Barre Daily Times · 13 December 1956

CP-1956-018

Israeli Authorities To Punish Police For Kfar Kassem Deaths

Associated Press, Jerusalem, Israeli Sector

Transcribed from the clipping

“JERUSALEM, Israeli Sector (AP)—Israeli authorities disclosed today the killing of a number of Arabs by Israeli frontier police in a curfew incident 45 days ago at Kfar Kassem, a village near the Jordan border. Men, women and children were slain. The exact number was not disclosed. Premier David Ben-Gurion said it was a ‘terrible occurrence,’ and the police responsible will be tried. The government has decided to pay $560 to every Arab family affected. All deputies in the Israeli Parliament stood in silence in memory of the victims. Joseph Sprinzak, the speaker, read a statement expressing shock and bewilderment at the shooting. Ben-Gurion appointed an inquiry committee to ‘establish the circumstances and the degree of responsibility’ of the patrol. The committee reported Nov. 6 and, in accordance with its conclusions, the commander and several of his men who ‘carried out an illegal order’ will be placed on trial.”

Context added by this archive

The same Associated Press disclosure the Syracuse paper ran the day before, in a Vermont daily, under a headline about punishing the police rather than about an atrocity.

Cite this item

"Israeli Authorities To Punish Police For Kfar Kassem Deaths," Barre Daily Times, 13 December 1956. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1956-018. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1956-018

Elsewhere in the archive

• Arabs Slain, Jews Face PunishmentSyracuse Herald Journal · 12 December 1956 · the same dispatch, carried by another paper
• IsraelEvening Star · 8 April 1956 · the same year
• Egypt, Israel Hurl Charges In Security Council NotesThe Salt Lake Tribune · 10 April 1956 · the same year
• Palestinian Arabs Talking Of Mass March On IsraelPueblo Star-Journal and Sunday Chieftain · 29 April 1956 · the same year