Introduction Background

LORENZO KAMEL

THE TANTURAAFFAIRE

Introduction he aim of this research is to study the case of the Tamura (Tan~iirah) vil• T lage. The analysis of this subject show us how superficiality, political inter• ests and misunderstandings can transform a tragic issue such as the case of Tan• tura from a debate of historiographical interest to a "political tool". What did happen in Tantura and why did a not particularly uncommon 1 tragic historical fact become such a relevant matter of discussion in the Israeli (but also in the in• ternational) public debate?

The issue of T antura is a crucial topic in the contemporary history of the Holy Land. One explanation for the great echo that this debate has caused is the fact that it has been the only case in the history of the Jewish State in which an event directly connected to the Palestinian Nakbah has been discussed in an Is• raeli court. The case was brought to public attention in 1998 by Teddy Katz,2 a Middle Eastern History student at Haifa University. For his Master's thesis,3 focused on five Palestinian villages between Haifa and Hadera during the 1948 war, Katz interviewed 135 persons. In the specific chapter devoted to the T antura case he used the testimonies of forty men. Among them, twenty were Arab eye-wit• nesses, mostly natives of the Palestinian villages of Fureidis (Furaydis) and Jisr al-Zarqa (Gisr al-Zarqa,), and twenty were former Jewish soldiers. All the inter• views were recorded. Through these oral evidences he tried to unveil a supposed massacre4 apparently hitherto unknown: the one allegedly perpetrated on May 22-23, 1948, by the 33rd Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade, against the population of T antura.

Background On the day of birth of the State of Israel, already 58 Arab villages in the coastal area between Tel Aviv and Haifa had been "cleaned up". Many others remained

I - It is not uncommon if we analyze it in its historical context: the war of 1948. 2 - Katz perceives himself a Zionist and is a supporter of che left-wing Meretz party. 3 - Entitled: •The exodus of Arabs from the villages at the southern foot of Mount Carmel». 4 - Katz never used the term "massacre" in his master's thesis, as well in the interviews chat he released.

and three - Jaba' (Gaba'), Ijzim (lgzim) and Ein Ghazal ('Ayn Gaza!) - were removed in July. Two others, Fureidis (Furaydis) and Jisr al-Zarqa (Gisr al-Zar• qa >), were spared, mainly because they provided a cheaper working force for the neighboring villages of Zichron Ya'akov and Binyamin. At this time, Tantura, being one of the most populated village with about 1500 inhabitants, was still spared, but as a member of the Alexandroni Brigade remembers, was caught «in the Palestinian territory as a "bone in the throat"». 5

The Arab village of T antura had been built on the ruins of a city known by the Ancient Greeks and Phoenicians as Dor, placed 35 km far from Haifa. It was designated to the Jewish State by the UN Partition Plan of 1947. Within Tantura,6 inhabited by about 1,728 persons in 1948, Katz claimed that between 200-250 people were shot after the village had surrendered.7 Af• terwards their homes were razed to the ground to make room to the kibbutz Naksholim buildings. The story of the village was already well-known before, as early as 1950,8 but

5 - Cfr. I. Pappe, Storia t:klla Palestina mot:kma, una terra, due popoli, Torino, Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005, p. 167. 6 - The safety of an individual in the village and his social standing depended to a large extent on his clan affiliation. The •~amulah" (extended family clan) always played a central role in every traditional Palestinian village, externally as well internally: «In conflicts between families, the smaller and weaker ones suffered. Wealthier and larger families were prestigious».E. Shou• fani. The Fall ofa Village, University of California Press, Institute of Palestine Studies. Vol. 1, N. 4 (Summer, 1972), p. 115. 7 - «A proposal has been made to dig up the grave to determine how many villagers died and how. Katz and Tantura refugees living in Israel as well as Alexandroni veterans according to their lawyer - support exhumation. But residents ofNahsholim and Dor are opposed: it would inevitably be a media circus and would underline the fact that they live on confiscated Tamura lands. (Nahsholim was founded four weeks after Tanmra was conquered). Anyway. some wit• nesses say bodies were also buried elsewhere, and pathologists may not be able to determine whether the persons were killed in battle or murdered». Cfr. B. Morris, in "The Jerusalem Re• port", 9 February 2004. 8 - !Ian Pappe explained that the story of Tamura •appears in the memories of a Haifa nota• ble, Muhammad Nimri al-Khatib, who. a few days after the battle, recorded the testimony of a Palestinian who had told him about summary executions on the beach of dozens of Palestini• ans. Here it is in full: "On the night of 22/23 May the Jews attacked from 3 sides and landed in boats from the seaside. We resisted in the streets and houses and in the morning the corpus were seen everywhere. I shall never forget this day all my life. The Jews gathered all women and children in a place. where they dumped all bodies. for them to see their dead husbands. fa• thers and brothers and terrorize them. but they remained calm. They gathered men in another place, took them in groups and shot them dead. When women heard this shooting, they asked their Jewish guard about it. He replied: "We are taking revange for our dead". One oltker se• lected 40 men and took them to the villane square. Each four were taken aside. They shot one. and ordered the other three to dump his body in a big pit. Then they shot another and the other two carried his body to the pit and so on•. Cfr. I. Pappe. The etlmic ckasing ofPalestine, Oxford. Oneworld. 2007. p. 137. It is inceresting to note that «Khatib's work. along with those of two other Arab authors, was translated into Hebrew in 1950 by the Israel Defences Forces. General Staff/Hismry Branch. and published under the tide Be'einei Oyev (In Enemy