ISRAEL ELÄKÖÖN - ISRAEL MUST LIVE!


Vieras

/ #701

30.08.2011 21:03


Lydda / Ramle

Operation Dani

Allon asked what was to be done with the residents; in response, Ben-Gurion had waved his hand and said, "garesh otam"—"expel them."[42] In the manuscript of his memoirs in 1979, Rabin wrote that Ben-Gurion had not spoken, but had only waved his hand, and that Rabin had understand this to mean "drive them out."[41] The expulsion order for Lydda was issued at 13:30 hours on 12 July, signed by Rabin.[43]

In his memoirs Rabin wrote: "'Driving out' is a term with a harsh ring. Psychologically, this was one of the most difficult actions we undertook. The population of Lod did not leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the use of force and warning shots in order to make the inhabitants march the 10 to 15 miles to the point where they met up with the legion." An Israeli censorship board removed this section from his manuscript, but Peretz Kidron, the Israeli journalist who translated the memoirs into English, passed the censored text to David Shipler of The New York Times, who published it on 23 October 1979.[41]

...three days, the townspeople had undergone aerial bombardment, ground invasion, had seen grenades thrown into their homes and hundreds of residents killed, had been living under a curfew, had been abandoned by the Arab Legion, and the able-bodied men had been rounded up.

....Thousands of Ramle residents began moving out of the town on foot, or in trucks and buses, between 10 July and 12 July. The IDF used its own vehicles and confiscated Arab ones to move them.[47

Lydda's residents began moving out on the morning of 13 July. They were made to walk, perhaps because of their earlier resistance, or simply because there were no vehicles left. They walked six to seven kilometers to Beit Nabala, then 10–12 more to Barfiliya, along dusty roads in temperatures of 30–35°C, carrying their children and portable possessions in carts pulled by animals or on their backs.[55]

Shmarya Guttman of the IDF wrote that the march made him think of the exile of Israel or a pogrom.[57] After being on the move three days, the refugees were picked up by the Arab Legion and driven to Ramallah.[58]

Reports vary regarding how many died. Many were elderly people and young children who died from the heat and exhaustion.[41] Morris attributes a figure of 335 dead.