settlement of Be’er Tuvya was composed of some 120 people. br

Most of them, terrified and near panic, were together in the br

large stable of Devora Korovkov. Arabs from the surrounding br

areas began their attacks. From the nearby settlement of Gedera br

came a reply to the Jews’ desperate request for help: “We can- br

not help you. We have not enough men or ammunition for br

ourselves.”

Perhaps more than anything else, the following statement br

by one of the Be’er Tuvya settlers tells the chilling reality of the br

“Palestinians” and what any ultimate victory of theirs would br

mean for the Jews. In the words of D. Yizraeli: “Several of the br

women asked the doctor to give them poison so that they not fall br

into the hands of the Arabs. He refused. But he said that all br

would defend the women and children until their last drop of br

blood. And if there was no other way, they would use their guns br

to save the honor of their women.”

In the attack that followed, with the Arabs burning houses br

on all sides, it was, ironically, the doctor, Haim Yizraeli, who br

was the first to be killed, shot down in his white coat as he stood br

near the gate. Just hours earlier he had gone out to bind up the br

leg of an Arab who had attacked the settlement and been br

wounded. Herzl Rosen was slaughtered next, and Moshe br

Cohen, who had refused to leave his farm, pointing to the dec- br

ades of good relations with his Arab neighbors, was stabbed br

numerous times and with his last remaining strength managed br

to reach shelter.

The arrival of British troops saved the rest of the settlers. br

But they were evacuated to “safety,” and when they returned, br

the entire settlement had been burned to the ground. Literally, br

nothing was left.

Safad

High in the beautiful Galilean hills stood the city of the br

Kabbalists, Safad. Its 3,000 Jews had lived for generations with br

the Arabs. All spoke Arabic, and the Sephardic Jews were hard- br

ly distinguishable in their dress. As the days of pogroms re- br

ceded, it appeared that Safad would be spared the horror.

But on 23 Av (August 29), at 5:30 P.M., a mob of Arabs br

burst into the Jewish quarter, led by Fuad Hajazi, a young clerk br

of the local government health office. The first place attacked br