Deir Yassin
Sir: Unlike Mr Patrick Marnham (28 January) I do have a copy of The Revolt by Menachem Begin — indeed my late father edited the English version published in 1951. In a new chapter, entitled 'From the Perspective of a Generation' and written by Mr Begin for a 1972 edition of his book, he points to the lies that are still being told about the battle for Deir Yassin —a strategic vantage point on the Jerusalem Road.
For those like Mr Marnham, still in need of enlightenment, Mr Begin quotes from a pamphlet entitled Israel's Aggression, issued by the Secretariat-General of the Arab League: 'On the night of the 9th April 1948 the peaceful Arab village of Deir Yassin, in the suburbs of Jerusalem, was surprised by loudspeakers calling upon the inhabitants of the village to evacuate it immediately.'
Mr Begin further refers to a statement by a prominent Arab inhabitant of Deir Yassin who survived the battle: 'The Jews never intended to hurt the population of the village, but were forced to do so after they met enemy fire from the population, which killed the Irgun Commander.' This was published in the Jordanian daily newspaper, Al Urdun on 9 April 1955.
In an earlier part of his book Mr Begin rests the responsibility for the deaths of innocent women and children squarely on Arab shoulders. Only 200 inhabitants were willing (or permitted) to heed the Arabic loudspeaker warnings and sheltered, unharmed, on the lower slopes of the hill. The rest were, unforgivably, kept in the firing line. The Irgun did continue shooting after the main battle was over, for some of the Arab garrison attempted to escape in women's dress and were found to be wearing Iraqi uniforms beneath their disguises, thus adding to the confusion of identity between soldiers and civilians. Mr Marnham cites the legend of Irgun terror that spread among Arabs soon after Deir Yassin. He may care to consider the
double-edged appeal of this aspect of warfare: whilst Arab propaganda about 'Jewish atrocities' shocked the world, the Irgun fighters in Palestine benefited enormously from the panic that seized Arab troops at the mention of `Irgun'. It thus enabled the peaceful evacuation of further Villages and kept open the road to Jerusalem.
Yes, thanks to Deir Yassin we won the war. More important, we regained a homeland for the thousands of Jewish refugees, one third of whose brethren had already been wiped out in Nazi extermination camps. What is more significant, however, Is that the Deir Yassin debate should still be raging after thirty years. Alas, the widespread Western sympathy for the actions of freedom fighters in Africa has never quite extended to the Jews in Israel.
Susannah Greenberg 444a Edgware Road, London W2
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