The Tantura Massacre

The fishing village of Tantura, with a population of approximately 1,500, was one of 64 coastal villages between Haifa and Jaffa that were ethnically cleansed against the backdrop of the Nakba in 1948. On May 22 to 23, 1948, a week after the Zionist state claimed its ‘independence,’ soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade (currently part of the IOF) carried out a premeditated massacre of over 200 unarmed Palestinians. This attack, typical of many during the beginning of the Nakba, resulted in the depopulation and destruction of Tantura, as well as the theft of its lands by ‘Israel.’