1948 atrocities fuel ongoing wars on Palestine
JVL Introduction
Ethnic cleansing laid the foundations of the State of Israel. New documents that had been discarded, and discovered by accident, provide further evidence of what happened, what was done and lay bare the flagrant disregard for the rights and dignity or Palestinian people. This approach has continued to inform Israeli policy and practice since then. This is how Jewish soldiers were operating:
“If an “outside Arab” was found in a village, according to Broshi’s directives, he was to be shot immediately. In general, the rule was to shoot “every 10th man” in a captured village where outsiders were found. In addition, all the men in any household in which property stolen from Jews was found were to be executed.”
“I conquered the city. I gave an order to annihilate anyone who appeared in the street, whether they resisted or did not resist. An order was given to destroy everything. After the surrender – the murder stopped. Until then everyone was killed – women and children and everyone.” Yisrael Carmi, a battalion commander
“There were operations in which the potential enemy, namely civilians, was annihilated. In Safsaf, Jish, Ilaboun, Lod, Ramle and in the south, on a large scale. The intention was to expel. It is impossible to expel 114,000 people who lived [in the Galilee] without terror. There had to have been an element of initial terror for them to leave.” Mordechai Maklef, an operations officer
This is a chilling and important read not least as a reminder of how we have arrived at the cruel and destructive present.
LL
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Fri 27 Feb 2026. Read the original here.
'Terror Was Needed to Make Arabs Leave': What the Israeli Army Did in 1948, Revealed
Thousands of newly discovered documents now make it possible to tell the true story of Israel’s expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 – and to begin to grasp its bitter implications, post-October 7
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Utter depravity, built-in dishonesty and determined flouting of international law … no wonder a state founded on such behaviours and not repenting of them is as twisted and dangerous as Israel is today.
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