eyewitness on the ordeal narrates side of the story (village surrender

مشرف سابق

Arabic version submitted by :

Mahmoud al atrash.

The
tumble of Al-dawaymeh village during the war still engraved in the memory of
the senior villagers, as well as the atrocities that have been perpetrated
there, and the battles that have been fought, to defend the village.

Hajj
(senior villager) Mohammad alsaghir abu sharer, exceed his 90s, still remember
the fighting which he participated in to defend the village.

Now he is living in Al-Majdal town, on the frontier of
1949 and 1967 territories; he still able to see his village from their; the
utmost wish of him and his offspring's is to go back to their homeland and live
their once again.

Abu
sharar ascertain that he participated in three fights in the
eve of the surrender at Al-meqhaz (13km west Al-dawaymeh) under the command of
an Egyptian drillmaster, and he was one of three sent to observe enemies lines.

Shelling

he proceed, on the first day, gunfire continued from down till forenoon, we retreated
under the fire, an Egyptian reinforcement from Al falloujah of 60 soldiers, had
come and backed us up, so on the second day we were able to recover the enemies
positions and force them out. We seized their weapons, and tried to keep it to
ourselves, as a volunteers, we did not have enough armaments, but the Egyptian
soldiers, prevented us, and threatened to shot anyone who will touch the
armaments or ordnance left by the
enemies, and they asked 10 Palestinian pounds for each of the seized rifles.

Surprise

The
surprise overwhelmed the volunteers, that when they came back to buy the rifles
from the Egyptian soldiers , as per the
agreement, three of them went to the area and instead of the Egyptians they
found the enemy, at that moment we knew they have surrender our village to the
enemy.

The Egyptian army, he continue, did not came to defend
the village as the done before , the fight moved to Al_qubya (west ) and the
peasants started to move out of the village under the vicious attacks of the
enemy.

Abu sharer confirmed that he saw the
victims of the Al-Masjid and Eiraq Al-Zagh massacres, I was out of the village
when it happened, and when I heard about Al-Masjid massacre which is next to my
house, I went back, and I saw the tens
of corpses of old people who were unable to leave the village, and all of them
have been slain after Al-Jumaa mass prayer

Massacre

The
premeditated slain did not took place only in Al-Masjid, the enemy took number
of prayers to a well called "
Al_sahara well" where they threw them and whomever tried to hold the well
edge his hand amputated.

About
Eirq Al-zagh he said:

After
Al-masjid massacre the peasants flee, with what they cold carry of their
belongings, they found a refuge in a cave called "EIraq Al-zagh",
they were 70 women , children, and old people; the Zionist gangs waged the cave
they took them out of the cave, lined them, and started the shooting, non of
the survive, except one lady, who dies
years after the massacre.

He
added that he and some of the villagers, who was horrified by the
massacre, went back and buried the
bodies in a descent way, it was a mass grave in Al-lattoun, a crater where they
were making lime. In addition to that other corpses of ill villagers have been
found in their houses

Source
: al jazeera

che

» Al-Dawaymeh massacre : narrates of eyewitnesses