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It took place on
October 26, 1948 in Lebanon. Houla is located in southern Lebanon,
only a
few kilometers from the
Israeli border. When Arab volunteers gathered to liberate Palestine
from “Israel”
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.
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