In a shocking investigation, Israeli Defense Ministry officials have concealed historical files on the mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948.
The Middle East, which was quoted by the Haaretz investigation, continued Israel's attempts to obliterate all signs of the Nakba by stealing and hiding documents related to Palestinian history.
He said Haaretz revealed that the Israeli Defense Ministry has hidden historical documents that conceal the secrets of at least a decade - at least - as part of an organized campaign to hide evidence of the Nakba and the horrific crimes committed by the occupation, similar to the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war 1948.
Transfer documents to a cellar
The Israeli newspaper added that the secret security department of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (Malmab) was overseeing the project, where the important historical files were transferred to the cellar. In some cases, historians cited documents during their work that were later proven to have disappeared.
"Efforts to hide the details of what happened in 1948 seem very logical because the documents can create trouble" among Palestinians in Israel, Haaretz quoted Yehiel Horiv, who served as chairman of Malmab until 2007, as saying.
Asked about the purpose of concealing previously published documents, he explained that "this is aimed at undermining the credibility of studies on the history of the refugee problem."
The paper said documents relating to Israel's nuclear project and the country's foreign relations were transferred to a cellar. Some of the documents that were concealed reveal the details of looting, massacres of Palestinians, forced eviction and demolition of villages by Israeli militias, according to Israeli generals and soldiers who participated in the 1948 war.
Massacre of the village of
In this context, Israeli historian Benny Morris, in his book "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947-1949," refers to one of these documents, citing details of the massacre in the Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee, based on remarks written by the former chief of staff in the Haganah 1948.
According to Morris, "In the willow, about 52 men were tied up with a rope, thrown into a hole, shot and killed, and then 10 women who sought mercy came to register three cases of rape, including a girl in the fourth Ten years old, and killed four others. "
According to Ha'aretz, this document, along with other documents, disappeared from the Israeli archives after the Malmab agency confiscated it.