A series of newly-released documents have revealed fresh details on the premeditated murder of 49 Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israeli forces during the massacre in the village of Kafr Qasem, in October 1956, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

On October 29, 1956, Israeli troops killed 49 Palestinians, including children, elderly residents, and a pregnant woman, as they returned home from work. The farmers were unaware that Israel had placed the region under a curfew during the run-up to the Suez campaign against Egypt.

According to the trial transcripts of Chaim Levy, who commanded the Israeli army in Kafr Qasem, the Israeli guards knew that their victims were unarmed civilians and were unaware that the regime had imposed a strict curfew in the area.

“The same goes for them as anyone else,” Levy said he was told by a commander, regarding the local residents.

In one exchange during his trial, Levy was asked, “Doesn’t your reason tell you that ‘violating a curfew’ means by someone who knows that there is a curfew?” Levy said he agreed.

Later he was asked, “How can you say that someone told you to kill people who don’t know that there is a curfew?” To which he replied, “Because I was given such an order… Today I find this unreasonable. At the time, I thought it was reasonable.”

Kafr Qasim Massacre’s Anniversary: Israeli President Seeks ‘Forgiveness’; Knesset Refuses to Take Formal Responsibility https://t.co/UaW9Ornftg via @PalestineChron

— Elaine Niddery (@NidderyElaine) October 29, 2021

The documents also disclose a new connection between the massacre and a secret Israeli plan, code-named Hafarperet (Mole), to uproot Palestinians from their homes by force of arms and threat of imminent slaughter.

Levy’s testimony offers a detailed account of how Israeli officers appear to have used tensions during the Suez crisis to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their villages.

(WAFA, PC, Social Media)