by Stephen Lendman

Photo: AFP

On June 1, Press TV headlined "Mass graves from 1948 war discovered in Jaffa."

Palestinian Jaffa is now Tel Aviv's Jaffa municipality. Six mass graves were discovered. They contain remains of at least hundreds of Palestinian victims.

These and other questions remain unanswered. How many more mass graves are yet to be discovered? How many never will be found?

How many thousands of dead Palestinians remain hidden? How many loved ones were lost? How many surviving family members couldn't bury them respectfully?

Why have responsible Israelis remained unaccountable? Why hasn't the official historical record been set straight? Why don't lost Palestinian lives matter?

The Nakba was one of history's great crimes. Much about it is known. Israeli historian Ilan Pappe documented it. His book titled "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" explains. More on that below.

On May 29, the al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage reported the mass grave discovery. An official said it came after ground caved in while workers carried out renovations.

According to Islamic Movement in Jaffa's Sheikh Mohammed Najem:

"During repair and maintenance (Kazkhana cemetery) work, we discovered nozzles to dig into the ground where we found mass graves."

They included "hundreds of skeletons and human remains of rebels, martyrs and civilians who perished during the Nakba."

"The Kazkhana cemetery has exposed the historical facts that Israel has tried to hide and erase for over 65 years relating to the massacres committed by Zionist gangs during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba."

"These mass graves have banished all doubts of the certainty of oral histories collected by historians of people who lived through the Nakba of 1948 and parts of the war documenting massacres in Jaffa and its suburbs."

Al-Aqsa Foundation's head of holy site files' Abed al-Majid Ighbariya said:

"The foundation will continue to conduct research and scientifically test the remains to send media messages to the whole world that Israel is built on the skulls of the Palestinian people."

Eighty-year old Atar Zeinab was teenaged at the time.

"I carried to the cemetery 60 bodies during a period of three or four months," he said. "We used to find the people in the street, and most of the time we didn't know who they were."

Bodies were dumped on top of each other. "We carried them early in the morning or in the night," he added. "We put women, children and men in the same place. Nobody prayed for these people."

Israel wants them dead and buried out of sight and mind. It wants one of history's greatest war crimes whitewashed from the historical record. It wants historic Palestine exclusively for Jews.

It wants a Greater Israel established. It wants land in bordering countries stolen. It wants their people banished, slaughtered or exploited. It wants other Middle East/North African countries balkanized for easier control.

It wants unchallenged regional dominance. It believes might justifies right. On November 2, 1917, UK Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour's Declaration "establish(ed) in Palestine (a) home for the Jewish people."

Doing so made Nakba slaughter possible. Pappe documented Israel's master plan. War without mercy was launched. Genocidal ethnic cleansing slaughtered or displaced about 800,000 Palestinians.

Over 530 villages were destroyed. So were 11 urban areas in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and elsewhere. Israel stole 78% of historic Palestine. In 1967, it took the rest.

In 1947, the UN declared Jerusalem an international city. It remains so under a UN trusteeship. Israel claims it as its exclusive capital. It does so lawlessly. It spurns most all vital rule of law principles. It mocks democratic values. It's done so from inception.

UN Resolution 181 called for an Independent Arab state by October 1, 1948. All governments were told to "refrain from taking any action which might hamper or delay" its establishment.

The Security Council was mandated to take "the necessary measures as provided for in the plan for its implementation." Doing so was to assure "a just and lasting peace...."

Israel intervened belligerently. Leaders able to prevent it did nothing. Some offered support. Peace remains elusive. Palestine's still occupied. Millions of oppressed Palestinians await justice. Diaspora ones can't return.

Genocidal war crimes remain unaccountable. Daily crimes against humanity compound them. Washington and other Western countries aid and abet them. International tribunals ignore them.

Zionism's 19th century inception began things. In 1895, founder Theodor Herzl said:

"We must expropriate gently the private property on the state assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by....denying it employment in our country."

Detailed information on all Arab villages and urban communities was compiled. Doing so let Zionists know what to colonize and where.

Palestinian leaders were targeted for elimination. In 1947 and 1948, they were arrested and summarily executed. After ethnically cleansing Palestine, David Ben-Gurion said:

"We have come and we have stolen their country....We must do everything to insure they never do return."

Years earlier, he wrote his son, saying, "We will expel the Arabs and take their places....with the force at our disposal."

He did it by depopulation, mass slaughter, and erasing centuries of Palestine's landscape, proud history and culture. It remains in the collective memories and consciousness of survivors and offspring.

Israel exploits the Jewish holocaust. Former Israeli official Abba Eban once said "There's no business like Shoah business." It explains the myth of unique Jewish suffering.

Ignored is how Israel treats Palestinians. It's been ongoing over 65 years. It shows no sign of ending. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians perished. Millions suffer today.

Crimes of war, against humanity and genocide remain unaccountable. Palestine's liberating struggle continues.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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http://www.dailycensored.com/evidence-of-israeli-mass-murder-discovered/