- from 2001 britannica.com -. . . On July 22, 1946, the Irgun blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 soldiers and civilians (British, Arab, and Jewish). On April 9, 1947, a group of Irgun commandos raided the Arab village of Dayr Yasin (modern Kefar Sha’ul), killing all 254 of its inhabitants.
- from - http://www.zoa.org/pubs/DeirYassin.htm -
. . . Finally, in 1987, the Bir Zeit University study--Arab researchers confirming that one of the central claims of the accusers, the death toll of 254, was a wild and reckless exaggeration. Taken together, these developments and revelations have exposed, once and for all, the lie of the Deir Yassin "massacre." It has taken fifty years, but the truth has finally caught up.
aruanan, all my camels speak highly of you - in fact they miss you very much! They are pining away and loosing weight. I swear, every morning I am awakened by their plaintive cry, "ARR - UUU - ANN - ANNNN"!!!
Their eyes have lost their "twinkle" since I "bought" them from you for twelve goats.
I'll return them in the morning. You can keep the goats.
You read a Reader's Digest version and then you go off and pine away like you've got the truth. A paragraph gives you knowledge and understanding. Do you know what function Deir Yassin was playing in the war? Are you aware that Arab irregulars had installed themselves in Deir Yassin and used it as a point of attack against Jewish convoys and served as a strategic choke-off point for supplies to the Jews in Jerusalem? Are you aware that, because of towns like Deir Yassin the Arabs had succeeded in destroying most of the Jewish truck fleet even before Israel became a nation-state? Are you aware that, as is the usual methodology of the Arab Islamics, they installed themselves in this town to use its inhabitants as a shield? Are you aware that the Jews entered into Deir Yassin and announced that they would be undertaking an operation in that town and that the residents should leave? Are you aware that a number of Arab residents stayed and therefore the Arab irregulars, not surrendering as was their opportunity, engaged the Jews in a firefight? Civilian casualties yes. Exaggerated yes. Arab irregular casualties, yes? Jewish casualties yes. Now why did your Arab Islamic friends start the aggression after the Nov. 29, 1947 Resolution 181 was passed? Why did the Arabs have the Yishuv's (the Jewish governing body before the May 15, 1948 declaration of statehood) back against the wall until April of 1948 where finally the Jews went on the offensive?
The pan Arab Islamic apologists like to pick and choose their "massacres" and then when examined more closely one sees the insidious Arab involvement in precipitating the escalation and killing. Since Deir Yassin was mentioned maybe we ought to mention the Mt. Scopus Massacre of Jews in April of 1948 even before Israel became a nation-state (Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century, p. 203ff.):
On April 14 a convoy made up of ten vehicles - two ambulances, three armoured buses, three trucks with food and hospital supplies, and two small escort cars - set off at 9:30 in the morning for Mount Scopus, after receiving an assurance from the British officer in charge that the road was clear. The vehicles containing doctors, nurses, patients (including an Irgun man injured in the attack on Deir Yassin), and Hebrew University staff, were clearly marked with the insignia of the Magen David Adom - the Red Shield Society - the Jewish equivalent of the Red Cross.Shortly after passing through the suburb of Sheikh Jarrah while moving up the hill to the corner known as Karm al-Mufti, the convoy struck a mine. It had been placed there by an Arab tailor, Mohammed Neggar. The lead escort vehicle, whose occupants were armed, negotiated the crater and tried to act as cover for the rest. The ambulance immediately behind it and two of the buses were damaged and could no longer move. The six vehicles in the rear, including one whose driver had been shot in the face by an Arab gunman, were able to turn around and return safely to the city.
The escort vehicle, the immobilised ambulance and the two buses were then hit by a barrage of rifle and grenade fire from Karm al-Mufti, and by Molotov cocktails. Firing continued throughout the morning. Except for those in the escort vehicle, no one in the convoy was armed; that had been a British condition for allowing the doctors and nurses to proceed....The British military post responsible for the safety of the road was less than 200 yeards away...Colonel Jack Churchill...a half-track with a machine-gunner to accompany him..drove his own armoured car to investigate. As he reached the scene, armed Arabs were arriving from every direction, shooting at the convoy....By three o'clock that afternoon the two buses were on fire. Most of the passengers who had not yet been killed were being burned alive. At a quarter past three Dr Yassky turned to his wife with the words, 'Shalom my dear, it's the end.' At that very moment a bullet passed through the slit in the front armour of the ambulance, and Yassky was killed. Fifteen minutes later, at 3:30, following further requests from Colonol Churchill, troops of the Highland Light Infantry, commanded by Brigadier C.P. Jones, launched an attack on the Arabs surrounding the convoy. Within an hour the Arabs were driven off. Twenty-eight Jews, twenty of whom were wounded, were rescued. Seventy-seven Jews had been killed....The dead in the Hadassah convoy included several leading members of the Faculty of Medecine, among them Dr. L. Doljansky, head of the Cancer Research Department.. He took no part in any social or political activities except for expressing his conviction of the importance of Arab-Jewish friendship......Several people going up to the hospital for surgery were also killed.....
After the Hadassah convoy attack, the Arab Higher Committee issued a statement. The attack had been commanded, it said, by an Iraqi officer. His had been a 'heroic exploit.'.....'Had it not been for Army interference,' the Arab Higher Committee pointed out in anger, 'not a single Jewish passenger would have remained alive.'