The Abu Shusha massacre took place on 13–14 May 1948 during

Operation Barak Operation Barak (, ''Mivtza Barak'', lit. ''Operation Lightning'') was a Haganah offensive launched just before the end of the British Mandate in Palestine. It was part of Plan Dalet. Its objective was to capture villages North of Gaza in anti ...

, when the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade () is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade formed in 1947. During the 1948 war, it was involved in capturing Palestinian villages in operations ''Hametz'', ''Barak'', and ''Pleshet''. Before Israel's 2005 ...

mortared and then stormed

Abu Shusha Abu Shusha () was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located 8 km southeast of Ramle. It was ethnically cleansed in May 1948. Abu Shusha was located on the slope of Tell Jezer/Tell el-Jazari, whi ...

, in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

, killing between 60 and 70+

Palestinian Arab Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous ...

villagers.

Massacre

On 13 May, the

launched the second stage of

, codenamed "Operation Maccabi". During this, the village of

, located 8 km southeast of Ramle, was targeted. On 13–14 May, Abu Shusha was mortared and then stormed by units of the 51st and 54th battalions. Inhabitants fled and houses were blown up, although some remained. The remaining villagers were expelled on 21 May. A nearby

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

unit reported that "the Jews were killing villagers" on 19 May. The Givati Brigade claimed that only 30 Arabs had been killed, while the Arabs claimed that more than 70 had been killed. Arab authorities in Ramle called for

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

intervention and informed it that "the Jews had committed barbaric acts" in Abu Shusha. A

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

soldier made two attempts to rape a 20-year old female prisoner.

Aftermath

Recent research suggests that around 60 villagers were massacred during the attack. In 1995, a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

with 52 skeletons was discovered in Abu Shusha, although their cause of death is undetermined. Benvenisti, 1996, p.

248 __NOTOC__ Year 248 ( CCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Severus (or, less frequently, year 1001 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

References

{{Massacres against Palestinians 1948 massacres of Palestinians Massacres committed by Israel May 1948 in Asia Haganah attacks Sexual violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israeli massacres of Palestinians

Massacre

Aftermath

See also

References