Israeli leader called for Palestinian villages to be 'wiped out' in 1948, documents reveal

 Technical glitch in Israel's state archive also reveals one minister said he could 'forgive instances of rape'

Former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (left) accompanied by Israeli defence minister General Moshe Dayan (right) (AFP/File photo)

By 

MEE staff

Published date: 6 January 2022 18:17 UTC | Last update: 3 hours 39 mins ago

 

A technical error on Israel's state archive website has revealed that the man who would become the country's first prime minister said in 1948 that some Palestinian villages must be wiped out - because they "constitute a great danger", Haaretz has reported. 

The comments by David Ben-Gurion were made during a provisional government meeting discussing the war that led to Israel's creation, the newspaper reported on Wednesday. 

During events that began in 1948 and are known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or catastrophe, Israeli soldiers killed an estimated 15,000 Palestinians and forced some 800,000 from their homeland.  

What is the Nakba? Day of catastrophe for Palestinians, explained

Read More »

Ben-Gurion's statements were posted on the State Archive website as part of a document detailing meeting minutes from July 1948. 

Parts of the document were censored using a digital blackout, however a technical error allowed the blackout to be removed with a click - revealing the censored segments, Haaretz reported. 

The censored version showed Ben-Gurion saying "I am against the wholesale demolition of villages," but once the blackout was removed he appears to have added: "But there are places that constituted a great danger and constitute a great danger, and we must wipe them out. But this must be done responsibly, with consideration before the act."

In an earlier section of the meeting's minutes, agriculture minister Aharon Zisling is quoted saying he "can forgive instances of rape" committed by Jews against Palestinian women.

"Let us say that instances of rape occurred in Ramle. I can forgive instances of rape, but I will not forgive other acts," Zisling said, according to the document. 

The Israeli State Archive said the document was meant to be published without censorship but a technical error led to the appearance of the blackouts, according to Haaretz. 

The Akevot Institute, an Israeli research centre, had requested access to the meeting minutes. 

In December 2021, Haaretz and the Akevot Institute revealed details of three massacres committed by Israeli forces in the villages of Reineh, Meron and al-Burj in 1948. 

The documents also show that prominent Israeli leaders "knew in real time about the blood-drenched events that accompanied the conquest of Arab villages".

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-ben-gurion-wipe-out-villages-1948-show-documents