Evening star., 1948-04-12
Arabs Claim Capture
OF kasteI, but Jews
Say Town Is Theirs
BY the Associated Press

VerDal SCano OH LOQay. Both
Jews and Arabs claimed the hill
top fortress which commands
part of the vital Jerusalem Tel
Aviv highway.
British Army sources said last
night that counterattacking Arabs
had recaptured Kastel in an assault
against the Jewish garrison there
The Arabs said today they were
holding the town, but a Hagana
source said Kastel still is firmly In
Jewish hands.
The stronghold has changed
hands almost daily for the last 10
days. Hagana, the Jewish militia,
had re-entered the town Saturday
aight.
Eventually the side which holds
ne Jeresalem-Tel Aviv highway
robably will determine whether the
10000 Jews in Jerusalem remain
conquered. Food conveys to the
oily City pass over the highway
fore Kastel.
The Arabs deny claims broadcast
Hagana last night that the Arab
.llage of Kalonia in the same area
as destroyed after sharp encoun-
cr with an Arab band. Hagana
lid the Arabs used Kalonia houses
) observation posts for attacks on
cwish traffic and positions in the
lastel area.
Hagana said one British and one
1raqi officer had been killed as well
Is most Of the Arab fighters quar-
,ered in Kalonia.
After a sharp mortar and ma
chine gun duel with Arabs in
Kamatof south of Jerusalem at dawn
today, Hagana forces advanced and
occupied several houses used by
Arabs, Jewish sources said.
Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern
Gang-Jewish extremist groups
still hold the strategic village of
DER Yassin, which they took Friday.
DER Yassin is near Kastel.
Horrible Massacre" Charged.
Both Arabs and Jews describe the
extremist attack on the village as
"a horrible massacre"
A Red Cross investigation showed
many women and children were
among the 254 Arab dead there.
The Arab Higher Committee
asked Moslems and Christian every
where to consider the facts of the
massacre of innocent people by Jews
at DER Yassin and to decide the
worlds reaction to it,"
The committees general secretary,
DR.. Hussein el Khalidi, said:
DER Yassin. where this outrage
occurred is practically the only
(Arab) village in the Jerusalem
area which had not yet appealed
to any Arab authority as being in
danger of Jews. In the early
morning Friday they (the jews
swooped in and practically ex-
terminated women, children and
old men. The only ones who man.
aged 20 escape we're the young
men. After that massacre in which
some $50 were killed by guns and
grenades the remaining $50 women
and children were dumped into
trucks, paraded through Jewish
areas. spat on and stoned"
A Jewish Agency spokesman said
Iagana members in Jerusalem res
ued number of the Arab women
nd children and turned them over
10 the British.
The spokesman said the Agency
had cabled Trans-Jordans King
Abdullah the text of its statement
repudiating the Irgun-Stern mas
sacre. He also released a statement
by the Chief Rabbinate, describing
the killings as foul crime"
The statement called on Irgun
and the Stern Gang to realize the
depth of the shame you have in
flicted on Jewry, to whom such acts
are utter abomination."
In a government hospital here,
12-year-old Fahimeh Ali Moustafa
zeidan. who suffered grenade
wound in the Deir Yassan attack
told her story of what happened
in the village. She lost her mother,
her grandmother, her grandfather
two brothers and a baby sister,
3 months old.
Baby's Cry Betrayed Family.
The whole village was asleep"
she said. About 500 Jews with
heavy guns and tanks started at
tacking. Our 80 or 40 guards tried
TO stop them, but it was useless"
The crying of her baby sister be-
trayed the family after they hid.
she said, and then:
"The put us all in line, my old
grandmother included, and shouted
insults at us. They started firing
with Bren guns. Some of us ran
away and got back into the house
and hid. The Jews came in and
took our olives and lemons and
Burned all the jars over. This was
about 8 o'clock in the morning.
They took us to the edge of the
village and made us stand there
until 5 o'clock in the afternoon and
Just laughed when the older women
asked for food for the children.
They searched the village for
men and shot them dead when they
found them. Two trucks came for
us about 7 o'clock and we were
hauled through Givate Shaul "a
Jewish suburb, where the Jews
laughed at us and Knocked us.
Then they drove us into the
main road Of town and made us
get out. They told us: Give us
everything you've got or we'll shoot
you Then the men formed a
circle and the Jewish girls stripped
lis naked and took our rings and
earrings. While we were naked they
made pictures of us and then told
us to get dressed and walk to Jaffa
Gate (Jerusalem)
Sfronfomvrin IIeo Iirnod