Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 9. April 24 1978

The Dier Yasin Atrocity

The Dier Yasin Atrocity

Time recently described the massacre: "An incident that shocked the world was an assault on the Arab village of Dier Yasin in April 1948... Using sten guns, rifles, hand grenades and long Arab knives, Begin's men massacred more than 200 villagers, mostly old men, women and children. Many were mutilated and the women raped... But he (Begin) still takes credit for Irgun's actions. Asked not long ago about the Dier Yasin massacre, he replied, "I was the commander, I was responsible for any of the operations carried out". 3

Begin, in an interview published in Tel Aviv on 19 May 1977, said the finest period of his life was when he led the Irgun in hostilities against the British in 1946-47 and not even being Prime Minister could compare with that. He wrote of his finest hours in connection with Dier Yasin, "The massacre was not only justified, but there would not have been a state of Israel without the "victory" at Dier Yasin... All the Jewish forces proceeded to advance through Haifa like a knife through butter; the Arabs began to flee in panic shouting 'Dier Yasin' ". 4

The outcry at this time was widespread. The British Secretary for the Colonies told the House of Commons that Dier Yasin was one of a long list of atrocities committed by the Zionists up to that time, while the historian Arnold Toynbee described it as "comparable to the crimes com committed by the Nazis against the Jews." 5