Israel decided to mark the anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre, by killing 7 Palestinians and injuring a further 48 civilians as Apache helicopters fired missiles at the densely-populated civilian neighborhood of al-Zaitoon in Gaza. It appears that Israel’s despicable methods have not changed much in the last 55 years, with the only exception being that the terrorist Israeli gangs have been transformed into a world class military that conducts its murders under the veneer of legitimacy.

55 years ago, on Saturday, April 10th, 1948, a total of 250 children, women, and men were brutally and savagely murdered at the hands of Jewish terrorists. Members of the Irgun (headed by the would-be Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin) and the Stern Gang attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin and systematically murdered its inhabitants.

A Palestinian historian, Sami Hadawi, described in an article entitled “Bitter Harvest,” published in a Jewish Newsletter October 3, 1960, the atrocities that took place: “The offenders cut off parts of the dead bodies and opened bellies of others. Twenty-five pregnant women were bayoneted in their abdomens while still alive. Fifty-Two children were maimed in front of the eyes of their own mothers and then slain or their heads cut off. Mothers were in turn massacred and their bodies mutilated. About Sixty other women and girls were also killed and their bodies mutilated. Women that were still alive were undressed and taken for a drive in the streets of the Jewish part of Jerusalem.”

Dov Joseph, a former Israeli Minister of Justice, called the Deir Yassin massacre a “deliberate and unprovoked attack.” [Joseph Dov, The Faithful City; The Siege of Jerusalem 1948, p.71] The British historian, Arnold Toynbee, remarked that the massacre was “comparable to crimes committed against the Jews by the Nazis.” [Toynbee Arnold, A Study of History, Vol. VIII, p.290] However, Menachem Begin commented that “the massacre was not only justified, but there would not have been a state of Israel without the victory of Deir Yassin.” [Jewish Newsletter, Oct. 3, 1960]

Today, as we painfully mark the 55th anniversary of this horrific chapter in our history, we are reminded of the inhumane atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, and, at the same time, of the urgency to end the ongoing occupation, which has claimed 2231 Palestinian lives since September 2000, including 450 children. Israel must come to terms with its own history and acknowledge the suffering it has inflicted upon the Palestinian people. The international community must realize that its willingness to turn a blind eye has allowed Israeli terrorist activities to continue in the present as they did in the past.

For more in depth information: Deir Yassin Remembered