The remains of the Palestinian village of Al-Dawayima, in the - TopicsExpress

The remains of the Palestinian village of Al-Dawayima, in the Lachish region, about 15 kilometers southeast of Kiryat Gat, are being erased forever. Bulldozers are leveling the hills on which the village was located and preparing the ground for the establishment of a new settlement, to be inhabited by evacuees of the Gaza Strip settlements. In the course of the work, the site’s long history of habitation is being uncovered, a history which came to a temporary end when Israel Defense Forces soldiers perpetrated a massacre in the village in October 1948, during the War of Independence. The Antiquities Authority is now carrying out a rescue dig at the site and plans to preserve it, in part. However, most of the ancient human heritage will not survive the earthworks. After the 1948 war, the Israeli authorities demolished the village of Al-Dawayima. During the course of its conquest, one of the worst massacres of the war was carried out: Dozens of villagers, among them women and children, were shot to death by soldiers taking part in the village’s capture. There are also testimonies of rape. The cooperative village of Amatzia was established on part of the village’s land. Now a new village, called Karmei Katif