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://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. 1st St. Duluth