October 29th,marked the anniversary of the Dawayima Massacre 1948 when Israeli terrorists murdered hundreds of peaceful Palestinian villagers. in the town of al-Dawayima on October 29th, 1948. during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The incident occurred after the town was occupied by the Zionist regimes Israeli Defence Force (IDF)’ army’s 89th Commando Battalion during Operation Yoav, encountering little resistance. The battalion, whose first commander was Moshe Dayan, was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces.This occurred after the town was occupied by the IDF, encountering little resistance.
Little is known about the brutal massacre in the village of Dawaymeh which is situated a few kilometres West of Hebron. It had a population of six thousand people.Some four thousand Arab refugees had taken refuge in the village prior to the massacre.
According to Palestnian historian Saleh Abd al-Jawad an estimated 80-200 civilian men, women and children were murdered in cold blood..The children of the village had their heads beaten with ’sticks’ – adults were blown up in their homes Around 60 people were murdered in the local mosque, most of them elders, and 85 people who sought refuge in the nearby cave of Iraq al-Zagh were also killed there. These included women, as well as children, who had their skulls beaten and smashed. Palestinian women were raped by soldiers, and women and their babies were murdered. Bodies were then stuffed down the village well.
The Israeli daily 'Al ha-Mishmar gives the following description: 'The children they killed by breaking their heads with sticks. There was not a house without dead... One commander ordered a sapper to put two old women in a certain house...and to blow up the house with them. The sapper refused...The commander then ordered his men to put in the old women and the evil deed was done. One soldier boasted that he had raped a woman and then shot her...'
One Israeli soldier wrote a letter to a newspaper describing what happened, and recounted how the "cultured, polite commanders, who are considered upstanding members of society, turned into base murderers, and not in the heat and passion of battle but in a system of expulsion and destruction." He claimed that the military was working on the principle that: "The fewer Arabs that will remain, the better. That principle is the political driving force of the expulsions and atrocities, to which no one objects, either in the operational command or in high command. I myself was at the front for two weeks and heard tales of boasting by soldiers and commanders of how they excelled at hunting and 'screwing.' To screw an Arab, just like that and under all circumstances, is an honorable mission and there’s competition for winning at this."
The newspaper did not publish the letter.though it was finally released tn 2016.Link here :-
After the massacre, the Palestinians' homes were destroyed, and the survivors forced to flee as refugees in the West Bank and Jordan. The Israeli Prime Minister ordered the attorney general to investigate the massacre. His report remains classified to this day.
The reason why so little is known about this massacre which, in many respects, was more brutal than the Deir Yassin massacre on 9 Aprilhttps://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/04/remembering-deir-yassin.html is because the Arab Legion (the Army in control of that area) feared that if the news was allowed to spread, it would have the same effect on the moral of the peasantry that Deir Yassin had, namely to cause another flow of Arab refugees, but as with Deir Yassin, some months earlier on 9 April, these acts of slaughter terrified the area and stimulated the flow of refugees, the abandonment of their land, as they sought refuge..
Unlike massacres carried out by Zionist paramilitary groups, such as Deir Yasin the perpetrators of the al-Dawayima Massacre were regular armed forces with operational planning capacity. They were part of the armed forces of the new state that, having firmly established its presence, was seeking recognition by the international community and was preparing its application to become a member state of the UN , which meant a pledge to respect all the commitments specified by its charter.
Moreover, the massacre of al-Dawayima was not followed by condemnations from Palestinians and Arabs; more than three decades passed before it received attention from scholars and the media.
Moreover, interviewed in 1984 by the Israeli daily Hadashot, the former mukhtar (head) of the village recalls the following: 'The people fled, and everyone they saw in the house, they shot and killed. They also killed people in the streets. They came and blew up my house, in the presence of eye-witnesses. [...] The moment that the tanks came and opened fire, I left the village immediately. At about half-past ten, two tanks passed the Darawish Mosque. About 75 old people were there, who had come early for Friday prayers. They gathered in the mosque to pray. They were all killed.'
According to the mukhtar, thirty-five families were hiding in caves outside al-Dawayima, including some from the previously occupied village of al-Qubayba. When discovered by the Israeli forces, '[t]hey told them to come out and get into line and start to walk. And as they started to walk, they were shot by machine guns from two sides...We sent people there that night, who collected the bodies, put them into a cistern, and buried them.'
When taken back to his village in 1984 for the first time since the massacre, the mukhtar showed an Israeli journalist where his home had been, as well as the cistern where the bodies had been buried. The journalist returned with four labourers a few days later. After digging for a short while they discovered several human bones, including three skulls, one of which was a child's. They stopped digging and reburied the bones.
Although a number of further investigations were launched, they were generally ineffectual and only ended with the disciplining of some soldiers and the issuing of a set of rules on the Israeli army's treatment of Arab civilians. When the issue of al-Dawayima was raised again in December 1984, during a general discussion of atrocities by an Israeli ministerial committee, Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling said: 'This is something that determines the character of the nation...Jews too have committed Nazi acts.'
While complaining that the investigation was not proceeding as it should, he nevertheless agreed with other ministers that Israel should admit nothing outwardly, in order to preserve its image.
In 1955, the settlement of Amatzya was established on the on land that had belonged to Al-Dawayima. According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi : "The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its center (which has been leveled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav."
In 2013, the whole area, apart from some ancient Jewish remains, was bulldozed to pave the way for the erection of a new community called Karmei Katif, which was completed in 2016 and which houses evacuees of the Gaza Strip settlements.
The war did not start on 7th October it started with the mass killings and forced displacement of Palestinians in 1948, with the Nabka continuing through over half a century of military occupation, repeated military assaults on Gaza, and official Israeli statements that openly express support for the elimination of Palestinians.
Historical accounts suggest that, during this turbulent period, both Israeli and Yishuv (later Israeli) soldiers were involved in at least 33 massacres and other indiscriminate acts of violence against Palestinians.
Israel's history is replete with events that have raised serious accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian population. that continues to this day.More than 43,000 Palestinians killed in yearlong war in Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry says.
Months ago the Lancet said Palestinian deaths were at least 200k, with a probability it was 500k. Since then, unparalleled slaughter of the innocents has been perpetrated by Israel. Thousands buried under the rubble have not been counted.
As Israeli atrocities are broadcast each day out of Gaza. How long will this genocide continue? When will the rest of the world stand up to the murderous Israeli regime and say enough is enough.The Israeli genocide in Gaza must be stopped!
This means supporting a full arms embargo and an end to political support, international sanctions on all Israeli goods and services, prosecutions for all those who have committed war crimes and a plan for a viable Palestinian state.The horrific suffering" won't end all by itself.
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