During a government meeting held on November 17, 1948—one of several in which war crimes committed by IDF forces in the latter stages of the 1948 war were discussed—Minister of Agriculture and Mapam member of parliament (a Zionist socialist/labor-oriented party) Aharon Zisling spoke about a letter that had come to his attention. The transcripts read:
After reading the account in the letter I received, I could not sleep that entire night. I felt that something had been done that wounded my soul, the soul of my house, the soul of all of us here. I could not grasp where we had come from and where we were headed. I know that it is not a happenstance, but rather something that sets the standards by which the nation lives. I know that this may have consequences for every thread of our existence. Sin begets sin, and it becomes man’s second nature.
Zisling was likely referring to a letter that came to his attention and was originally addressed to Eliezer Perry, editor of Al Hamishmar, the newspaper published by Hashomer Hatzair (the national kibbutz movement). The letter, signed by S. Kaplan, a person of unclear identity, describes in chilling detail the massacre in the village of Dawayima, just to the west of Hebron, after its capture on October 28 by fighters from the 8th Brigade. It was typed on a typewriter, with the date added in handwriting, November 8, 1948.
The remarks Zisling made in the meeting were previously quoted in Tom Segev’s book, 1949 The First Israelis, published in the mid-1980s, but the document was later sealed by the Israel State Archives for many years. It reopened just a few years ago at the request of Akevot Institute.
The letter can be found at the Yad Yaari archive in Givat Haviva and has been accessible to the public since August 2019, after years in which access was baselessly denied under instructions from the Director of Security of the Defense Establishment.