Qibya massacre
The Qibya operation was carried out by two Israeli units, a paratroop company and Unit 101 under the command of Ariel Sharon. It lead to the death of from 60 to 70 innocent civilians. Qibya is a village in the northern West Bank (Samaria), which was then under Jordanian control.
Background and the Attack
The attack was not unprecedented, but rather the climax of border clashes, beginning almost immediately after the signing of the cease-fire accords in 1949. During this warfare, neither side spared the other's civilians. The main antagonists were the Jordanian infiltrators into Israel, while the Jordanian Arab Legion turned a blind eye upon them and sometimes would unofficially assist the infiltrators.
On October 12, 1953, a mother and two children were killed by a Jordanian grenade in the Israeli town of Yahud. The Israeli government decided to carry out a retaliatory strike. The plan was essentially to ambush Arab Legion forces in the area. However, orders which initially included only the destruction of some houses as a decoy, changed before they reached the units' commanders to demand "maximum killing
The attack on Qibya took place in the night of October 14, 1953. The Israeli forces entered the village and blew up 45 villagers' houses while keeping the people inside using machine gun fire, killing from 60 to 70, men, women and children. A dozen Arab Legioners were also killed in a planned ambush
Results
The attack had far-reaching consequences. It was widely critisized, not only by the international community but also by Jews in and out of Israel. The U.N. security council criticized Israel in a resolution. Ariel Sharon wrote in his autobiography Warrior (1989), that although the civilian casualities were regretable, after the Qibya operation "it was now clear that Israeli forces were again capable of finding and hitting targets far behind enemy lines". Following the attack, the Arab Legion forces deployed on the border segment near Qibya and allowed no further infiltrations.
Following the attack, the Israeli leadership decided to refrain from directly targetting innocent civilians, a policy many feel it has generally adhered to ever since. It was decided furthermore to cancel the independence of Unit 101, which however continued to participate in retaliatory attacks against military targets as a part of the 202nd Paratroop Brigade.
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