Ein al - Zeitun massacre The Ein al Zeitun massacre was a massacre that occurred on May 1 , 1948 , during the 1948 War , at the Arab village of Ein al - Zeitun just north of Safed , then part of the British Mandate for Palestine . According to various historians , 23 - 70 Arab prisoners may have been killed by the Palmach . Ein al Zeitun at this time was an Arab village of about 800 inhabitants . It was believed by local Jews that Arabs from the village had taken part in a 1929 massacre of Jews in Safed and the massacre is assumed to be as a point of revenge . The attack on Ein al Zeitun was conducted by the 3rd Battalion of the Palmach under the command of Moshe Kelman , as a preliminary operation to prepare for an assault on the Arab quarter of Safed . Davidka mortar bombs were used for the first time . The village was taken without much difficulty . Most of the villagers fled during the battle , and the remainder , apart from 30 - 100 men aged 20 – 40 were forcibly expelled afterwards . The Palmach soldiers then began to destroy the village . Palmach officer Elad Peled recalled that “ our men began blowing up the village . The intoxication of victory blinded them and they went berserk , breaking and destroying property . The Jews of Safad saw Ein Zeitun blown up and crushed , and were " happy " , seeing in it vengeance for what the Arabs of Ein Zeitun carried out against the Jews of Safad and Ein Zeitim . ” One Yiftah HQ report says that " 30 " Arab prisoners were " transferred to Golani [ Brigade ] " . But a day or two later two Palmach soldiers , acting on Third Battalion OC Moshe Kelman ' s orders , murdered several dozen prisoners , probably including young men from Ein al - Zeitun , in the gully between Ein al - Zeitun and Safad . According to Netiva Ben - Yehuda , the captive men were tied up and thrown into the deep gully between Ein al Zeitun and left for two days . Kelman then decided to " get rid of this problem altogether " but most of his men refused . Finally he found two willing to do it and the prisoners were killed . Two days later , word of the massacre leaked out and it was feared that British or UN investigators would arrive , so some soldiers including Ben - Yehuda were detailed to untie the corpses and bury them . According to a testimony Aharon Yo ' eli , a soldier present , obtained by Israeli historian Uri Milstein " 2 Israelis came from Safad and took 23 men from Ayn Zaytoon , stripped them of watches and wallets , took them to a hill and shot them . Israelis were looking for other Israelis to kill Arabs ; many Jews in Safad were Hassidis ( strictly observant ) . Other Arabs were expelled towards Germak mountain " . Aftermath . The Syrians subsequently charged that " women had been raped " . The destruction of Ein al Zeitun and the consequent massacre terrified the Arabs of Safed and probably contributed to their flight in the coming days . Hans Lebrecht says he was ordered to build a temporary pump station and divert the village stream , Ayn Zaytun , to supply water to his battalion . The village had been destroyed , and among the debris there were many bodies . " In particular , we found many bodies of women , children and babies near the local mosque . I convinced the army to burn the bodies . "