Summary
Town in the east seized by the Golani Brigade in Operation Gideon in May 1948; in Pappe’s account its people refused a ten-hour ultimatum, surrendered on 11 May, and were expelled across the Jordan, those who slipped back being removed again at gunpoint in mid-June.
Details
- As at Safad, the Golani Brigade occupied the villages in Baysan’s vicinity first, then issued the town’s notables an ultimatum to leave their homes within ten hours; the notables declined and prepared for a siege with two cannons brought by volunteers (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.131).
- After heavy daily bombardments, including from the air, the surrender was decided by the qadi, the local priest, the municipal secretary and the richest merchant in town; on 11 May 1948 the town passed into Jewish hands (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.131-132). Pappe’s opening sentence for the section dates the occupation of Baysan to 6 May (PDF p.129); both dates are recorded on the source page under Open questions.
- Palti Sela and his colleagues oversaw the ‘orderly expulsion’: some to Nazareth, some to Jenin, the majority driven across the nearby Jordan River; quite a few returned and stayed until mid-June, when the Israeli army loaded them at gunpoint onto trucks and drove them across the river again (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.132).
- The nearby village of Sirin was occupied on 12 May 1948, and the Bedouin tribes of the Baysan area were pushed out by the forces that cleansed the town (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.134-135).
- Sitta’s register lists the town of Baysan at S 98: dated 11-05-48, Exodus Causes M/C, Arab Population 48 of 6,009 on 28,957 dunums, operation gd; the Baysan district subtotal is 19,300 people and 272,661 dunums (The Palestinian Nakba 1948 — The Register of Depopulated Localities in Palestine, PDF p.4).
Related pages
The Palestinian Nakba 1948 — The Register of Depopulated Localities in Palestine, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Sirin, Safad