Deir Yassin was the worst atrocity of the 1947 War
‘Deir Yassin was the worst atrocity of the 1947-49 War’ How far do you agree?
The 1947-49 conflict appears to me to as a war made up of 3 phases of fighting which was initially started by the civil war in Palestine from November 1947 to May 1948. The Deir Yassin massacre happened in this almost ‘introduction’ to the 2 year war.
In April 1948, Irgun fighters led by Menachem Begin attacked the village of Deir Yassin, located in the Arab state proposed by UNSCOP (UN special committee on Palestine) and then the UN. Around 107 villagers were killed by the 120 Irgun fighters. In a village of roughly 600 civilians wiping out about 17% of the population must be considered to be quite an atrocity. It also had a powerful effect on both sides as a motive for justice and as propaganda or a legend of the Jewish forces. Even Begin himself wrote “The Arabs began to flee in terror even before they clashed with Jewish forces… The legend was worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel.” This however shows Deir Yassin more of a legend and a threat of the capabilities of the Jews rather than it being the worst atrocity of the war.
But to truly answer if Deir Yassin was the worst ‘atrocity’ we have to understand the meaning of that word. From a neutral point of view, the worst atrocity would be the conflict where the most lives are lost and the most destruction occurs. When researching into the fighting between the Jews and Arabs it appears there was numerous ‘massacres’ and operation that took place during the war, some with death tolls and annihilation much larger than that of Deir Yassin.
Operation Yoav, an Israeli military operation from 15–22 October 1948 was extremely devastating for Palestinian Arabs with 7 Arab villages captured and destroyed with their population either fleeing or being physically expelled within this time period. Over 9000 people originally populated these villages including Beersheeba where the Israeli’s defeated over 5000 Egyptian
The 1947-49 conflict appears to me to as a war made up of 3 phases of fighting which was initially started by the civil war in Palestine from November 1947 to May 1948. The Deir Yassin massacre happened in this almost ‘introduction’ to the 2 year war.
In April 1948, Irgun fighters led by Menachem Begin attacked the village of Deir Yassin, located in the Arab state proposed by UNSCOP (UN special committee on Palestine) and then the UN. Around 107 villagers were killed by the 120 Irgun fighters. In a village of roughly 600 civilians wiping out about 17% of the population must be considered to be quite an atrocity. It also had a powerful effect on both sides as a motive for justice and as propaganda or a legend of the Jewish forces. Even Begin himself wrote “The Arabs began to flee in terror even before they clashed with Jewish forces… The legend was worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel.” This however shows Deir Yassin more of a legend and a threat of the capabilities of the Jews rather than it being the worst atrocity of the war.
But to truly answer if Deir Yassin was the worst ‘atrocity’ we have to understand the meaning of that word. From a neutral point of view, the worst atrocity would be the conflict where the most lives are lost and the most destruction occurs. When researching into the fighting between the Jews and Arabs it appears there was numerous ‘massacres’ and operation that took place during the war, some with death tolls and annihilation much larger than that of Deir Yassin.
Operation Yoav, an Israeli military operation from 15–22 October 1948 was extremely devastating for Palestinian Arabs with 7 Arab villages captured and destroyed with their population either fleeing or being physically expelled within this time period. Over 9000 people originally populated these villages including Beersheeba where the Israeli’s defeated over 5000 Egyptian