ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCE. Secret Document: I.D.F. Training map in preparation for attack on Arab Village of Deir Yassin. [No place, but probably Jerusalem:] 20 October 1948.

Extraordinary propaganda photograph trying to prove the presence of Arab military units in Deir Yassin.

Very large folding panoramic photograph composed of 5 equal-sized photographic sheets, each sheet neatly taped to verso with ‘Palestine Government’ printed tape. (Repaired 120 mm. tear on fourth photograph, fifth sheet with moderate creasing and general light staining on verso, two small marginal chips, one just into scale at top right-hand corner.)
Provenance:
I.D.F stamp on verso.

Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village 5 km. west of Jersualem. When the Arab-Israeli war erupted in 1948, the villagers of Deir Yassin and those of the nearby Jewish village of Giv'at Shaul signed a pact, later approved at Haganah headquarters, to maintain their good relations, exchange information on movement of outsiders through village territory, and ensure the safety of vehicles from the village. However, the village lay on one of the main supply routes to Jerusalem, and Jewish militia in the form of Irgun and Lehi, who were outside Haganah control, infiltrated the village on the night of 9 April 1948. The Arab guards seemed to have opened fire, triggering fierce house-to-house fighting. At least 107 civilians were killed in their houses, with incidents of rape reported, and decapitated and disembowelled bodies found in cisterns.

This was a pivotal moment in the Arab-Israeli War, and caused the dislocation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, thereby changing the demographic of Palestine.

The Haganah condemned the massacre; but there does seem to be evidence of a cover-up by the authorities, with the present lot appearing to be a photograph created after the event to prove that Jewish forces were well briefed on the terrain and the location of civilians in the village.

Please note that this lot is the property of a private collector.