Houla massacre remembered fifty years later…

“Fifty years ago, "Israel" committed one of the earliest massacres against Lebanese civilians, in the border village of Houla. The events of October 31, 1948 remain vivid in the minds of those who survived the massacre, and those who have lived its consequence. At a press conference in Beirut today, the Houla Development Alliance launched a new book containing biographies of militant Jews who took part in attacks against Lebanese villages, and those who survived the attacks. The head of the alliance, Dr. Aysar Hijazi said the paperback should be viewed as an "awakening of conscience". Here are some excerpts from the book:

Houla is located in southern Lebanon, only a few kilometers from the Israeli border. When Arab volunteers gathered to liberate Palestine from "Israeli" occupation, they established their headquarters in Houla, on hills overlooking Palestine. The force was successful in fending off major attacks on Lebanese villages, but the fighters suddenly withdrew on October 26, 1948.” “Jewish militants attacked the town to avenge the residents' support of Arab resistance forces. On October 31, Jewish militants dressed in traditional Arab attire entered the border village. Residents gathered to cheer the men, thinking Arab volunteer fighters had returned. They were wrong. The militants rounded up 85 people and detained them in a number of houses, firing live ammunition at the civilians and killing all but three. That was not enough. Jewish militants blew up the houses with dead corpses inside. They confiscated property and livestock. The three who survived the massacre, of whom one is still alive, and other town residents fled to Beirut. Following the armistice agreement between Lebanon and "Israel" in 1949, village residents returned to find their houses in rubbles and their farms burnt. Houla remains under Israeli occupation today, and has suffered the brunt of "Israeli" animosity towards Lebanon. Only 1,200 out of 12,000 people remain in the village. The Houla massacre was one of a series of massacres committed by "Israel" against Lebanese civilians. Blood, corpses, and bombed villages, are images never too distant in southern Lebanon, as Nabatieh, Mansouri and Qana can attest.”