Arab al-Mawasi massacre

This article is about the 1948 massacre in the Galilee. For the 2024 attack in the Gaza Strip, see 13 July 2024 Al-Mawasi airstrikes.

On November 2, 1948, two squads of Israel Defense Forces soldiers captured an encampment of Bedouins at Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' in the eastern Galilee. While some soldiers guarded the Arabs, others went to a nearby hilltop where the headless bodies of two Israeli soldiers were found. In retaliation, the Arabs' dwellings were destroyed and 15 or 16 adult males were shot, 14 of whom died.

Arab al-Mawasi massacre
Part of the 1948 Palestine war
Arab al-Mawasi massacre
Location	Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda', Mandatory Palestine
Date	November 2, 1948
Deaths	14 Palestinian Arabs
Injured	2 Palestinian Arabs
Perpetrator	Israel Defense Forces

Most of the victims were members of the 'Arab Al-Mawasi clan. Their bodies were buried in a cave adjacent to the place where they were killed. In the 1950s, the Israeli National Water Project was dug through the cave, and the Mawasi people took the bones to another cave. During the 1980s the bones were moved to a common grave in the Muslim cemetery in Eilabun.^[1]

References

1. Sorek 2015, p. 100

Sources

• Morris, Benny (2001). Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus of 1948. In The War for Palestine, Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 57 (citing Israel Defense Forces Archives 1096\1949\\65). ISBN 0-521-79476-5
• Khalidi, Walid (ed.) (1992), All That Remains. Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992. ISBN 0-88728-224-5
• Sorek, Tamir (2015). Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804795180.

See also

• Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war

External links

• Welcome To al-Wa'ra al-Sawda', Khirbat