Here's a bit of history Deir Yassin massacre
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Irgun Zevai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Israel Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of roughly 600 people.[1] The assault occurred as Jewish militia sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem by Palestinian forces during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine.[2]
Around 107 villagers were killed during and after the battle for the village, including women and children—some were shot, while others died when hand grenades were thrown into their homes.[3] Several villagers were taken prisoner and may have been killed after being paraded through the streets of West Jerusalem, though accounts vary.[4] Four of the attackers died, with around 35 injured.[5] The killings were condemned by the leadership of the Haganah—the Jewish community's main paramilitary force—and by the area's two chief rabbis. The Jewish Agency for Israel sent Jordan's King Abdullah a letter of apology, which he rebuffed.[2]
The deaths became a pivotal event in the Arab-Israeli conflict for their demographic and military consequences. The narrative was embellished and used by various parties to attack each other—by the Palestinians to besmirch Israel; by the Haganah to play down their own role in the affair; and by the Israeli Left to accuse the Irgun and Lehi of violating the Jewish principle of purity of arms, thus blackening Israel's name around the world.[6] News of the killings sparked terror within the Palestinian community, encouraging them to flee from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish troop advances, and it strengthened the resolve of Arab governments to intervene, which they did five weeks later.[2]
I left the footnote markers in so that you know there is documentation on the source I linked. My purpose here is not to try to justify killing on either side. I have been to involved with wonderful people on both sides of this conflict and every death on either side is a source of real pain for me. If you read on I'll try to make a point.
I don't think I stretch a point to compare the experience of the Israelis with that of the early United States. Both were involved in conquest. Conquest is not a very complex idea. You take over another people by force. They usually fight back and if you have the power you keep killing them until they stop. After the United States killed enough of the people they conquered the war like killing stopped although it went on in other ways. I find it hard to believe that the people we conquered have ever been happy with what we did or with what has become of those who remain conquered.
We could go to a second conquest here in the United States and realize that we are still not over the conquest of the South by the North. The feelings of so many in the conquered South are anything but accepting even today.
So now we look at Gaza and the Palestinians. The parallels are many yet there are big differences too. A quick glance at series of maps of Palestine over the years shows the ongoing take over of territory by the Israelis. The Palestinians have little left and it begins to look like they may face eventual extermination if they try to stay. Here the native population has had no where to go and has barely escaped extermination. In the South things are different for obvious reasons.
The world has been involved in the Middle east struggle for a long time and the Palestinians have been political pawns for a long time. The Arab nations used them and so have others.
I did my post doctoral work in Israel from 1963 to 1965. I studied the history very carefully before I went. My experience there was a bit misleading for my mentor, Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky
was murdered in a terrorist attack at Ben Gurion International Airport in 1972 in which 26 people were killed and 80 injured. [1] His younger brother, Ephraim Katzir, became the President of Israel in 1973.
. He was a pacifist. He was a kind, gentle man. Those of us who knew him loved him very much. He probably would have won a Nobel prize had he lived, but that is mere speculation. In 1982 they had a commemorative meeting for him at the Weizmann institute. On the morning we arrived the Israelis went to war in Lebanon. I got to come home at the end of the conference because the airport was open for one hour just at the time of my flight. War planes loaded with weapons flew over us as we held our meetings. They were clearly less loaded when they returned. An ironic stetting for commemorating a pacifist.
Once again I am sick from the news we get every day. Both side claim a "right" to kill the other. Where does any such right come from? What right did we have to do what we did to the Native people? Did they have a right to kill us? These questions will never have answers for they are framed in a context that is wrong. Violence is used either by those who think they can get away with it or by those who think they can prevent further violence by using it. Both ideas are insane. We kive in an insane world. Sometimes the pain is unbearable!