Reply #10: Interesting [View All]

[Lithos]

The "rift" between the controversy over whether Deir Yassin happened or not coincides with the struggle between those who identify with the successors to ETZEL and those of the Haganah, not between Israel and the Arabs.

The rift is often portrayed by those identifying with ETZEL/LEHI as being an invention by the Haganah to discredit ETZEL during a moment of success; this invention of course being taken up by the media and Arabs at large.

Probably the best and most available source for this examination is Uri Milstein whose Vol IV of the "History of Israel's War of Independence" talks at length about the personal, first hand, observations of the immediate aftermath by not only the Haganah, but also the Red Cross (Dr.'s Reynier and Engel), several Jewish doctors from Jerusalem, and the commanders of the Jerusalem GADNA brigade who were to serve as the garrison force.

Dr. Engel's comment: "There were corpses in the houses, about 100 men, women, and children. It was awful. I didn't see any signs of mutilation or rape. Clearly, had gone house to house and shot people point-blank. In five years as a doctor with the German Army during World War I, I'd never seen such a ghastly sight." (p. 371)

There is also a fairly interesting commentary concerning the threat of force by GADNA personnel against ETZEL/LEHI men telling them that they wouldn't let them leave Deir Yassin unless they buried the dead. There also were some comparisons made by the burning of the bodies against the crematorium's of the Nazi's.