What Happened?

Between 15-20 February 1948, the Israeli Haganah illegally seized Qisarya, a village south of Haifa. The village was first occupied by the Haganah’s strike force, the Palmach, on February 15 1948, and many villagers fled out of fear of a violent attack to neighbouring villages, such as Tantura.

By February 18th, twenty villagers remained in their homes and were killed by the Palmach, under the command of Josef Tabenkin. The six houses that remained were left untouched due to a shortage of explosives. The village was part of a larger plan to clear the coastal plain north of Tel Aviv.

According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, “Caesarea (Qisarya) was the first pre-planned, organized expulsion of an Arab community by the Haganah in 1948”. 

A few weeks earlier, the Israeli Stern Gang had ambushed a civilian bus en route to Haifa, killing 2 villagers and injuring 8.

References

Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge Middle East Studies, Series Number 18.

Walid, Khalidi (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 .

Pictorial and Evidence

More Massacres