At the anniversary of the killings each year, Israeli security agents arrested the handful of political activists in Kafr Kassem to ensure no one would commemorate the event too loudly. When, in the late 1970s, Israelis began discussing the massacre more openly, the emphasis was usually on the Supreme Court decision that had allowed the troops involved to be punished for following an illegal order. And the massacre is not treated in the broader context of Israel's treatment of its million-strong Arab minority, even though that is how Israeli Arabs and Palestinians tend to see it. These days Kafr Kassem is a scruffy village of 15,000 plagued by many of the economic and social ills of other Israeli Arab communities. In the village itself, the massacre 43 years ago is the focus of more attention than ever.
Many families name their children after a relative who died in the shootings.
Each year on the anniversary, Oct. 29, black flags are strung along the streets and schoolgirls wear black disks in their hair. In the village schools, a haunting, locally produced video dealing with the massacre is shown to pupils as young as 3 and 4. Tears still well up in Taha's eyes when she tells the story. Washington Post researcher Eetta Prince-Gibson contributed to this report.