Eyewitness: Palestinian refugees fled in 1948 due to stories of Jews “slaughtering women”

Eyewitness: Palestinian refugees fled in 1948 due to stories of Jews “slaughtering women”

Palestinian refugee Fatima Al-Ja’afari: “[Arab refugees in 1948] fled because of the battle at Hulda. They said: ‘Now they will slaughter us.’ What ]scared[ them was the stories of [women’s] honor. They said that at Deir Yassin they slaughtered women and violated their honor (i.e., raped them). So the moment they heard a shot they fled.”

[Official PA TV, Stories from Palestine, June 5, 2022]

Deir Yassin - On April 9, 1948, Jewish fighters from the Irgun and Lehi military groups, part of the forces opening the blockaded road to Jerusalem, attacked the Arab village of Deir Yassin. When the battle was over, the village had fallen and in addition to the Arab fighters killed, 107 civilians were also killed. Narratives differ as to whether the civilians were killed in the crossfire or were intentionally murdered by the Irgun and Lehi fighters.