I read through the original post and would like to address a few things.
The topic of Deir Yassin has been addressed elsewhere on this site but I'd like to add some brief comments.

I find it odd that the author included this statement because it belies his own premise: 'Iraqis who had indeed surrendered were killed along with those who had only pretended to surrender and had then opened fire.'

This seems an admission not only of a war crime but a glimpse into the insanity (of war) which prevailed while these incidents occurred.

The following quote is from the Jewish Virtual Library:

"After the remaining Arabs feigned surrender and then fired on the Jewish troops, some Jews killed Arab soldiers and civilians indiscriminately. None of the sources specify how many women and children were killed (the Times report said it was about half the victims; their original casualty figure came from the Irgun source), but there were some among the casualties. Any intentional murder of children or women is completely unjustified."

These statements along with the newly discovered documents (which are briefly referred to and then dismissed in the above article) point to the probability that a terrible tradgey did occur.

The other statement that caught my eye was this:

"In June of '48 there was a cease-fire imposed by the UN. In July when the Arabs re-initiated hostilities, the Israelis had been able to use the cease-fire to import arms and planes from Russia and Germany via Czechoslovakia."

How was it that Germany was in the possession of these weapons in 1948?


The author dismisses any Israeli accountability for the mass exodus of the Palestinians while at the same time making it clear that the surrounding Arab countries did not welcome these people or view them as friends.

If there was a war in Watsonville and it was coming to Santa Cruz (roughly the same distance between what is now Israel and the West Bank and Gaza) would you take steps to leave?

It has been well documented that the Arabs in surrounding states did not interfere in the affairs of the Palestinian Arabs until the state of Israel was established. In 1948 the Palestinian Arabs fled the war between the surrounding Arab states and Israel. They are in Diaspora.