Tantura massacre tells the story of the Palestinian village and the immediate events following its capturing in 1948. It has reopened the wounds of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) while sparking debate surrounding Israel’s role in the ongoing collective trauma of the Palestinians.
The massacre was carried out by soldiers of the Israeli Alexandroni Brigade on May 22/23 1948.
Between 1937 and 1948 at least 750000 Palestinians or half the population of Palestine were made refugees beyond the borders of the state.
Israeli forces had taken more than 78 percent of historic Palestine ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 500 villages and cities and killed about 5000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities including more than 75 massacres.
Zionist aggressive nature
Speaking to the PIC reporter the Palestinian researcher Awni Fares pointed out that the Israelis committed several massacres against Palestinians during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba which confirms the Zionist blood-thirsty nature.
Many brutal massacres were reported even before the 1948 war he added.
Zionist gangs attacked the Abu Aoun family in Jaffa in 1929. They killed the entire family in cold blood and mutilated their bodies during the 1929 Al-Buraq Revolution he told PIC reporter.
“They also placed explosive devices and car bombs in the Arab neighborhoods of Haifa in 1937 which resulted in dozens of victims.”
However the Nakba massacres were the most criminal massacres including Deir Yassin Al-Dawayima Sasa’ Al-Tantora Majd Al-Krum Nasser Al-Din Abu Shusha Al-Dahmash Mosque massacres he continued.
Tantura massacre
The Palestinian researcher Awni Fares said that Tantura massacre was committed by soldiers of the Israeli Alexandroni Brigade and added that the victims were gathered in one place and killed in cold blood.
Nearly 230 Palestinians were killed during the massacre he added.
The massacre was first revealed in 1989 by an Israeli historian who gathered testimonies of Palestinian eyewitnesses.
Testimonies of Israeli soldiers who participated in the massacre were later collected.
According to the Israeli testimonies a number of the victims were put in barrels before being shot and killed.
The victims were not immediately buried but it took days as some Palestinians were forced to dig a mass grave of approximately 35 meters by 5 meters to bury the victims.
Why Tantura?
Fares pointed out that the Israeli soldiers targeted Tantura because of its strategic location as it was located south of Haifa city on the Mediterranean coast and served as a transit point for delivering weapons to the Palestinian resistance.
“Tantura massacre had accelerated the internal displacement of the neighboring villages and facilitated the Zionist gangs’ takeover of the region” he said.
Israeli researcher confirms the massacre
Relying mostly on oral history Israeli researcher Teddy Katz interviewed dozens of soldiers who had participated in the operation as well as Palestinian survivors.
Based on his findings Katz concluded that in capturing Tantura Israeli soldiers committed war crimes such as the killing of unarmed individuals rape and looting.
In 1998 Katz submitted his master’s thesis at Haifa University on the massacre.
The thesis received high praise from Israeli critical scholars such as Ilan Pappe. Two years later the thesis was picked up by an Israeli newspaper that published it.
