„78 Jahre nach der #Nakba, veröffentlicht Adam #Raz vom #Akevot-Institut in #Haifa israelische Dokumente, die bestätigen, was Palästinenser seit 1948 wissen: Die #IDF hat damals die schlimmsten #Massaker gegen sie verübt, um mittels »ethnischer Säuberung« 750.000 Menschen zu vertreiben. Palästinensische Wissenschaftler haben seit langen Jahren darüber berichtet. Da sie in #Israel bis heute nicht wahrgenommen werden, ist der neue Bericht von Adam Raz in der Zeitung #Haaretz vom 27. Feb. […] revolutionär.

Die Dokumente bezeugen die blutigen Massaker, die die vorstaatliche ­#Haganah-Miliz sowie die israelische Armee seit der Staatsgründung 1948 verübt haben […]: Die Befehle für diese Massaker, für die #Morde, für die #Vertreibungen liegen schriftlich vor & wurden von ganz oben erteilt, von Premierminister David Ben-#Gurion oder zum Beispiel auch von Jitzchak #Rabin (damals in der Kommandoeinheit der Haganah) […]: die Vernichtung möglichst vieler Palästinenser.“

https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/518733.brief-au

#IDF /the "topics document" [or, literally, "axis", מסמך הצירים] was drafted in 1988 to regulate the release of sensitive documents from state archives [*]

The criteria according to which the governmental archives (the IDF Archive and the State Archive) decide whether to expose or conceal historical documentation - are not sufficiently transparent to the public. These criteria are also not fixed and have changed over the years.

"The Topics Document" [מסמך הצירים], alongside additional related historical documentation, was itself concealed and closed to review for many years. Only after three years of insistence with the State Archive was it finally transferred to the #Akevot ["footprints"] Institute.

So what are the sensitive issues, pertaining to IDF's image, Israel might like to conceal from scrutiny by researchers?

One of those "sensitive topics" defined in the document is material that portrays the IDF as an occupying army devoid of moral foundations, or which could harm its image as a moral army. Under this topic, eight concrete issues were listed, including:

- Violent conduct against the Palestinian population and acts of cruelty (killing, murder not necessitated by combat, rape, looting, pillage)

- Desecration of holy sites (desecration of churches, mosques and cemeteries)

- Criminal acts (theft, looting of property, forgeries and destruction of evidence)

- Atrocities committed against Jewish women (rape)

- Atrocities committed by IDF divisions [in the War of Independence]: (Hula, Khisas, Eilaboun, Duwayma, etc.).

Another topic is aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself, Israel would like to avoid making public due to national security concerns:

- Expulsion of Palestinians: Policy of retaliation against infiltrators; orders to harm infiltrators even in case of doubt

- Establishing policy against return of Palestinians to their lands

- Evacuation of Palestinian settlements and residents (Majdal, today "Ashkelon")

- Violent conduct against prisoners contrary to the Geneva Convention (killing); not taking notice of white flags

- Bombing of civilian facilities (bombing of hospitals to refugee camps Gaza, El Burj)

[*] Declassification of government papers according to the thirty years limit, by law, led to the emergence of the "New Historians" in Israel [Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappe, Benny Morris ...], who are known, collectively, to have challenged Israel's narrative of the Israel-Palestinian conflict

The original document, in Hebrew, can be seen here: https://www.akevot.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1988-09-topics-document_redacted.pdf

@histodons
@israel
@palestine
#WarCrimes
#SexualViolence
#1948 #Gaza #WestBank