Deir Yassin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deir Yassin
Arabic	ديرياسين
Also Spelled	Dayr Yasin
District	Jerusalem
Population	610 (1945)
Jurisdiction	2,857 dunams (2.6 km²)
Date of depopulation	April 9, 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Jewish forces
Current localities	Kfar Shaul and Har Nof neighborhoods of Jerusalem

Deir Yassin (Arabic: ديرياسين‎), was an Arab village, lying 1,400 meters to the north of what is now Yad Vashem, which had declared its neutrality during the 1948 Palestine war. In an effort by the Jewish militias to clear the road to Jerusalem, which was being blockaded by Arab forces, Deir Yassin was attacked and emptied of its inhabitants by Irgun forces. The event became known as the Deir Yassin massacre, in which between 107 and 120 villagers were killed. The Irgun also suffered 37 wounded and 3 dead during the battle.^[1] After the battle, the Irgun forces escorted a representative of the Red Cross through the town and held a press conference.

A year following the massacre, the neighborhood of Givat Shaul Beth was built partially over the village despite scholarly protests to Ben Gurion.^[2] Noam Chomsky reported that some streets were named after units of the Irgun and Palmach forces that conquered the village.^[3] In 2008 however, streets in the former Deir Yassin area do not bear these names.^[4]

In 1951, construction of the Kfar Shaul mental hospital began on the site of the village itself.^[5] In 1980, the remaining ruins were bulldozed to make way for another Jewish neighborhood. The village cemetery was later bulldozed to build a highway to a new Jewish settlement.^[6]

[edit] Before depopulation

Before its depopulation in 1948, it is estimated that Deir Yassin had 610 residents.^[7] Two mosques existed in the village.

[edit] See also

• List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

[edit] References