The
Kfar Etzion massacre refers to a massacre of Jews that took place after a two-day battle in which Jewish
Kibbutz residents and
Haganah militia defended
Kfar Etzion from a combined force of the
Arab Legion and local Arab men on May 13, 1948, the day before the
Israeli Declaration of Independence. Of the 129 Haganah fighters and Jewish kibbutzniks who died during the defence of the settlement,
Martin Gilbert states that fifteen were murdered on surrendering. Controversy surrounds the responsibility and role of the Arab Legion in the killing of those who surrendered. The official Israeli version maintains that the kibbutz residents and Haganah soldiers were massacred by local Arabs and the Arab Legion of the Jordanian Army as they were surrendering. The Arab Legion version maintains that the Legion arrived too late to prevent the attack on the kibbutz by men from nearby Arab villages, which was allegedly motivated by a desire to revenge the
massacre of Deir Yassin, and the destruction of one of their villages several months earlier. The surrendering Jewish residents and fighters are said to have been assembled in a courtyard, only to be suddenly fired upon; it is said that many died on the spot, while most of those who managed to flee were hunted down and killed.