The village of Deir Yassin in Aug. 2023 still standing 75 years after being cleansed Jaber Family Album
The massacre of Deir Yassin was among the most gruesome and horrific events to be documented in the Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948.
Deir Yassin is a village in the northwest suburbs of Jerusalem and happens to be the village my family and ancestors originate from.
During the early hours of the morning on April 9, 1948, the Zionist militias, the Irgun and Stern Gang, had advanced towards Deir Yassin in hopes to ethnically cleanse the village and occupy it. The reason for wanting to overtake Deir Yassin lies in the fact that the village sits atop a hill on the main road that connects Jerusalem to the port city of Yafa.
The Zionists believed if they took Deir Yassin, they could control the trade route and eventually control the land in between. Due to the village only having one watchman gave the Zionists confidence and extra willingness to carry out the attack.
The watchman that night happened to be my great-uncle, Mahmoud Attiyah-Akel. When my great-uncle saw intruders crawling up the hill, he quickly alerted the village they were being attacked.
Many families had begun trying to escape Deir Yassin for fear of being attacked or killed. Many children, like my maternal grandmother and her brothers, who were 12, 9, and 5, fled without their parents and followed the large crowds out of the village.
They thought they would be gone for a few hours, maybe a couple days or weeks, and then return, except they would never see their beloved Deir Yassin ever again.
Over 100 inhabitants of the village rose to martyrdom as a result of the massacre. Men, women, children, and elderly were not spared in the bloodbath. Eleven members of my own family were martyred, among them my great-great-grandfather Ismail Attiyah-Akel, my great-grandfather Mohammad Attiyah-Akel, my great-grandmother Sarah Kobariya, and my great-uncle Mahmoud, may they rest in peace.
Saying war crimes were committed in Deir Yassin is an understatement.
Members of the village were lined up against the walls and executed. Some villagers were burned, including the village baker, originally from Hebron, and his son. It was said that the terrorists had ordered the baker to throw his son into the oven, and when he refused, they threw not only his son into the fire, but the baker as well.
The terrorists had also stolen lots of gold and money from Deir Yassin. It was told by word of mouth that one lady was bargaining with a terrorist to not kill her brother in exchange for her gold; he took her gold and killed her brother anyway.
To say that the villagers of Deir Yassin were helpless and accepted their fates of being slaughtered by the Zionist militias would be a lie. The villagers of Deir Yassin resisted their attackers with all their might, like anyone in their position would.
The villagers almost successfully fended off their intruders, were it not for a group of elite members from the Palmach group who came and “finished off” Deir Yassin, after the Irgun and Stern Gang failed in their task.
Unfortunately, after five hours of fighting and resisting, Deir Yassin fell to the Zionist invaders.
After the ethnic cleansing of Deir Yassin, Zionist terrorists had paraded around men they had taken hostage from the village around West Jerusalem, claiming “victory.” Zionist forces had also spread false and misinformation from what they did in Deir Yassin, saying they had raped women and cut open the bellies of pregnant women.
Upon hearing this propaganda, those in neighboring villages and cities had begun to flee in panic they would be next.
Although Deir Yassin was not the first village to be massacred in the Nakba, it is one of the most publicized and remembered. It’s unfortunate to say that the massacre of Deir Yassin was a turning point in the Nakba, and ultimately made space for the Zionist state to be established.
Even Israeli politician and founder of the Likud Party, Menachem Begin, had said that the massacre of Deir Yassin was a catalyst for the founding of the Zionist state of Israel.
Though the massacre of Deir Yassin was one of the worst documented massacres of the Nakba and in Palestinian history at the time, it does not compare to the war crimes Zionist terrorists are carrying out in Gaza today.
Watching Gaza be burned to the ground and slaughtered en mass is not something new, unfortunately, and is a product of the ethnic cleansing Israel has been committing for decades.
It’s not fair to look at the genocide in Gaza and say it’s a war, and it is of the utmost ignorance to deny the history of the Palestinians and call our occupation a “conflict.” The effects of the Nakba are still present in current Palestinian society and continue to be repeated.
In short, when looking at current day Palestine, it is important to know that the Nakba is still relevant, even though some might think otherwise.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, and that is a promise.
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