⁵Quibya

On October 14, 1953 the Jordanian frontier village of Quibya was attacked to avenge the death of an Israeli woman and her two children. The Israeli Army blew up 59 houses and 69 men, women and children were found dead and dying. The UN observers, all professional soldiers, deduced from the number of bullet riddled bodies near doorways, and bullet scars on doors and walls that the occupants were forced to remain in the houses until they were blown in over them. The major in charge of this operation is noted for three things among his fellow Israelis — his courage, his unorthodox methods and his aggressiveness (some say cruelty) while dealing with Arabs. His name is Sharon, currently a General but with strong political ambitions. He, too could be Prime Minister of Israel.

These three episodes are not in isolation, they form part of a pattern which in turn is part of a policy to create a state of Israel peopled only by Jews.

A close Arab friend of mine, a gallant soldier, summed the situation up like this, "Our home is Palestine and I do not fear for myself, but I must think of my wife and my children and my children's children." There is no doubt in my mind that the fear of further reprisal is-ever present in the minds of those Arabs who live in Israel.