Hebron Etzion
_______ Bloc Betar Jerusalem
/Kiryat \ _______ ______ _____________
/ Arba \ / Efrat \ / \ / \_______
___/ \____/ \__/ \____/ Maaleh Adumim
######### #### #### # Tekoa ______
# # # # # # # # _____ / \
# # # # # ### ##### / \ / \
# # # # # # # # # _/ \____/ \_
### ## #### #### # #
"Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol. 9, No. 5 Tishrei 5762/Sep-Oct 2001
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Website: http://www.womeningreen.org/judea OUR 9TH YEAR!
Contents:
* In Memoriam: General Rechavam Ze'evi
* In Memoriam: Sarit Amrani
* Terror Strikes America
* Settling the Land of Israel: An Answer to Terror
* Coping With Murder: The Koby Mandell Foundation
* How Many Must Die Before Sharon Strikes?
* What Happened at Deir Yassin?
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IN MEMORIAM: GENERAL RECHAVAM ZE'EVI
General Rechavam Ze'evi, IDF serial number 2171 (the serial numbers
today are seven digits), was one of the first soldiers of Israel. Born
in Jerusalem in 1926, he was a sixth-generation Jerusalemite. Ze'evi
joined the Palmach, an elite unit of the Haganah, forerunner of the
Israel Defense Forces, in 1944.
He described the Palmach thus: "The Palmach was an army of
barefooted, and happy soldiers who made do with little. Their weapons
were few and their salaries were close to zero, but they never
complained or moaned and instead carried their nation with high morale
and a sense of mission. The Palmach was an army that looked for and
suggested missions, and never said something was impossible. The
Palmach was a fighting framework of morals and ethics, that made a
covenant of 'the cornstalks and the sword' with the settlement
enterprise, that viewed it as a Zionist and security value. The Palmach
also engaged in intelligence missions and others on behalf of the
Jewish nation. The Palmach was a school for the knowledge and love of
the Land of Israel."
Ze'evi served in the IDF with its founding in 1948 in many
positions, including heading the Central Command beginning in 1968,
where he successfully sealed Israel's new eastern border at the Jordan
River from terrorist infiltrations. He retired from the army with the
rank of Maj.-Gen, and was appointed to be Prime Minister Rabin's
advisor on terrorism and intelligence in 1974. He also carried out
many defense missions in various countries, and was elected to the
Knesset in 1988 as head of the Moledet (Homeland) Party that he
founded. He served as minister without portfolio in the Shamir
government in the early 1990s, and became Tourism Minister under the
Sharon government.
Ze'evi was also the director for many years of the Eretz Yisrael
Museum in Tel Aviv, and edited many books published by the museum and
the Defense Ministry.
Ze'evi was a soldier for the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.
He was willing to sacrifice and fight until the People of Israel lived
in safety and security in its land.
Rechavam Amikam Ze'evi (Amikam means "My nation arises") was a
gentleman - down-to-earth, personable, never a high and mighty
politician. He was always easily accessible, and ready to speak with
respect and a smile to regular people whenever they approached him.
One year he won first prize at the Women In Green Purim party by
dressing up as a Woman In Green with a long green dress and green hat.
When asked the question: what will be?, he told Arutz 7 radio this
summer, "The end will be that the Jewish nation will establish roots
and hold on to its Land; the Land will belong to the People of Israel,
and only to them."
He supported the settlement movement in every way -- from Beit El
and Beit Haggai to Maon, Hebron, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem.
The pain of the Jewish people was Ze'evi's pain. He always wore a
dog tag with the names of Israel's missing and captured soldiers around
his neck to remind himself and everyone else that we must find a way to
bring them back home.
General Rechavam Ze'evi was shot to death by Arab terrorists in the
Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem on 17 Oct 2001, the 188th victim of what he
often called the Oslo War.
(From Arutz Sheva News Service, 17 Oct 2001; and Efrat Voices, Oct
01)
* * *
Ze'evi's eldest son, Yiftach Palmach, named after the Palmach
brigade of which Ze'evi had been chief scout, delivered the following
eulogy:
"You did not merit, beloved son of this land, to be accepted when
you were alive. You took upon yourself to be loyal to Eretz Yisrael,
even when everyone blared in your ear that a 'New Middle East is
shining.' 'You are hallucinating!,' you answered them.
"And to you [plural], you who murdered my father, you temporary
residents [of] Canaan, I am telling you that we are staying here,
because this is ours!
"And to you, Arik, a friend who was so close at the beginning of
the way: Take revenge, the way that Gandhi would have done after you
[had this happened to you], and go back to leading the country the way
we knew you.
"And you, dear residents of Yesha, and the rest of Israel: We are
burying Gandhi today, but he asked me to charge you to be strong and
continue to be loyal to the path."
(Arutz Sheva News Service, 18 Oct 01)
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IN MEMORIAM: SARIT AMRANI
Sarit Amrani, 26, a mother of three from Nokdim (El David), was
killed and her husband, Shai, was seriously wounded in a drive-by
shooting at the Tekoa intersection in Gush Etzion on 20 Sep 01.
Terrorists traveling in a truck around 7:30 a.m. shot at the
couple's vehicle from close range, and at least 12 bullets penetrated
the car and killed Amrani, who sat in the back seat with her children,
- Zohar (4), Ziv (2), and Raz (3 months). None of the children were
hurt, although the packages at their feet and the windows right by thir
heads were riddled with bullet holes. The perpetrators fled in the
direction of Palestinian-controlled Beit Sahur and are believed to have
continued to Bethlehem.
Shai Amrani, 32, was transferred to Hadassah-University Hospital at
Ein Kerem suffering from gunshot wounds to the neck, chest, and
shoulder, and is presently recovering from four operations to remove
the bullets.
Nokdim resident Yitzhak Cohen told Efrat Voices, "The community
hopes that Shai and the children will return to their home within the
next few weeks." Currently the children are being cared for by their
grandparents and their aunt in Kiryat Arba. "The Nokdim community is a
very warm and caring one. There is a lot of support for Shai with
friends visiting him in the hospital and helping with the children."
Nokdim is a community of 100 families, religious and secular, old
and young, native Israelis and immigrants. Sarit Amrani arrived as a
young girl with her family from France.
The army subsequently closed the road to Tekoa and Nokdim to
Palestinians. In recent months it had become the main route used by
Palestinian vehicles after they were barred from using Jerusalem-Hebron
Highway 60 following a number of fatal shootings in the area.
"Since Palestinians were barred from traveling on Highway 60 and
rerouted to the roads used by residents from Nokdim and Tekoa, the
route has become extremely congested and dangerous," said Benny Kadosh,
security chief of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. "Today we saw the
results." Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is also a
Nokdim resident, drove on the road 10 minutes before the fatal shooting
attack.
Sarit worked as a medical technician in Jerusalem, and was a
beloved member of the community. In a public letter, her friends
described Sarit as "a modest and quiet young women who was beloved by
everyone who met her. She had a winning smile that was contageous,
regardless of the situation. And she was killed with that smile.
Sarit was a wonderful mother, wife, daughter, and friend, and was
able to handle all of those roles well. She leaves an emptiness in our
hearts and we will never forget the picture of her and her full family.
The entire community of Nokdim mourns and it is difficult to deal with
her death."
Sarit's friends also said, "We are determined to create something
vibrant and positive that will serve as an appropriate memorial to a
special, gentle young woman who loved children, loved her home, and
loved the Land of Israel. We have started a special fund for the
purpose of dedicating a children's activity center in Sarit's name, as
well as offering financial assistance to the family for the practical
necessities involved in raising children without a mother. We hope that
others will join us in our efforts to strengthen the community and
bring something beautiful out of the tragedy that has befallen us."
Donations should be made to "HaKeren al shem Sarit," P.O. Box 12,
Nodkim, D.N. North Judea 90916. For further details please contact
Esti Ohana 02-9605205 or Suzi Cohen 02-9960015.
In addition, the residents of Tekoa and Nokdim have established a
hospitality station at the murder site in her memory to serve the IDF
soldiers on patrol in the area.
* * *
Postscript: Less than a month after her murder, on 18 Oct 01, the
commander of the Tanzim/Fatah terrorists in Bethlehem responsible for
Sarit Amrani's murder was eliminated.
(From Margot Dudkevitch, _Jerusalem Post_, 21 Sep 2001; and Efrat
Voices, Oct 01)
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TERROR STRIKES AMERICA
We watched in horror along with the rest of the world as Arab
terrorists attacked America. We share in the grief of the bereaved
families, and share America's respect for the hundreds of rescuers from
the New York Fire and Police Departments, as well as those of the
Jewish Hatzalah organization, who lost their lives after entering the
burning buildings trying to save others, just before the buildings
collapsed. We understand that some 500 Jews are numbered among the
victims, including at least one who fought the hijackers on the plane
that crashed in Pennsylvania before it reached its target.
Our prayers are with the American people, its armed forces, and its
political leadership, whom we hope understand that we share a common
enemy.
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SETTLING THE LAND OF ISRAEL: AN ANSWER TO TERROR
For the past year, Judea Magazine has been increasingly full of
stories of sudden, brutal, heartbreaking murders of Jews just because
they are Jews, throughout the Land of Israel; this issue is no
exception. But tragic death is not the only story here in Judea. The
fact remains that in addition to all the headlines, Jews here are
building homes, having babies, raising families, and expanding Jewish
villages throughout Judea.
The Zionist answer to the Arab war against the Jews is to build and
grow in the Land of Israel. Eleven babies were born in Kfar Etzion last
year, and another 10 in Migdal Oz.
New Jewish neighborhoods continue to sprout across the landscape of
Judea, as the natural outcome of the Return to our Land by those who
share a belief in Zionism, the modern revolutionary movement of the
Jewish people. In the Etzion Bloc, the newest neighborhoods include
Tsur Shalem at the southern edge of Carmei Tsur, founded after the
murder of Dr. Shmuel Gillis.
Shuli Turgeman is a four-year veteran of Carmei Tsur who moved into
the new trailer neighborhood with her family after the murder. "It's a
great feeling. What we did after Shmuel's murder provides the ideal
answer to his murderers. We prove to the murderers that not only are we
not running away from Carmei Tsur, but we're deepening our roots in
this place."
Tekoa Daled, southeast of Tekoa at the edge of Tekoa Canyon, is
another new addition to a bloc of Jewish settlement known as Eastern
Gush Etzion. The bloc is located next to Herodion National Monument, a
two-thousand-year-old fortress rising at the edge of the Judean Desert
near Jerusalem. Tekoa Daled is a trailer neighborhood with a water
tower, synagogue, and traffic circle, populated by young couples and
students from the local Mekor Haim yeshiva of Rav Steinsaltz.
In the trailer neighborhood of Tekoa Bet/Gimmel, founded in 1992 by
then-Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, the foundations of the first
permanent house were recently poured. Tekoa includes two other new
neighborhoods of permanent homes both under construction and completed,
built adjacent to veteran sections of Tekoa.
On the other side of Tekoa Canyon is El David (Nokdim), a village
founded originally by Tekoans in 1982 after the murder at Herodion of
David Rosenfeld, a young American immigrant, and the death one week
later of Eli Pressman, a young French immigrant, during the Lebanon
War. Adjacent neighborhoods of El David include Kfar Eldad, the Sde Bar
youth village at the foot of Herodion (see "Without Fences," Judea
Magazine 6.4), and a new caravan neighborhood to the east, Maale
Rechavam, named in honor of IDF General Rechavam Ze'evi.
Thus, the Tekoa Bloc includes seven contiguous hilltops surrounding
Tekoa Canyon at the edge of the Judean Desert. Further south along the
desert's edge are additional Jewish villages, including Maale Amos and
its newest neighborhood, Ivay Hanahal, and Metzad and its newest
neighborhood, Pnai Kedem.
Just off the main Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway that runs along the
top of the mountain ridge, the new neighborhood of Netiv Avot between
the towns of Elazar and Neve Daniel includes 20 trailers covered in
stone. Netiv Avot was settled by veteran families from both nearby
towns, and its location helps protect the towns and the highway from
hostile incursions by the Arab residents of Nahalin to the west. The
Givat Hahish neighborhood of Alon Shvut, consisting of 25 trailers
populated by young couples and children, also overlooks the main
Jerusalem highway.
(From _Gushpanka_, Gush Etzion Regional Council, 17 Sep 01)
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COPING WITH MURDER: THE KOBY MANDELL FOUNDATION
The horrifying murders of 13-year-olds Koby Mandell and Yosef Ish-
Ran in a cave near their homes in Tekoa on 8 May 01, touched the
emotions of people throughout the world. In a hate crime of enormous
proportions, the boys were stoned to death by a gang of Arabs who then
dipped their hands in the blood and smeared it on the cave walls. The
bodies were so brutalized that the funerals were delayed, awaiting the
results of tests to confirm their identities.
Tekoa Canyon's cliffs are pockmarked with ancient caves, among the
largest in the Middle East. The canyon holds mystery and adventure. It
is the place the children of Tekoa go to hang out, talk to wandering
Bedouins tending their flocks, paint, meditate, and celebrate the
beauty of nature. For the children of Tekoa it is the extension of
their backyards. The boys had gone down to the cliffs to look for a
suitable site for their youth group to hold a bonfire on the upcoming
Lag B'Omer holiday.
At the boys' funeral, hundreds chanted the words of psalms written
centuries ago by King David near the very caves where the boys were
found. David hid in the Judean Desert caves when fleeing from King Saul
and his soldiers.
Seth and Sherry Mandell brought their four children to live in
Tekoa - Koby, the oldest, Daniel, 11, Eliana, 9, and Gabi, 6. Seth,
originally from Connecticut, was a well-respected Hillel rabbi at the
University of Maryland in College Park during 1991-96 and worked in
outreach programs for foreign yeshiva students in Israel. Sherri
(Lederman), from Long Island, is a gifted writer whose work appeared
regularly in the _Jerusalem Post_. Ezra Ish-Ran is a police officer and
Rina is a hospital nurse.
Koby Mandell was an American kid from Silver Spring, Maryland.
Koby's brother, Daniel, described him as a star baseball player, who
collected baseball and basketball cards, loved pop music and the songs
of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Koby arrived in Tekoa at age 12, which is a
hard age to adjust to a new social group, but the local kids had made
him feel welcome and he soon became one of the group. Koby's best
friend was Yosef, an Israeli.
In an interview with _The Jerusalem Report_, Sherri described her
son as a bright and funny kid with a baseball cap, "a great Scrabble
player; a regular kid." He was youthful in spirit and mischievousness
but very mature in how thoughtful and caring he was for the members of
his family and his community.
During the week-long mourning period, several people told the
Mandells how Koby had helped children improve in sports. Seth described
a child who came with his parents and spoke almost in a whisper, who
told them: "I'm not very good in volleyball. [Koby had been a very good
volleyball player.] Last week, when the coach said to pick someone to
practice with, Koby could have picked anybody. He picked me."
The local authorities sent a psychologist to Tekoa to help the
youth deal with the trauma. When he came, he didn't realize that one of
the murdered children was Koby, who played on the baseball team he
coached. When he suddenly realized who it was, he just sat with the
children in the mourning tent.
Some four months after the tragedy, Seth Mandell described how
Koby's murder has affected so many people, and how a foundation in
Koby's memory plans to fill the gap in support services to the growing
community of shattered Jewish families in the wake of the current war
in Israel.
Helping the Children and Siblings of Terror Victims
As Seth explained, there are numerous families all around the
country whose normal lives have been overturned by recent tragedy --
who have lost loved ones to bombings at shopping malls, discos, and
restaurants, or to roadside snipers and drive-by gunmen. Add to them
the families of the thousands of maimed and wounded, who now must learn
to deal with children with missing limbs.
When parents spend hours every day at the hospital helping one
child recover, who cares for the other sisters and brothers who have
also been traumatized by the sudden, severe loss?
The Koby Mandell Foundation was established by Koby's parents to
focus on that forgotten group of children and siblings of victims of
terror whose families have been touched by tragedy, to help them cope
with their personal loss, to show them that they are not alone, and to
improve the quality of their lives.
One program will enable these children to connect with other
children who share the experience they are coping with at summer camps
and shorter sessions. Here the emphasis will be on high-quality fun,
but with art, drama, and music activities run by professional
therapists. The goal is to provide a space for the children to express
how they feel about the tragedy, a place where everyone understands
what they're going through and they don't feel different and separate.
Another facet of this program will cover the costs of after-school
enrichment activities for children in families, especially those of new
immigrants, where the breadwinner has been murdered and the government
payments are just not enough to cover such "luxuries."
Koby had a poster in his bedroom of the legendary "Iron Man" Cal
Ripken, Jr., who recently retired after 20 years with the Baltimore
Orioles. Ripken had already heard about the murders of the two boys in
Israel when Ira Rainess, Ripken's business manager, showed him an
article from the Baltimore Jewish Times describing the events. Ripken
read the entire piece and was touched to learn that he had been Koby's
hero. "We're going to do something for this boy," he promised Rainess.
Ripken plans to build a baseball stadium and development program in
Israel whose best players would compete in the Babe Ruth League
competition at his own new baseball complex in Aberdeen, Maryland.
Many others have responded to the boys' murder as well. The Grand
Slam Baseball Camp in Israel established the Koby Mandell award for the
best all-around camper, given this year to a 17-year-old girl who knew
Koby. Seth knew of fundraising efforts in Koby's memory by youth in New
York, Pennsylvania, and Canada. A Tekoa musician, David "Harpo"
Abramson, included photos of the boys on his latest CD. Executive Vice
Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein told Sherri that he had a picture of her
son on his desk.
Seth Mandell describes himself as a "peacenik," but he sees no one
to make peace with, especially since it is the educated intelligentsia
and the Palestinian Authority who are propagating a "Palestinian
narrative" that "injects hatred of Jews into their people, teaching
little kids to hate....They want to see us all dead."
The murderers have not yet been caught, though the Israel security
services are working on the case. The night of the murders, thieves
robbed the nearby Tekoa goat dairy of over 100 milking goats, but there
has been no proven link between the two incidents.
During a visit to Tekoa, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz told the grieving
community that when a young person dies, a vacuum is created. Koby's
parents have decided to fill that vacuum by "enlarging Koby's death, to
do something in his name to keep him alive," says Sherri. In this way,
Seth and Sherri are able to focus their attention on something besides
"the pain that doesn't go away."
To Support the Koby Mandell Foundation
To support the work of the Koby Mandell Foundation, credit card
donations may be made at (312) 321-2906, or by a check payable to
"Jerusalem Post Funds-Koby Mandell" sent to Friends of the Jerusalem
Post Funds Inc., 401 North Wabash St., Suite 732, Chicago, IL 60611.
In Israel checks to "Jerusalem Post Funds-Koby Mandell" may be sent to
the Jerusalem Post, P.O. Box 81, Jerusalem 91000.
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HOW MANY MUST DIE BEFORE SHARON STRIKES?
Sidney Zion
"Now is the time to strike. In a day or two it will be too late,
the world will quickly forget the 19 Israeli children murdered by
Yasser Arafat - they will only remember his phony promise to stop the
violence."
This is Peter Malkin talking, and when he talks I pay attention -
and so should Israel and the White House. Malkin was the Mossad
operations chief for 15 years. He received Israel's medal of honor from
two prime ministers. He also captured Adolf Eichmann.
I asked him exactly what Israel could do to end the intifada that
blew up all those kids in a Tel Aviv disco on Friday night.
"The army, first of all, must go into Gaza and take the heavy arms
that Arafat has been smuggling in for eight years. This can be done
in two or three days. If we don't do it, Arafat will be able to turn on
the terror whenever he pleases - even if he stops it for a while now.
"Guaranteed, there is more than we now know. In intelligence, what
you know is a small part of the truth. We found this out in
Lebanon, 20 years ago, when Arafat was running his PLO mini-
state. Enormous weapons were found, far more than we thought."
But at what price? Some Israelis claim it would be a blood bath,
that hundreds of Palestinian children would die.
"Nonsense," Malkin says. "These weapons, which include
everything from mortars to anti-tank missiles, are buried in the
sands. The children, the civilian population in general, will not be
endangered."
How about the rifles in the hands of the Palestinian Authority
police, now 50,000 strong?
"Most of them will run away with the rifles. We should never have
armed them, this was a big mistake, but if we go in with full force it
will not be a terrible problem."
And the suicide bombers, how to stop them?
"This happened when Arafat released them from the prisons, against
his promises in the Oslo agreements. He knows where they are and he can
jail them again. We must go after them ourselves, to hell with whether
they are in the so-called Palestinian-controlled areas," says Malkin.
"It will be difficult, but we have to try - and with proper
intelligence we will succeed."
Beyond all of this, Malkin wants Israel to ban Arafat from Israel
and the territories. "This is very important," he says. "We must
disconnect this murderer from his gangs. Arik Sharon worries that
he will be called Milosevic if he moves in strongly. But Arafat is the
real Milosevic. Would America, I ask you, allow such a killer to stay
in the country?"
(_New York Post_, 4 June 01)
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WHAT HAPPENED AT DEIR YASSIN?
Uri Milstein
[Note - The battle at Deir Yassin, just west of Jerusalem, during
Israel's War of Independence, is considered a turning point in the war.
The conquest of the town helped break the siege of Jewish Jerusalem by
Arab forces. At the same time, the false stories of an alleged massacre
contributed to widespread Arab demoralization and significantly eased
Israel's task as Arabs who believed the tale fled their towns.]
The Target
The commander of the Michmash brigade of the Hagana, Yeshurun
Schiff, who was one of the permanent liaisons with the heads of Etzel
and Lehi, proposed to the heads of these organizations to participate
with their people in the battles for the Qastel [the heights dominating
the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road]. The commanders of Etzel and Lehi did not
accept his proposal and claimed they did not have enough vehicles and
that they wanted to work independently.
Later Schiff recounted: "I tried, on my own initiative, to enlist
the Revisionists (in the battle for the Qastel). I talked to the Etzel
operations officer (Yehoshua Goldshmidt). He and his friends agreed,
provided they would get permission from Tel Aviv, could command their
own force, and could get arms from us. I agreed to the first and third
conditions. I also spoke to the Lehi people, and they raised the same
conditions and said we should attack from Wadi Ein-Karem."
The commander of the Lehi intelligence unit in Jerusalem, Moshe
Barzilai, claimed later that Hagana commander David Shaltiel was the
first person to speak of conquering Deir Yassin, and that this was in
the beginning of April in his conversations with the Lehi commanders.
"We met with him during the Qastel battles. He said 'If you want to
help us and initiate an operation, take Deir Yassin.' We had no doubt
that he was interested in that operation. He said that the Hagana
intended to build an airfield between Givat Shaul and Dir Yassin, and
that therefore we had to hold the village if we conquered it."
Yehoshua Goldshmidt, the IZL operations officer, had a sentimental
motive for attacking Deir Yassin. The neighborhood where he was born,
Givat Shaul, bordered on Deir Yassin, and in the events of 1929, when
the villagers attacked the neighborhood, his father made him swear in
biblical style, "Remember what the people of Deir Yassin did to you."
Years later another participant, Ra'anan, gave other reasons. "We
wanted to help the Hagana in the battles for the Qastel. Deir Yassin
controlled the last segment of the road at the entrance to Jerusalem.
Conquering the Qastel would not have solved the problem, since the
Arabs could block the road near Deir Yassin. Therefore, conquering the
village fit into the strategy of the Hagana."
From a hill 800 meters above sea level, 700 meters west of Givat
Shaul, Deir Yassin had a position that controlled the western
neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the entrance to the city and the Motza
settlement. In April 1948 there were 1,200 people in this village.
During the First World War and in October 1928 the inhabitants of
Deir Yassin attacked the Jews of Givat Shaul. During 1938 they wounded
six Jews. In 1929, the [Arab] villagers of Lifta, Ein Karem and Deir
Yassin attacked [the Jews in] Beit Hakerem, the Montefiori
neighborhood, and Givat Shaul, and tried to cut off transport from the
lowlands to Jerusalem.
On April 4, 1948, when there were battles on the Qastel, Kamal
Erikat, deputy to Abdel Khader El Husseini, suggested to the elders of
Deir Yassin and Ein Karem that they allow troops to enter their
villages to protect them, and the elders of Deir Yassin answered him
"We have peaceful relations, and the entry of foreign troops will break
this up." Erikat did not heed their objections and brought troops into
Deir Yassin.
Mordechai Gihon (eventually a general in army intelligence), an
intelligence agent in the Hagana in Jerusalem, carried out two
intelligence raids to Ein Karem and brought out documents that gave
evidence of regular connections between Deir Yassin and the bases of
volunteers from Syria and Iraq in Ein Karem. Shortly before the attack,
Gihon's observers reported that many armed people were moving between
Ein Karem and Deir Yassin and some of them were dressed in Iraqi
uniforms, and that many Arab soldiers were going into Deir Yassin, but
only a few were returning to Ein Karem.
Several of the Lehi and IZL people who were wounded in the battle
for Deir Yassin, sued the Israel Defense Department in 1952, and
demanded that they be recognized as handicapped veterans. This is the
testimony of Hagana member Arnold Shper in that trial: "In February-
March 1948 I was a driver attached to the Hagana HQ in Jerusalem. I was
told that foreign Arabs had been discovered in Deir Yassin. And they
mentioned...also Iraqis."
On March 13, Mordehai Gihon reported "One hundred and fifty men,
mostly Iraqis, entered Deir Yassin. The inhabitants are leaving, for
fear of the foreign troops and reprisal operations by the Jews."
On April 4, five days before the attack, _Davar_ reported: "The
western neighborhoods of Jerusalem, Beit Hakerem, and Bayit Vagan were
attacked on Sabbath night (April 2) by fire from the direction of Deir
Yassin, Ein Karem and Colonia." The intelligence officer of the Etzioni
brigade reported to David Shaltiel on April 4, "There was a meeting in
Deir Yassin. Armed men went out on the road to Lower Motza, northwest
of Givat Shaul. They are shooting at passing cars." On the same day
Mickey Hapt, deputy commander of the Beit Horon Company, sent a
telegram to his commanders in Jerusalem: "In order to prevent an attack
on Lower Motza, cutting-off of the road to Jerusalem and capture of the
position south of Zova, Deir Yassin should be taken over. David
Shaltiel sent a telegram to Shimon Avidan on the morning of April 9, at
2:40 a.m. (about two hours before the start of the attack): "the Arabs
in Deir Yassin have set up a mortar aimed at the road in order to
bombard the convoy."
The Etzel and Lehi commanders gave up the advantage of surprise,
and decided to send an armored car with a loudspeaker to the outskirts
of the town before the attack, to call on the inhabitants to surrender
and to tell them that the road to Ein Karem was open. They believed
that both the foreign troops and the inhabitants would run away
immediately.
On April 7, 1948, Hagana Commander David Shaltiel sent the
following letter to Ra'anan and Zettler, two days before the attack: "I
have been informed that you are planning to carry out an operation in
Deir Yassin. I want to bring to your attention that taking Deir Yassin
and holding it are a stage in our general plan. I have no objection to
your carrying out the operation, on condition that you have the
strength to hold it (Deir Yassin)."
In the light of the testimony we can assume that the counterattack
plan of Yigal Yadin in the Jerusalem area included, along with the
battle for the Qastel and opening of the road to the plains, the attack
of the Etzel and Lehi on Deir Yassin. Four days after the attack a
member of the U.S. Consulate staff, Thomas Wesson, wrote to U.S.
Secretary of State George Marshall that it was "connected to the battle
going on at present between the Jews and the Arabs over the road to
Jerusalem."
The Attack
Sixty Lehi people gather at Sheikh Bader, and 72 Etzel people
gathered in the Etz Haim neighborhood on the evening of April 8.
Michael Harif: "My unit stormed and passed the first row of houses.
I was among the first to enter the village. At the top of the street I
saw a man in khaki clothing running ahead. Suddenly he turned around,
aimed his rifle and shot. He was an Iraqi soldier. I was hit in the
foot."
In daylight, the Etzel people advanced up the top of the hill,
under fire from the porches and the positions in the east of the
village and the ridges overlooking it. Some of them tried to take over
the houses from which the Arabs were firing. The doors of the houses
were not made of wood, but of iron, and they couldn't break them in by
pushing and kicking. Therefore they attached explosives charges to them
and blew them open.
Yehuda Banai related, "At a distance of five meters from the
village heavy fire opened up on us. I got an order to retreat, and then
I was hit by a bullet. I lay there for about half an hour until I was
evacuated." Moshe Nachum Mizrachi says he heard a shout and then "we
lay down. One shot was fired at us. We advanced, and then a round of
automatic fire was fired at us. We started storming the village. They
(the Arabs) had positions in the houses and on the roofs. We heard
rounds of fire...Arabs moved between the positions. We heard a rustle
and saw a group of seven soldiers dress in khaki with kaffiyehs with
white and red dots on their heads, belonging to the gangs of marauders.
We shot at them and they spread out. And then we were shot at from the
windows and we were afraid to move. I was wounded. Each minute seemed
to me like an hour. When we gathered I saw many wounded, and the
commander of the operation was wounded in his foot."
The Lehi force penetrated the village from the north. Petahiah
Zalivensky related, "Each group advanced to its goal. We blew up the
doors (of the houses) with fingers of gelignite, we threw grenades into
the houses and sprayed them with fire. In one house we found a Yugoslav
Muslim officer."
Reuven Greenberg related, "The Arabs fought like lions and excelled
at sharpshooting. Women went out of the houses under fire, picked up
the weapons dropped by the Arab fighters who had been hit, and passed
them on to the inner positions."
This is the story related by Palmach member Kalman Rosenblatt, who
went into Deir Yassin with his comrades: "Together with six (other)
people I went from house to house. We threw grenades into the houses
before we entered them."
David Gottlieb (Lehi member): "The Palmach people achieved in one
hour what we could not accomplish in several hours. They had good
weapons, they were trained in battle, and they operated quickly and
efficiently."
(From Uri Milstein _The War of Independence_ Vol. IV: Out of Crisis
Came Decision, Zmora-Bitan, Tel Aviv 1991 -- the four volumes cover one
fourth of the history of the War of Independence.)
(From Dr. Uri Milstein, P. O. Box 9003, Ramat Ef'al, 52190 Israel,
Tel: 972-3-6351062, Fax: 972-3-5351012, E-mail: urimilsh@inter.net.il)
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