As
one of the 'new' or revisionist Israeli historians, I have followed with
interest the debate about Jewish participation in the
Some
details are still in dispute, but the broad outlines of the story are clear. It
is very much to
It
was probably not premeditated, but a massacre it was, and it claimed the lives
of over a hundred Palestinians.
Some
of your correspondents would be well advised to consult Benny Morris's 1988
book, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949. Morris makes it
clear that there was a prolonged firefight followed by a massacre.
Dr.
Colin Leci (JC, February 23rd) is wrong to describe Deir Yassin as 'a heavily
armed Arab military post.' It was a small village that had concluded a
non-aggression pact with the Haganah. Haganah forces assisted in the initial
attack on the village with mortar fire but they took no part in the subsequent slaughter.
During
the house-to-house fighting the Irgun and Lehi units did not save '40 women,
children and elderly people who had been forced to remain.' After the fighting
was over, the dissidents rounded up unarmed civilians and murdered dozens of
them. There were cases of mutilation and rape. While irregular Arab forces did
defend the village, there is no reliable evidence that some of them were
dressed up as women.
Dr.
Leci described the inhabitants of Deir Yassin as 'the victims of war'. The
available evidence suggests that most of them were the victims of an atrocity
committed by members of the Irgun and Lehi.
Rabbi
Dr. Sidney Brichto (March 2nd) advises Jews not to join in the commemoration of
this sad event. He fears this would give a propaganda coup to the Palestinian
authorities. True, there is a risk that the commemoration of a human tragedy
which occurred 53 years ago may be exploited for propaganda purposes today.
Rabbi Brichto is not obliged to run this risk. But the position he has adopted
is not exactly a shining example of moral courage.