The Eilabun massacre was committed on 30 October 1948 by the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

as part of the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

. A total of 14 men from the

Arab Christian Arab Christians () are the Arabs who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East was estimated in 2012 to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, bu ...

village of

Eilabun Eilabun ( ''Ailabun'', , ) is an Arab Christian village located in the Beit Netofa Valley around south-west of Safed in northern Galilee between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of in , which is predominantly Christian ( ...

were killed, 12 of them executed by the Israeli forces after the village had surrendered. The remaining villagers were expelled to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, living as

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

for some months before being allowed to return in 1949 as part of an agreement between the state of Israel and Archbishop

Maximos V Hakim Maximos V Hakim (; May 18, 1908 – June 29, 2001) was elected Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Alexandria and Jerusalem of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1967 and served until 2000. He guided the church through turbulent changes ...

. It was one of the few

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

villages to which most of the displaced were eventually able to return.Morris, p. 110. The massacre is the subject of the documentary film ''

Sons of Eilaboun ''The Sons of Eilaboun'' () is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker Hisham Zreiq (Zrake), that tells the story of the Eilabun massacre, which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948. Eilabou ...

'' by

Hisham Zreiq Hisham Zreiq (, ; born 9 February 1968), also spelled Zrake, is an Arab Israeli independent filmmaker, poet, animator, musician and visual artist. He began working in computer art in 1994, and in 1996 started exhibiting his work in galleries an ...

Overview

Christian villages, which were usually friendly or not hostile to the

Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...

, were generally left in peace by Yishuv forces. The forces of

Fawzi al-Qawuqji Fawzi al-Qawuqji (, ; 19 January 1890 – 5 June 1977) was a Lebanese-born Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period.The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Henry Holt and Co.; 2009 ...

Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; , better translated as Arab Rescue Army (ARA) or Arab Salvation Army (ASA), was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war. It was set ...

(ALA) occupied

. On the 12th of September 1948, two Israeli soldiers were killed on a nearby hilltop, Outpost 213. The severed heads of the Israeli soldiers were carried by the ALA troops and inhabitants of the village in a procession through the village.Morris, pp. 479, 499 (note 107). The story of the two decapitated soldiers also appears in narratives of the Arab al-Mawasi massacre, which occurred on November 2, 1948. The two soldiers went missing in the attack on 'Outpost 213' on September 12. Israeli intelligence reports attributed their mutilation to the 'Arab al-Mawasi tribe, and reported that one head was taken to

and the other to Maghar. After a battle outside the village in which six Israeli soldiers were injured and four Israeli armoured cars were destroyed, a battle that was part of

Operation Hiram Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the Upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) ...

, the

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...

's 12th Battalion, entered the village on 30 October 1948 and the population surrendered. Villagers flew white flagsMorris, p. 475. and were escorted by four local priests. Most of the villagers were hiding in two churches. The soldiers however were angry due to battle losses, the earlier procession, and possibly the discovery of a rotting head in one of the houses. According to a letter by village elders, one villager was killed and another wounded by IDF fire while assembling at the IDF's orders in the village square. The IDF commander then selected 12 young men, ordered that the 800 assembled inhabitants be led to nearby Maghar, and then stayed behind to execute the 12 men. Another old man was killed by fire from an armoured car on the way. Some 42 young men were kept in a POW detention camp, and the inhabitants were expelled to Lebanon. About fifty-two villagers were left in Eliabun, mainly the elderly and children. The village priests complained bitterly about the expulsion of the villagers and demanded their return. Following a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

investigation and pressure from the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

and discussion within the Israeli government, the villagers were allowed to return and receive Israeli citizenship as part of a 1949 agreement between the state of Israel and archbishop

in return for Hakim's future goodwill. In 1967, Hakim was elevated to Patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church of the East. The event was documented in a report by the United Nations observers.Palumbo, p. 164. Citing the

Archives 13/3.3.1, box 11, a document entitled "Atrocities September–November." On p. 165, there is a sketch of the village rendered by Captain Zeuty showing where the victims were killed and where they were buried. In 1983 the victims were commemorated by a memorial monument adjacent to the Christian cemetery in Eilabun. A second monument commemorating the massacre was built in 1998 but it was soon vandalized and practically effaced.Sorek, pp. 102-104

Eilabun massacre in film

The Sons of Eilaboun ''The Sons of Eilaboun'' () is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker Hisham Zreiq (Zrake), that tells the story of the Eilabun massacre, which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948. Eilabo ...

() is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker

that tells the story of the massacre.

References

Citations

Sources

Morris, Benny Benny Morris (; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. Morris was initially associated with the g ...

, ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2004. * Palumbo, Michael. ''The Palestinian Catastrophe: The 1948 Expulsion Of A People From Their Homeland,'' London: Quartet, 1989. *

Notes

External links

Palestine Remembered - Eliabun

The Sons of Eliaboun
*

Palestinian Diaspora
by Gary Olson

by Robin Miller
The expulsion of the Palestinians re-examined
By Dominique Vidal

{{Coord, 32, 50, 18.24, N, 35, 24, 02.74, E, display=title October 1948 in Asia 1948 massacres of Palestinians Massacres committed by Israel 1948 in Christianity 1948 in Israel Massacres of Christians Israeli massacres of Palestinians Persecution of Christians by Jews