You will go by Highway 1, the Tel Aviv- Jerusalem highway. It is the way to enter Jerusalem from the sea.
When you are about 4-5 miles from Jerusalem- look up. Don't do this if you are the driver or you will get into an accident on the winding road. You will look up not at an angle of 30 or 60 degrees. You will need to look almost straight up. As you are straining your neck, you will see the very top of the "hill". There was Dir Yassin- commanding the entire entrance to besieged Jerusalem.
The Arabs would insult your intelligence by telling you that during a war this very vital strategic location was a peaceful village with villagers going about minding their own business until the "evil" zionists showed up.
Visit Jerusalem. Look up. Let your own eyes prove their lies.
Visit Jerusalem. Look up. Let your own eyes prove their lies.
I believe you since you've been there many times. And this is exactly right. It was a strategic location for Arab irregulars who were sniping at Jewish food and supply convoys. It was the reason the Arabs almost completely destroyed the Jewish truck fleet and were trying to starve out the Jews in Jerusalem BEFORE Israel was even declared a nation-state.
Deir Yassin was a strategic point, because the Arab forces were shelling the Jewish convoys heading from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem from the hills. The Jewish army needed to take Deir Yassin to stop the shelling and ensure the security of their supply lines.
When the Jewish army entered the village, the residents surrenered. But it was a phoney surrender. The Jewish army, thinking the enemy had surrendered, let their guard down. They were then ambushed by town residents, many of whom were men dressed in women's traditional loose clothing to hide their weapons! Many Jewish soldiers were killed or wounded in the ambush. In the firefight, many Arabs were killed. So there is no doubt that some of the Jewish army were extremely angry at having been tricked and ambushed by a phoney surrender. It does not excuse any deliberate killing of innocent people, but it sure goes a long way to explain why so many people died at Deir Yassin. This is the part of the story that the Arab Propeganists refuse to acknowlege.
While the Jewish army proclaimed 250 dead, and the NY times said apx 200 dead, Arab sources said only 100 dead. The revised number of dead at Deir Yassin, as per Arab research, is 107 dead. Sad yes, but considering the phoney surrender and ambush, not very suprising.