Deir Yassin Remembered : Information Clearing House
The anniversary of the day Baghdad fell nine years ago during the US-led invasion of Iraq also marked the anniversary of the massacre in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin by Jewish forces 64 years before.
Ironically, in the month that Israel has arranged world-wide celebrations to mark its 64th birthday on 26 April this year, Palestine has marked the 64th anniversary of this butchery and carnage, even as almond and olive blossoms and spring flowers fill the slopes of the village where this happened with fragrant life.
The anniversary also marks the beginning of the policy of "cleansing" Palestine's villages by Jewish forces, aiming at the destruction, diminution and fragmentation of what was once Palestine.
The Deir Yassin massacre marked the first time Jewish forces had gone on the attack, setting a precedent and causing a weeping wound in the collective Palestinian soul. Since then, year after year, Palestinian homes, farms, orchards, livelihoods, and even fishing grounds have been destroyed or separated by Israel's security wall, an "iron curtain" that has descended across the land.
One graphic description of the attack on the village of Deir Yassin comes from the diaries of the then Swiss representative of the International Red Cross, Jacques de Reynier, who was the first to reach the site. He was let in by an "enormous German-born member of the Irgun," who told Reynier he owed his life to the Red Cross.
The Jewish Irgun and Stern gangs had denied any involvement in the events at Deir Yassin and had accused Ha Haganah ("Defence"), the Jewish paramilitary organisation that operated in Palestine under the British mandate, of having carried it out. Haganah subsequently became the core of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
The anniversary of the day Baghdad fell nine years ago during the US-led invasion of Iraq also marked the anniversary of the massacre in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin by Jewish forces 64 years before.
Ironically, in the month that Israel has arranged world-wide celebrations to mark its 64th birthday on 26 April this year, Palestine has marked the 64th anniversary of this butchery and carnage, even as almond and olive blossoms and spring flowers fill the slopes of the village where this happened with fragrant life.
The anniversary also marks the beginning of the policy of "cleansing" Palestine's villages by Jewish forces, aiming at the destruction, diminution and fragmentation of what was once Palestine.
The Deir Yassin massacre marked the first time Jewish forces had gone on the attack, setting a precedent and causing a weeping wound in the collective Palestinian soul. Since then, year after year, Palestinian homes, farms, orchards, livelihoods, and even fishing grounds have been destroyed or separated by Israel's security wall, an "iron curtain" that has descended across the land.
One graphic description of the attack on the village of Deir Yassin comes from the diaries of the then Swiss representative of the International Red Cross, Jacques de Reynier, who was the first to reach the site. He was let in by an "enormous German-born member of the Irgun," who told Reynier he owed his life to the Red Cross.
The Jewish Irgun and Stern gangs had denied any involvement in the events at Deir Yassin and had accused Ha Haganah ("Defence"), the Jewish paramilitary organisation that operated in Palestine under the British mandate, of having carried it out. Haganah subsequently became the core of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
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