AMMAN — The Israeli daily newspaper
Haaretz has revealed the existence of documents that officially confirm that
Israel poisoned Palestinian water wells in Acre and Gaza in 1948.
اضافة اعلان
The paper reported in its Friday edition the
discovery of official documents proving Israel’s poisoning of Palestinian water
wells in 1948, in which prominent and well-known Israeli figures participated.
The disturbing story behind them was recently
uncovered by historian Benny Morris and historian and Israel Prize laureate
Benjamin Z. Kedar, following extensive archival research, the paper said.
This operation was partially exposed decades ago
when rumors and oral testimonies were reported in newspapers and books about an
attempt in 1948 by Israeli forces to poison wells in Acre and
Gaza,
contaminating drinking water with bacteria. However, only now, in Morris and
Kedar’s research, has the “smoking gun” been revealed in the form of official
documentation, according to Haaretz. The newly unearthed documents show that
this operation was much broader in scope than earlier believed, and that other
top military and political figures besides David Ben-Gurion were involved.
“We uncovered a lot of new information. We
deciphered how the operation developed through its various stages; we
discovered who authorized, organized, and controlled the operation; and how it
was carried out in different areas,” Morris says. “We have a much fuller
picture now, and one that is based in part on army documentation,” Kedar adds.
The pair recently published an article in the
journal
Middle Eastern Studies titled “‘Cast Thy Bread’: Israeli Biological
Warfare during the 1948 War.” “Cast Thy Bread” was the operation’s code name.
Naturally, most of the material related to the episode is censored, but when
Morris searched through the Israeli army archives for any mention of the
operation by name, he was surprised to discover numerous documents. Morris
writes in the article that the censor apparently was not aware of what the code
name referred to.
On April 1, 1948, David Ben-Gurion wrote in his
journal about “the development of science and speeding up its application in
warfare”. A month and a half later, he wrote about “biological materials” that
were purchased for $2,000, the paper said.
It pointed out that now it became clear the extent
of the link between what Ben-Gurion wrote and Israel’s purchase of biological
materials, which appear to be a specific powder or liquid used to poison
Palestinian well water.
The new documents revealed that these operations
were supervised by well-known Israeli figures, led by: David Ben-Gurion, former
defense minister Moshe Dayan, and former Israeli president Ephraim Katzir,
among others.
The operation began in April 1948, when fears of an
invasion by Arab armies were mounting. The plan was to poison wells in
abandoned Arab villages as well as in Jewish locales that were due to be
evacuated by new Israeli state. The idea was to prevent Arabs from returning to
their villages and from settling in Jewish locales that would fall into their
hands.
The documents
show that Ben-Gurion was at the top of the pyramid. Below him was Yigal Yadin,
who oversaw the military side of the operation. The operation was commanded by
Yohanan Ratner. Initially, the top man in the field for the group was Dayan,
who went on to become the Israeli army chief of staff and defense minister. The
documents indicate that Dayan served as the smuggler who conveyed the bacteria
from the science corps to different points throughout the country.
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