From the Twin Ports Break the Bonds Campaign. For more information, check them out at www.twinportsbbc.blogspot.com

Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village that existed for over 700 years. Famous for its cutters of limestone building stones, the inhabitants totaled about 600 people in 1948 and they had a non-aggression pact with their Jewish settlement neighbors at Givat Sha’ul.

On April 9, 1948 over 100 of its residents were ruthlessly murdered. The Irgun and the Lehi, Zionist extremists, attacked the village as part of the effort to keep open the traffic on the Jerusalem- Tel Aviv Road in the violent days prior to the Independence of Israel. The attackers met strong resistance and called for help from the regular forces of soon to be Israel: the Haganah who sent 17 soldiers and mounted guns. After the guns quelled the resistance the extremists realized that 4 of the initial attackers had been killed and 32 wounded. The Irgun and Lehi fighters then went through the homes searching for survivors. Women, children and the old men were massacred at close range and hand grenades were exploded in the houses. It was reported that young men and the fighters were rounded up and paraded down the Jaffa Road and then executed. Some reports credit the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Haredi community of Givat Sha’ul with stopping the massacre, which eventually enabled 250 survivors to be evacuated to Jerusalem.

It is thought that the number of casualties was inflated from c. 107 to 254 by the Jewish attackers who wanted to scare more Palestinians into leaving the land. On the other hand, Palestinians hoped that the Arab League members in Jordan, Syria and Egypt would come to their aid. They spread stories of Deir Yassin that included lurid details of rapes, pregnant women with stomachs cut open and bodies mutilated. Another suggestion is that the Israeli left wanted to discredit the right wing Irgun and the Lehi. If the origin of all the distortions is not clear, the consequences are. The impact of Deir Yassin was devastating.

With this and other massacres of civilians at places like Dawaymiyeh, Safsaf, Tantura, and Bassa, between 750,000 and 900,000 Palestinians fled their country to live in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan in the months following the massacres. The goal of the extremists was to frighten the people into leaving their homes. Menachem Begin a leader of the Irgun in 1948 said that the fear of what happened and what was invented about Deir Yassin was “worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel” in removing the enemy.

What is happening April 9, 2010? Palestinians are still living in refugee camps in Gaza, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank and around the world. Israel continues to expand its settlements and occupation of Palestinian territory. Twin Ports Break the Bonds Campaign invites you to commemorate this tragic event with a protest and an educational event. We also invite you to join us in building a movement to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine – and to boycott, divest and impose sanctions against Israel until it does so.

See the video Deir Yassin Remembered at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=341600202419569830&ei=UiSTS_mGDJiaqALejtjUAg&q=Deir+yassin+Remembered&hl=en#

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.deiryassin.org/images/ruins/ph_ruins20.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bandannie.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/deir-yassin-april-9-1948

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin

APRIL 9 EVENTS:

Noon Assemble at either the Center for Just Living in Tower Hall of the College of St. Scholastica, or the Kirby Student Center of UMD, for a march to the intersection of College Street and E. 19th Street where we’ll hold signs.

7pm: Prof. Joel Sipress will give a presentation on the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, followed by a film by Anna Balzer. Duluth-Superior Friends Meetinghouse 1802 E. 1^st St. Duluth

Cali Owings, MNDaily, 26 January 2010

Al-Madinah Cultural Center and the Break the Bonds at the University of Minnesota student group s are hosting “Gaza Week” events this week to raise awareness of the Israeli occupation a year after the invasion of the northern Gaza Strip.

Beginning with a body count simulation and candlelight vigil Monday outside of Coffman Union, this week’s activities will include a Wednesday panel discussion and a screening of a documentary.

“We want a good dialogue,” said Fuad Hannon , a second-year finance major and Al-Madinah president. Hannon said he wants to bring to light a struggle he said many people only have a vague idea about.

Break the Bonds contacted Al-Madinah to organize these events. Hannon said the two groups shared a mutual interest educating students about a perspective they claim is not covered by mainstream media.

Minnesota Break the Bonds is a campaign against the Israeli occupation in Gaza. Rachel Orville , a graduate student at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, said the goal is to educate students and Minnesota residents because their tax dollars support the occupation.

Orville said Break the Bonds is a group of “Americans from different religious bases who have a common understanding of the political conflict.”

Despite their intentions to educate and create an open dialogue, Hannon admits that controversy will probably arise.

“It’s bound to make certain people uncomfortable,” he said.

The project has certainly left an impression on junior applied economics major Max Dougherty .

After seeing the body count simulation, which claimed a 100-1 ratio of dead Palestinians to Israelis during the Gaza War of December 2008 and January 2009 , Dougherty said, “It puts things into perspective … it makes what you read here jump off the page.”

However, Samantha Bass , a University senior working with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America , is skeptical of a 100-1 body count being used by Break the Bonds.

Bass compared the conflict to the story of David and Goliath.

Americans see Israel as Goliath because it’s the stronger, wealthier power and the Palestinian people as David, Bass said.

“Israel is defending itself [from Palestinian missiles] and that’s sometimes lost in the media,” she said.

According to a U.N.-commissioned fact-finding mission, Palestinian groups estimated that more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza War, while the Israeli Army claimed a death toll of 1,166 Palestinians. The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that 13 Israelis were killed during the conflict.

Monday night, the Gaza Week participants huddled around the simulation for the candlelight vigil in the snow and shared a moment of silence.

Amber Michel , a student from St. Cloud State University who first held the body count simulation, opened the vigil with words she attributed to the first Israeli Prime minister David Ben-Gurion , “The old will die, and the young will forget.”

“We are here because we do not forget,” Michel said.

Though the object of Gaza Week is to encourage discourse and different perspectives, Senna El Bakri , a second-year PSEO student and Al-Madinah secretary, said it’s also meant to stir controversy.

When asked about alienating Jewish students, Hannon and Orville reiterated that the occupation is a political conflict, not a religious one.

There was a frustrated mood at Hillel Jewish Student Center over Gaza Week.

Phil Meyer , a Jewish second-year and applied economics major who has visited Israel three times, stated the demonstration was “a little disheartening.”

“If America did not support Israel, it might not exist anymore,” he said.

Gaza Week will conclude with a lecture from Hatem Bazian, a University of California-Berkeley professor who many consider to be a highly controversial speaker.