From: hm@cs.brown.edu (Harry Mamaysky)
Subject: Dir Yassin (was Re: no-Free man propaganda machine: Freeman, with blood greetings from Israel)
In-Reply-To: hasan@McRCIM.McGill.EDU 's message of Tue, 13 Apr 93 14:15:18 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Brown University
Lines: 85

In article <1993Apr13.141518.13900@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu> hasan@McRCIM.McGill.EDU  writes:

   CHECK MENAHEM BEGIN DAIRIES (published book) you'll find accounts of the
   massacres there including Deir Yassen,
   though with the numbers of massacred men, children and women are 
   greatly minimized.

As per request of Hasan:

From _The Revolt_, by Menachem Begin, Dell Publishing, NY, 1977:

[pp. 225-227]

    "Apart from the military aspect, there is a moral aspect to the
story of Dir Yassin. At that village, whose name was publicized
throughout the world, both sides suffered heavy casualties. We had
four killed and nearly forty wounded. The number of casualties was
nearly forty percent of the total number of the attackers. The Arab
troops suffered casualties neraly three times as heavy. The fighting
was thus very severe. Yet the hostile propaganda, disseminated
throughout the world, deliberately ignored the fact that the civilian
population of Dir Yassin was actually given a warning by us before the
battle began. One of our tenders carrying a loud speaker was stationed
at the entrance to the village and it exhorted in Arabic all women,
children and aged to leave their houses and to take shelter on the
slopes of the hill.  By giving this humane warning our fighters threw
away the element of complete surprise, and thus increased their own
risk in the ensuing battle. A substantial number of the inhabitants
obeyed the warning and they were unhurt. A few did not leave their
stone houses - perhaps because of the confusion. The fire of the enemy
was murderous - to which the number of our casualties bears eloquent
testimony. Our men were compelled to fight for every house; to
overcome the enemy they used large numbers of hand grenades. And the
civilians who had disregarded our warnings suffered inevitable
casualties.

    "The education which we gave our soldiers throughout the years of
revolt was based on the observance of the traditional laws of war. We
never broke them unless the enemy first did so and thus forced us, in
accordance with the accepted custom of war, to apply reprisals. I am
convinced, too, that our officers and men wished to avoid a single
unnecessary casualty in the Dir Yassin battle. But those who throw
stones of denunciation at the conquerors of Dir Yassin [1] would do
well not to don the cloak of hypocrisy [2].

    "In connection with the capture of Dir Yassin the Jewish Agency
found it necessary to send a letter of apology to Abdullah, whom Mr.
Ben Gurion, at a moment of great political emotion, called 'the wise
ruler who seeks the good of his people and this country.' The 'wise
ruler,' whose mercenary forces demolished Gush Etzion and flung the
bodies of its heroic defenders to birds of prey, replied with feudal
superciliousness. He rejected the apology and replied that the Jews
were all to blame and that he did not believe in the existence of
'dissidents.' Throughout the Arab world and the world at large a wave
of lying propaganda was let loose about 'Jewish attrocities.'

    "The enemy propaganda was designed to besmirch our name. In the
result it helped us. Panic overwhelmed the Arabs of Eretz Israel.
Kolonia village, which had previously repulsed every attack of the
Haganah, was evacuated overnight and fell without further fighting.
Beit-Iksa was also evacuated. These two places overlooked the main
road; and their fall, together with the capture of Kastel by the
Haganah, made it possible to keep open the road to Jerusalem. In the
rest of the country, too, the Arabs began to flee in terror, even
before they clashed with Jewish forces. Not what happened at Dir
Yassin, but what was invented about Dir Yassin, helped to carve the
way to our decisive victories on the battlefield. The legend of Dir
Yassin helped us in particular in the saving of Tiberias and the
conquest of Haifa."


[1] (A footnote from _The Revolt_, pp.226-7.) "To counteract the loss
of Dir yassin, a village of strategic importance, Arab headquarters at
Ramallah broadcast a crude atrocity story, alleging a massacre by
Irgun troops of women and children in the village. Certain Jewish
officials, fearing the Irgun men as political rivals, seized upon this
Arab gruel propaganda to smear the Irgun. An eminent Rabbi was induced
to reprimand the Irgun before he had time to sift the truth. Out of
evil, however, good came. This Arab propaganda spread a legend of
terror amongst Arabs and Arab troops, who were seized with panic at
the mention of Irgun soldiers. The legend was worth half a dozen
battalions to the forces of Israel. The `Dir Yassin Massacre' lie
is still propagated by Jew-haters all over the world."

[2] In reference to denunciation of Dir Yassin by fellow Jews.