Leaflet Before Occupation
Commentary and Translation by Prof. Ilan Pappé
This is a template of a leaflet that was distributed from the air a quarter of an hour before the occupation, destruction and deportation of a village [in Arabic] .
“To the people of this village
You are surrounded from all four directions and flanks and you will not be able either to resist or to flee.
We do not wish to kill you or destroy your fields and property. We want to bring peace back to the area.
Therefore, we order you to concentrate in the village centre and surrender your weapons and do not hide them.
Before anything else, you should raise a white flag, or a white sheet that can serve also a surrender symbol.
We are giving you a quarter of an hour to execute these orders and if you did this, no harm would come to you…
But if a quarter of an hour would pass and you did not follow these orders, you are responsible for the death, destruction and demolition that is going to be inflicted on you. We will not hesitate to use all our weapons from all direction against you. You are warned…
Singed: the Hagana.”
[A quarter of an hour was never enough. Surrender did not save most villages from expulsion. Revealing where the old rifles where did not save everyone from execution or imprisonment. In most cases, villages who abided by this leaflet, were treated very much as those who ignored it].