Back مذبحة الدوايمة Arabic Masakr u Ed-Davajimi BS Masacre de Al-Dawayima Spanish کشتار دوایمه Persian פרשת דווימה HE Massacro di al-Dawayima Italian الدوایمہ قتل عام Urdu
31°31′58″N 34°55′4″E / 31.53278°N 34.91778°E
| Al-Dawayima massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War | |
 | |
| Location | Al-Dawayima |
| Coordinates | 31°32′10″N 34°54′43″E / 31.53611°N 34.91194°E |
| Date | October 29, 1948 |
| Target | Palestinian civilians |
| Deaths | 80-200+ civilians |
| Perpetrator | Israeli Defense Forces |
The al-Dawayima massacre describes the killing of civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The incident occurred after the town was occupied by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during Operation Yoav, encountering little resistance. The battalion was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces.
Benny Morris has estimated that hundreds of people were killed. Lieutenant-General John Bagot Glubb, the British commander of Jordan's Arab Legion stated the numbers were much smaller, citing a UN report for a figure of 30 women and children killed.[1] A follow-up report delivered to the United Nations by a delegation from the Arab Refugee Congress reported that the Arab Legion had had an interest in underplaying the extent of the massacre, which was, it claimed, worse than the Deir Yassin massacre, in order to avoid further panic and refugee flight.[2] The village mukhtar Hassan Mahmoud Ihdeib, in a sworn statement, estimated the number of victims as 145.[2][3]
- ^ Sir John Bagot Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs, London 1957, pp. 211-212."On October 31st, United Nations observers reported that the Israelis had killed thirty women and children at Dawaima (Dawayima), west of Hebron. It would be an exaggeration to claim that great numbers were massacred. But just enough were killed, or roughly handled, to make sure that all the civilian population took flight, thereby leaving more and more land vacant for future Jewish settlement. These particular villages west of Hebron were to remain vacant and their lands uncultivated for eight years."
- ^ a b 'The Dawaymeh Massacre,' United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine Technical Committee, United Nations A/AC.25/Com.Tech/W.3, 14 June 1949.'The reason why so little is known about this massacre which, in many respects, was more brutal than the Deir Yassin massacre, is because the Arab Legion (the Army in control of that area) feared that if the news was allowed to spread, it would have the same effect on the moral of the peasantry that Deir Yassin had, namely to cause another flow of Arab refugees.'
- ^ Jonathan Ofir, 'The Mukhtar’s sworn testimony,' Mondoweiss, February 12, 2016.