Summary
The special IDF unit commanded by Ariel Sharon that carried out the Qibya raid of 14 October 1953 under “Operation Shoshanna”, in Appendix 10 of Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.559-566).
Details
- Ben-Gurion, instructing ministers to deny IDF involvement in Qibya, explained: “Just as we established a special border police against infiltrators, there is also something especially for reprisal actions [Unit 101]. It is not the business of the regular army” (PDF p.562).
- Ben-Gurion’s diary, 22 October 1953, records Sharon’s report: 45 men in the unit, 35 conscripts, training at Sataf in explosives, physical and field training, first aid and communications; Sharon promised the men would not turn into “professionals” and would not be angry at Ben-Gurion’s broadcast denial (PDF p.563-564).
- The General Staff order for Operation Shoshanna directed attacking Qibya “for the purpose of temporary occupation, blowing up houses, attacking residents and causing them to flee”; Central Command’s version directed “destruction and causing maximum harm to human life” and “maximum killing, in order to drive the inhabitants of the village out of their homes”, in Benny Morris’s English rendering (PDF p.565-566).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Qibya, Arik Sharon, David Ben-Gurion