Late in 1947 specifically on December 28 Zionist gangs committed a massacre against the people of Lifta west of occupied Jerusalem during which many Palestinians were killed or wounded.
At that time A Zionist gang member got on a bus wearing civilian clothes. He disembarked from the bus at the village and took out a machine gun and started shooting at Palestinians in front of a cafe in the neighborhood of Sheikh Bader killing and wounding many civilians at the Saleh Issa Café.
The Lifta Association said in a report sent to the PIC “The memories of the past are still present in the hearts of those who witnessed the massacre a massacre that aimed at spreading fear and terror in the hearts of the residents and the original owners of the land to drive them away from their town and land.”
Events and names
Palestinian elders Jalal Jamil Aql and Daoud Nimer Hamad recall this massacre and how Palestinians rushed to transfer the bodies of the martyrs and bury them. The massacre was engraved in the hearts of the people and the subsequent attacks which led to the displacement of Palestinians and the beginning of the journey of torment stressing that despite many years since the massacre and displacement return is near.
Among the victims of the massacre were Haj Saqr Abdul Rahman Shank Mahmoud Issa Abu Saad Ismail Ahmed Hamida Abdul Rahman Abdullah Zuhour (Abu Shalbak) Ahmed Jouda Shank Baker Ahmed Bakr Moqbel and Haj Sadiq Al Maghrabi.
The following people were among the wounded: Yaqub Jouda Safi Aida Ibrahim Musa Aql and Saleh Othman As’ad Ghuban.
Furthermore inhabitants of the village who were killed during the Nakba in 1948 were identified as Harbi Osman Issa Ahmed Mohammed Khalil Abdel Rahim Sakr Shank Khalil Musa Rasheed Mohammed Mustafa Mashaykh Mohammed Omar Hassan Mahmoud Jubran Saeed Othman Abdullah Mohammed Ali Awad Mahmoud Nada Yousef Siam Abdullah Jaber and Na’im Jamil Aql.
Continuing crime
“This massacre is one of the hundreds of massacres committed against our people” said Diaa Maala the head of the Lifta Association. “The Israeli occupation and settlers continue to engage in a policy of killing destroying and displacing our people especially in Jerusalem encouraged by false declarations from those who do not own for those who don’t deserve.”
Maala continued: “The attack against our town these days is becoming fiercer with the occupation authorities planning to destroy the rest of the houses and religious and historical landmarks in the town. The most recent action was refraining from publishing the results of an archaeological test of the old wall of Lifta which exposes the occupation’s intention to carry out a plan to build commercial real estate and tourist resorts on the ruins of the town.”
The Lifta Association with the support of several institutions has been carrying out activities to protect the history and heritage of the town.
