Kfar Etzion massacre: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|Event in the 1947–1949 Palestine warWar}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

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The '''Kfar Etzion massacre''' refers to a massacre of Jews that took place after a two-day battle in which Jewish [[Kibbutz]] residents and [[Haganah]] militia defended [[Kfar Etzion]] from a combined force of the [[Arab Legion]] and local Arab men on May 13, 1948, the day before the [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|Israeli Declaration of Independence]]. Of the 127 Haganah fighters and Jewish kibbutzniks who died during the defence of the settlement, [[Martin Gilbert]] states that fifteen were killed on surrendering.<ref>[[Martin Gilbert]], ''Jerusalem - Illustrated History Atlas,'', V. Mitchell 1994, page 93.</ref>

Controversy surrounds the responsibility and role of the Arab Legion in the killing of those who surrendered. The official Israeli version maintains that the kibbutz residents and Haganah soldiers were massacred by local Arabs and the Arab Legion of the Jordanian Army as they were surrendering. The Arab Legion version maintains that the Legion arrived too late to prevent the kibbutz attack by men from nearby Arab villages, which was allegedly motivated by a desire to avenge the [[massacre of Deir Yassin]] and the destruction of one of their villages several months earlier.<ref>[[Henry Laurens (scholar)|Henry Laurens]], ''[[La Question de Palestine]],'' vol.2, Fayard 2007 p.96.:'According to the Arab Legion version, the Jordanian soldiers arrived too late to impede the massacre by villagers who were keen to avenge Deir Yassin and the losses they had sustained since November (it should be kept in mind that it was the colony that opened hostilities in December by destroying a nearby village)'. Selon la version de la Légion, les soldats jordaniens sont arrivés trop tard pour empêcher le massacre de la part des villageois désireux de venger Deir Yassin et leurs pertes depuis le mois de novembre (il faut rappeler que c'est la colonie qui a ouvert les hostilités en décembre en détruisant un village voisin).' Laurens adds:'Le plus probable est que tout se soit passé dans la plus grande confusion' (Most probably, everything took place in a situation of enormous confusion.)</ref> The surrendering Jewish residents and fighters are said to have been assembled in a courtyard, only to be suddenly fired upon; it is said that many died on the spot, while most of those who managed to flee were hunted down and killed.<ref name="Benvenisti"/>

Four prisoners survived the massacre and were transferred to Transjordan.<ref name="Benvenisti">[[Meron Benvenisti]],[https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich/page/116 "Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948''], University of California Press, 2000 p.116</ref> Immediately following the surrender on May 13, the kibbutz was looted and razed to the ground.<ref name="Benvenisti"/> The members of the three other kibbutzim of the Gush Etzion surrendered the next day and were taken as [[Prisoner of war|POWs]] to Jordan.

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==Massacre==

In the Israeli mainstream version, whenWhen the hopelessness of their position became undeniable on May 13, dozens of defenders, the ''haverim'', of Kfar Etzion laid down their arms and assembled in the courtyard, where they suddenly began to be shot at. Those not slain in the first volleys of fire pushed past the Arabs, and either escaped to hide, or gathered their weapons,<ref>Dov Knohl,''Siege in the Hills:: The Battle of the Etzion Bloc,'' T. Yoseloff, 1958, p. 334.</ref> and were hunted down.<ref>Benny Morris, ''The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews,''pp. 138-39</ref> The number of people killed and the perpetrators, the Arab legion or local village irregulars or both, are in dispute. According to one account, the main group of about 50 defenders were surrounded by a large number of Arab irregulars, who shouted "[[Deir Yassin massacre|Deir Yassin!]]" and ordered the Jews to sit down, stand up, and sit down again, when suddenly someone opened fire on the Jews with a machine gun and others joined in the killing. Those Jews not immediately cut down tried to run away but were pursued. According to Meron Benvenisti, hand grenades were thrown into a cellar, killing a group of 50 who were hiding there. The building was blown up.<ref name="Benvenisti"/>

According to other sources, 20 women hiding in a cellar were killed.<ref>[[Ruth Gruber]] ,''Israel on the seventh day,'' Hill and Wang, 1968 p.30.'Twenty women who had hidden in a cellar were massacred by Arabs with hand grenades.'</ref> David Ohana writes that 127 Israeli fighters were killed on the last day.<ref>David Ohana, ''The Origins of Israeli Mythology: Neither Canaanites Nor Crusaders,'' Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 104.</ref>