The villages of Yalu, Beit Nuba and Emmaus were known from the time of Jesus. The Church of Emmaus was reconstructed in 1902 by the Franciscan Fathers on Crusader Foundations. Emmaus has also a big Catholic Convent and was a great tourist attraction. These three Biblical villages were occupied by the Israeli army on June 9, 1967. All homes and buildings in the three villages, together with the Catholic Church, Convent and two Muslim Mosques were razed to the ground. Twenty two men, women and children were killed in the blasting operations. Over 5,000 people were made homeless.

The well known Jewish writer Amos Kenan was a soldier in the Jewish army unit which demolished these three villages. In an interview with the Jewish magazine Haolem Hazeh, he gave the following account:

The unit commander told us that it had been decided to blow up three villages in our sector; they were Beit-Nuba, Emmaus and Yalu. This was explained by strategic, tactical and security considerations. At noon the first bulldozer arrived and pulled down the first house at the edge of the village. Within 10 minutes the house was turned to rubble. The olive trees and cypresses were all uprooted. After the destruction of three houses the first refugee column arrived from the direction of Ramallah. We told them to go to Beit Sura. They told us that they were driven out everywhere, forbidden to enter any village, that they were wandering like this for four days, without food, without water, some dying on the road. They asked to return to the village, and said we’d better kill them. Some had a goat, a lamb, a donkey or a camel. A father ground wheat by hand to feed his four children. On the horizon we could see the next group arriving. The children cried. Some of our soldiers started crying too. We went to fetch some water. We stopped a car with a major, two captains and a woman. We took a jerrican of water and distributed it to the refugees. We also handed out cigarettes and candy. More soldiers burst out crying. We asked the officers why are these refugees sent from one place to another and driven out of everywhere. They told us this was good for them. Let them go. Moreover, said the officers, why do we care about the Arabs anyway. We drove them out. They go on wandering in the south like lost cattle. The weak die. In the evening we found out that we had been deceived, for in Beit-Sura too, bulldozers commenced destruction and they were forbidden to enter. We found out that not only in our sector was the border straightened out for security reasons but in all sectors. Our unit was outraged. At night we were ordered to guard the bulldozers, but the unit was so outraged that no soldier was willing to carry out such duties. None of us understood how Jews could behave like this. The chickens and doves were buried in the rubble. The fields were turned into wasteland in front of our eyes. The children who went on crying on the road will be Fedayeen in 19 years, in the next round. Thus have we lost on that day the victory.

Source: Encyclopedia of the Palestine problema by Issa Nakhleh.