Operation Cleaning (Mivtza Nikayon)

Operation Cleaning, (also known as Mivtza Nikayon _he. מבצע נקיון), is a massacre committed by Israeli troops on Palestinian refugees in August 1948. It happened in what is now Ashdod, Israel.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the Palestinians were forced to leave Ashdod to escape the fighting. The Palestinians had lived in Ashdod until the Zionist Jews took over the British Mandate of Palestine.When the Palestinian refugees returned Israeli soldiers in the Giv'ati Brigade conducting what they called Mivtza Nikayon — Operation Cleaning--to Palestinian refugees just north of the Egyptian lines, in what now Ashdod. The Palestinians had returned to Ashdod (now beolonging to Israel) during a United Nations-sanctioned truce in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/books/review/Margolick-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=middleeast 1948 - A History of the First Arab-Israeli War - Benny Morris - Book Review - New York Times ] ] The Palestinians had returned to their village, now in Israeli hands, because their animals were there, and because there were crops to harvest and because they were hungry. The Israeli troops, however, killed the Palestinian refugees, and then burned their homes. None of the Palestinians were soldiers; most were children. [ [http://www.deiryassin.org/op0010.html Zionist Massacres in 1948: New Evidence ] ] This unprovoked massacre created deep resentment and anger among the Palestinians towards the Israelis.

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