[Palmach]]
| 70+ Palestinian villagers
| [[Ein al-Zeitun]] completely depopulated after the Palmach captured the village.<ref>Morris (2004), p. 289</ref>
|-
! 4 May 1948
| Killings at [[Kafr 'Ana]]
| [[Haganah]]
| 10 Palestinians
| {{refn|Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War''. "4 May 1948: Kofr Ana (Lod area): Indiscriminate killings occur. The village is demoralised and occupied after a period of resistance. Ten civilians are killed on the day of the occupation. Those murdered are either elderly people, who remained in the village, or men, who attempted to flee."}}
|-
! 12–13 May 1948
| Attack on [[Burayr]]
| [[Palmach]]
| 50 Palestinians
| <ref name="doi.org">Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3</ref>{{refn|Morris 2004 "Burayr, northeast of Gaza, was taken on 12–13 May. Its inhabitants fled to Gaza. The 9th Battalion troops killed a large number of villagers, apparently executing dozens of army-age males."}}
{{refn|W Khalidi 1992, "During the night of 12–13 May, the Palmach's Negev Brigade struck at the village in coordination with the Giv'ati Brigade's Operation Barak"}}
|-
! 13 May 1948
| [[Kfar Etzion massacre]], Hebron
| Arab forces
| 157 Jewish residents and [[Haganah]] soldiers
| <ref>Allon, Yigal, (1970) "Shield of David - The Story of Israel's Armed Forces". Weidenfeld and Nicolson; {{ISBN|0-297-00133-7}}, pg. 196.</ref><ref>Gilbert, Martin (1977) "Jerusalem - Illustrated History Atlas". Published in conjunction with the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Map 50, page 93.</ref>
|-
! 13–19 May 1948
| [[Abu Shusha massacre]], Ramle
| [[Givati Brigade]]
| 60-70 Palestinian villagers
| In 1995, a mass grave near the site with 52 bodies was unearthed.<ref>Benvenisti, 1996,  p. [[iarchive:cityofstonehidde00benvrich/page/248|248]]</ref>
|-
!19 May 1948
|[[1948 Tel Aviv bus station bombing]], Tel Aviv
|[[Egyptian Air Force]]
|42
|100 people were wounded and 42 killed in an attack on a bus station.
|-
!20 May 1948
|[[Al-Kabri massacre]]
|[[Carmeli Brigade]]
| At least 7 Palestinian villagers killed
| <ref>Jawad, S.A. (2007). ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War''</ref>
|-
!22 May 1948
|[[Tantura massacre]]
|[[Haganah]], [[Alexandroni Brigade]]
|Unknown. Estimates range from "dozens" to 200+
|
|-
!~10-12 July 1948
| [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle|Attack on Lydda and Ramle]]
| 3rd Battalion of the IDF
| 250-1700 Palestinians
|
|-
! 28 October 1948
| [[Al-Dawayima massacre]], Hebron
| IDF, 89th Commando Battalion, with former [[Irgun]], and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] members.
| 80 to 200 Palestinians
| News of the massacre was suppressed by both Israeli (to prevent UN scrutiny) and Arab forces (in order to prevent morale from collapsing as it did after the [[Deir Yassin massacre]]).<ref>Morris (2004) p. 494</ref>
|-
! 29 October 1948
| [[Safsaf massacre]], Safed
| 7th Armored Brigade
| 52-70 Palestinian villagers
| Between 52 and 70 Arab men shot, killed, and burned in a pit. Several women were raped.<ref name="khalidi"/>
|-
! 29 October 1948
| [[Jish]] massacre
| IDF
| Unknown number of Palestinians
| {{refn|Saleh Abdel Jawad, (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "Sources emphasise different details, but agree that civilians and fighters who had surrendered are rounded up and killed. Those killed include four Maronite Christians, a woman and her baby, ten Morrocan prisoners, and surrendered soldiers. There are at least 100 fatalities (author’s estimate)."}}{{refn|Morris 2004, "In Jish, the troops apparently murdered about 10 Moroccan POWs (who had served with the Syrian Army) and a number of civilians, including, apparently, four Maronite Christians, and a woman and her baby."}}
|-
! 30 October 1948
| [[Saliha]] massacre, Safed
| 7th Armoured Brigade
| 60-70 Palestinians
| Village completely depopulated.<ref>Morris (2004) p. 487</ref>
|-
! 30 October 1948
| [[Eilabun massacre]], Tiberias
| Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion
| 14 Palestinian villagers
| 13 were executed, 11 from Eilabun (Christians) and 2 refugees (Muslims). Massacre was documented by the UN.<ref>Morris (2004), pp. 475, 479, 499.</ref>
|-
! 30 October 1948
| [[Sa'sa' massacre]], Safed
| IDF
| Unknown number of Palestinians
| {{refn|Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "30 October [...] Indiscriminate killings occur. Many villagers, including cripples, are massacred after the surrender of the village."}}{{refn|Khalidi 1992, "The second massacre was perpetrated on 30 October, at the time that the village was occupied, during Operation Hiram"}}{{refn|Morris 2004, "Civilians appear to have been murdered in Sa‘sa as well."}}
|-
! 31 October 1948
| [[Hula massacre]], [[Lebanon]]
| [[Carmeli Brigade]]
| 35-58 Arab villagers
| Hula was captured without resistance. The commander, first lieutenant Shmuel Lahis, was given seven years in jail for his role in the incident but served only one.<ref>Morris (2004), pp. 481,487,501,502.</ref>
|-
! 2 November 1948
| [[Arab al-Mawasi massacre]], Tiberias
| IDF
| 14 Arab Bedouin men
| 15 Bedouin men from [[Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda']] taken near Eilabun and shot. One survived.<ref name="khalidi"/> Village was completely obliterated.
|-
! 5 November 1948
| [[Majd al-Kurum]] massacre, Galilee
| IDF
| 9 Palestinians
| <ref name="doi.org"/>{{refn|Morris 2004 "The soldiers selected five men and, according to a UN report, ‘lined them up alongside a wall next to the water pump and shot them’. The soldiers then searched the houses, killing another four inhabitants, including two women, in the process."}}
|}
==Effects==
{{Further|Causes of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight}}
Violence against Palestinians had a strong impact on the [[1948 Palestinian exodus|exodus of the Palestinian Arab population]]. 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,<ref>Simha Flapan, 1987, 'The Palestinian Exodus of 1948', J. Palestine Studies 16 (4), p.3-26.</ref><ref>[[Benny Morris]] (2004), pp.239-240.</ref> partly because the actual events at Deir Yassin were greatly embellished by the media.<ref>[http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-II-what-happened-in-deir-yassin-english.pdf Gelber 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227114421/http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-II-what-happened-in-deir-yassin-english.pdf |date=27 February 2008 }}, p. 314.</ref><ref>Larry Collins interview with Hazem Nusseibeh, May 1968, Larry Collins papers, Georgetown University library, cited in [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA295 Morris 2004, footnote 572, p. 295].</ref> Additionally, the Deir Yassin massacre became a strong argument for the Arab states to intervene against Israel. Arab League chief Azzam Pasha stated 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'.<ref>Tom Segev, ''1949: The First Israelis,'' 1986, p.89.</ref>
==Historiography ==
=== New Historians ===
{{Further|New Historians}}
In the 1980s a group of [[historical revisionism|revisionist]] Israeli historians challenged the official Israeli [[historical narrative]].
=== Arab warnings and threats of massacres against Jews of Palestine ===
After the Partition vote, some Arab leaders threatened the Jewish population of Palestine. For example, they spoke of "driving the Jews into the sea" or ridding Palestine "of the Zionist Plague".<ref name="morris2008_396"/>
According to the Israeli traditional historiography, these statements reflected the Arab intentions.<ref name="morris2008_396">[[Benny Morris]] (2008), p.396.</ref><ref>[[Mitchell Bard]], ''[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html 1948 War]'', on the website of the Jewish Virtual Library.</ref> 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,<ref name="morris2008_396"/> he argues that the [[Yishuv]] was indeed threatened with extinction and feared what would happen if the Arabs won.<ref>[[Benny Morris]] (2004), pp.589-590.</ref> 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'.<ref>[[Yoav Gelber]], ''[http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=475 The Jihad that wasn't]'', Autumn 2008, n°34.</ref>
=== "Purity of arms" ===
{{Main|Purity of arms}}
During the conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine before the war, the criterion of "[[purity of arms]]" was used to distinguish between the respective attitudes of the Irgun and Haganah towards Arabs, with the latter priding itself on its adherence to this principle.<ref name="shapira1"/> 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".<ref name="shlaimdebate">[[Avi Shlaim]], ''[http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472115419-ch5.pdf The Debate About 1948]'', International Journal of Middle East Studies, 27:3, 1995, pp. 287–304</ref> But if it "remained a central value in education" it was "rather vague and intentionally blurred" at the practical level.<ref name="shapira1">[[Anita Shapira]] (1992), p. 252</ref>
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"<ref name="shapira2">[[Anita Shapira]] (1992), p. 295</ref> and during the 1948 War, the [[Mapam]], the political party affiliated to [[Palmach]], asked for "a strict observance of the Jewish [[Purity of arms]] to secure the moral character of [the] war".<ref name="gelber1948">[[Yoav Gelber]] (2006), p. 291</ref>
When he was criticized by Mapam members for his attitude concerning the [[1948 Palestinian exodus|Arab refugee problem]], Ben-Gurion reminded them the [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle|events of Lydda and Ramla]] and the fact Palmach officers had been responsible for the "outrage that had encouraged the Arabs' flight made the party uncomfortable."<ref name="gelber1948"/>
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'.<ref name="shlaimdebate"/> 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'.<ref name="Morris2008p404"/>
=== Causes of massacres ===
According to [[Ilan Pappé]], massacres targeting Palestinians took place in the context of 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."<ref>Pappé (2006), p.197.</ref>
During the Civil War, the [[Haganah]] operatives had been cautioned against harming women and children but the Irgun and Lehi were less observing this distinction, while "Palestinian Arab militias often deliberately targeted civilians."<ref name=Morris2008p404/> Due to the fact the British Mandate was not yet over, neither side could set up regular [[Prisoner-of-war camp|Prisoner of War camps]] and therefore take prisoners. During the Arab-Israeli War, the fighting armies were more or less disciplined and "the killings of civilians and prisoners of war almost stopped, except for the series of atrocities committed by the [[Israeli Defense Forces|IDF forces]]".<ref name=Morris2008p404/>
Morris also said that 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 (Jerusalem)|Old City of Jerusalem]] or the villages of [[Atarot]], [[Neve Yaakov]], [[Battle of Nitzanim|Nitzanim]], [[Gezer, Israel|Gezer]] and [[Mishmar HaYarden, Palestine|Mishmar Hayarden]].<ref name=Morris2008p404/> 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.<ref>[[Benny Morris]] (2008), pp. 219-20.</ref> Atrocities committed by the Arab armies included women being dismembered in Nitzanim in June,<ref>Friedman, Saul S. , A History of the Middle East. , McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers,2005</ref> 14 Jewish civilians killed while supplying an [[orphanage]] in [[Ben Shemen]]<ref name="gilbert"/> and Arab fighters parading with the heads of two Israeli soldiers impaled on stakes in [[Eilabun]].<ref>Hillel Cohen , Good Arabs, The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 19481967 , University of California Press,June 1, 2010</ref> Jewish combatants captured by Arab militias, were frequently tortured and mutilated in particularly violent ways. Pregnant women have also been found disembowelled.<ref>Jonathan Matusitz, ''Symbolism in Terrorism: Motivation, Communication, and Behavior'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Maryland, 2014</ref>
With regard to massacres perpetrated by the IDF at the end of the war and particularly during [[Operation Hiram]], Morris and [[Yoav Gelber]] consider that lack of discipline cannot explain the violence.<ref name=Morris2008p404/><ref name = "gelber2006">[[Yoav Gelber]] (2006), pp.227-228.</ref> 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.<ref name = "gelber2006"/> Benny Morris thinks that they were related to a "general vengefulness and a desire by local commanders to precipitate a [[1948 Palestinian exodus|civilian exodus]]".<ref name=Morris2008p404/>
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".<ref name=Morris2008p404/> 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".<ref name=Morris2008p404/>
=== Tantura massacre controversy ===
{{Main|Tantura massacre}}
There was a significant controversy regarding the [[Tantura massacre]], with some historians such as Yoav Gelber denying that a massacre had taken place.
Gelber wrote that 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.<ref name="Gelber_Tantura">''[http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-III-the-tantura-blood-libel-english.pdf Folklore versus History: The Tantura Blood Libel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213032058/http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-III-the-tantura-blood-libel-english.pdf |date=13 February 2009 }}'', Appendix III of Yoav Gelber (2006).</ref>
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.<ref>[http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-02-06morris-the-jerusalem-report-tantura.pdf "The Tantura "Massacre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623183415/http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-02-06morris-the-jerusalem-report-tantura.pdf |date=23 June 2016 }}, 9 February 2004, ''[[The Jerusalem Report]]''</ref>
[[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.<ref>Ilan Pappé, ''[http://ipsnewsite.mysite4now.com/enakba/history/Pappe,%20The%20Tantura%20Case%20in%20Israel.pdf The Tantura case in Israel]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}'', Journal of Palestine Studies, 2001, pp. 19-39.</ref>
===Palestinian perspectives ===
Nadine Picaudou, author of ''The Historiography of the 1948 Wars'', studied the evolution of Palestinian historiography on the 1948 war. She argues that the Deir Yassin massacre 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."<ref name="Picaudou">Nadine Picaudou, ''[http://www.massviolence.org/The-Historiography-of-the-1948-Wars?artpage=5-6 The Historiography of the 1948 Wars]'', Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, November 2008.</ref>
Picaudou 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 (...)".<ref name="Picaudou"/>
==="Battles" or "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====
{{Main|Deir Yassin massacre}}
The village of Deir Yassin was located west of Jerusalem, but its strategic importance was debatable and its inhabitants had not participated in the war until one week before the attack.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA91 Morris 2004], p.91.</ref><ref name="Gelber2006p308">[http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-II-what-happened-in-deir-yassin-english.pdf Gelber 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227114421/http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/05-12-14gelber-palestine-1948-appendix-II-what-happened-in-deir-yassin-english.pdf |date=27 February 2008 }}, p. 308. "Deir Yassin’s dignitaries were reluctant to be involved in hostilities and undertook to either frustrate on their own future attempts by gangs to use their village, or to report the al-Najada’s presence to the Jews if they could not expel them."</ref> On 9 April, around 120 men from the [[Irgun]] and the [[Lehi (group)|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."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Oisa_1Dc69kC&pg=PA252 Hirst 2003, pp. 252–53].</ref> 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. Historians estimate today the total number of deaths at 100 to 120.<ref name="Palestinian Refugee Revisited p. 237">[[Benny Morris]], ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Revisited'', p. 237</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">[[Yoav Gelber]], ''Palestine 1948'', pp.309-310.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">[[Benny Morris]], ''1948'', pp. 125–127</ref><ref name="Khalidi 1999">[[Walid Khalidi|Khalidi, Walid]], "Dayr Yasin: Friday, 9 April 1948". Centre of Palestinian Studies, Beirut. 1999. (Arabic).</ref>
In 2007, Israeli military historian [[Uri Milstein]] published a controversial book, ''[[Uri Milstein#Views and opinions|Blood Libel at Deir Yassin]],'' in which he claims that the [[Deir Yassin massacre|events of Deir Yassin]] were the result of a battle and not of a massacre. Moreover, he goes further and rejects the reality of the atrocities that followed the attack on the village.<ref>[[Uri Milstein]], ''[http://urimilstein.com/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=13 Blood Libel at Dir Yassin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103232551/http://urimilstein.com/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=13 |date=3 January 2011 }}'', on the website of the author.</ref> Morris considers that the capture of the village, insignificant on the military point of view, can hardly be considered as a "battle".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
====Hadassah medical convoy====
{{Main|Hadassah medical convoy massacre}}
In 1948, Hadassah hospital was located in the enclave of the [[Mount Scopus]], at Jerusalem from where it dominated several Arab quarters. On 14 April, a convoy carrying medical personnel, some injured fighters, munitions and some reinforcement troops,<ref>Henry Laurens, ''[[La Question de Palestine]] : Tome 3 - L’accomplissement des prophéties (1947-1967)'', t. 3, Fayard, 13 juin 2007, 838 p. ({{ISBN|9782213633589}}), p. 76.</ref><ref>[[Thomas C. Wasson]], the US Consul in Jerusalem, reported to the State Department on April 15, 1948 : "American correspondent eye witnessed removal from trucks large quantities arms and ammunition and speculated whether for escort or other purpose." - Telegram 439, Jerusalem Consular Files, Series 800 Palestine, Record Group 84, National Archives. Quoted in Stephen Gree, ''Taking Sides'', Faber & Faber, 1984.</ref> that was protected by Haganah soldiers and armoured cars,<ref>[[Thomas C. Wasson]], the US Consul in Jerusalem, reported to the State Department on April 17, 1948 : "... queried as to whether convoy included armoured cars, Haganah guards, arms and ammunition in addition to doctors, nurses and patients, Kohn [of the Jewish Agency] replied in affirmative saying it was necessary to protect convoy." - Telegram 455, Jerusalem Consular Files, Series 800 Palestine, Record Group 84, National Archives. Quoted in Stephen Gree, ''Taking Sides'', Faber & Faber, 1984.</ref> 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.<ref name = "laurens">[[Henry Laurens]], "La Question de Palestine: L'accomplissement des prophéties, 1947-1967", (tome 3) Fayard, 2007, p. 76.</ref>
While the whole event is usually seen as a massacre, Morris considers it to have been, rather, a battle, given that there was shooting between Arab and Haganah militia and targeted a supply convoy headed for Mount Scopus. He points out however that the death toll incurred by medical personal, who were unarmed, was massive<ref name=Morris2008p404/> and that seventy-eight people were "slaughtered".<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''One State, Two States: Resolving the Israeli/Palestine conflict'', Yale University Press, 2009, p. 55.</ref>
====Lydda====
{{Main|1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle}}
In July 1948, the Israelis launched the [[Operation Danny]] to conquer the cities of [[Lod|Lydda]] and [[Ramla|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.<ref name="Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited' p.426">[[Benny Morris]], 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', p.426.</ref> According to Morris, the description of this raid written by one of the soldiers "combine[s] elements of a battle and a massacre".<ref name="Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited' p.426"/>
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 [[Arab Legion]]naires 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<ref>[[Benny Morris]], 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', footnote 78, p. 473</ref> 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.<ref name="Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited' pp.427-428">[[Benny Morris]], 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited', pp. 427–428</ref>
There is controversy among historians about the events that followed. According to Morris, at the Dahmash 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.<ref name="Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited' pp.427-428"/> 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.<ref>[[Spiro Munayyer]], ''[http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Munayyer,%20The%20Fall%20of%20Lydda.pdf The Fall of Lydda] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144237/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Munayyer,%20The%20Fall%20of%20Lydda.pdf|date=2011-07-18}}'', Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol 27, issue 4, p.</ref> Alon Kadish and Avraham Sela write that there is a confusion between two mosques. According to them, detainees 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 Dahmash mosque. Its storming resulted in the death of 30 Arab militiamen and civilians, including elderly, women and children.<ref name=KadishSela/>
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."<ref name=Khalidiintro>[[Walid Khalidi]], Introduction to Spiro Munayyer's [http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Munayyer,%20The%20Fall%20of%20Lydda.pdf "The Fall of Lydda"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144237/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Munayyer,%20The%20Fall%20of%20Lydda.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}, ''Journal of Palestine Studies'' (1998), Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 80-98.</ref> Morris writes that the "jittery Palmahniks massacr[ed] detainees in a mosque compound."<ref>[[Benny Morris]] (2008), p.290.</ref> According to Gelber, it was a "bloodier massacre" than at [[Deir Yassin massacre|Deir Yassin]].<ref>[[Yoav Gelber]]. ''Palestine 1948'', Sussex Academic Press, 2001, pp. 162, 318.</ref> [[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."<ref name="KadishSela">[[Alon Kadish]] and [[Avraham Sela]] (2005) "Myths and historiography of the 1948 Palestine War revisited: the case of Lydda," ''The Middle East Journal'', 22 September 2005.</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of towns and villages depopulated during the 1947–1949 Palestine war]]
* [[List of killings and massacres in Mandatory Palestine]]
* [[List of massacres in Israel]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Joel Beinin]], ''The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry'', University of California Press, 1998.
* [[Rosemarie Esber]], ''Under the Cover of War. The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians'', Arabicus Books and Media, 2009.
* [[Yoav Gelber]], ''Palestine 1948'', Sussex Academic Press, 2006.
* [[Saleh Abdel Jawad]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bWCN0OUiTJkC&pg=PA65&dq=saleh+jawad+massacre&lr=&hl=fr#PPA59,M1 Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War]'', in E. Benvenisti & al, ''Israel and the Palestinian Refugees'', Springer, 2007.
* [[Efraim Karsh]], ''The Palestine War 1948'', Osprey Publishing, 2002.
* [[Benny Morris]], ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', Cambridge University Press, 2004.
* [[Benny Morris]], ''1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War'', Yale University Press, 2008.
* [[Nur Masalha]], ''Expulsion of the Palestinians'', Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992.
* [[Ilan Pappé]], ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'', OneWorld Publishing
* [[Howard Sachar]], ''A History of Israel - From the Rise of Zionism to our Time'', Knopf, 2007.
* [[Anita Shapira]], ''Land and power'', Stanford University Press, 1992.
* Malka Hillel Shulewitz, ''The Forgotten Millions'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000.
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==External links==
* [[Benny Morris]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20030611142809/http://crimesofwar.org/thebook/arab-israeli-war.html Arab-Israeli War]'', in Roy Gutman (Editor), ''Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know'', W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.
* [http://SonsOfEilaboun.com Film about the massacre in Eilabun]
{{Arab-Israeli Conflict}}
{{Massacres}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War}}
[[Category:1948 Palestine war]]
[[Category:Massacres in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Massacres in Israel during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]
[[Category:1948 massacres of Palestinians]]
[[Category:Massacres committed by Israel]]
[[Category:1948 massacres of Jews in Palestine or Israel]]