An Israeli film that highlights a massacre attributed to the occupation forces in the 1948 war

JERUSALEM: Israeli director Alon Schwartz admits that his new film "Al-Tantora", which talks about a massacre of Palestinians reported to have been carried out by Israeli forces in 1948, will cause widespread controversy, but says that Israel must "understand its history."

The movie “Al-Tantora” was shown for the first time last week at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the United States, and it recounts historical facts that took place in Al-Tantura, a coastal village on the Mediterranean southwest of Haifa, which witnessed fighting between Jewish and Arab forces in May 1948, shortly after the declaration of a state Israel.

The film is based mainly on the work of Theodore Katz, which he did when he was a student preparing for a master's degree in history in the nineties of the last century at Haifa University, and collected testimonies from former Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, confirming that the Israeli army forces (formed a week after the establishment of the state) killed Palestinians Unarmed in Tantura outside the context of the battle.

At first, the master's thesis received the highest ratings from Haifa University professors, but later sparked widespread national controversy after it found its way to the Israeli media in 2000.

Veterans of the Israeli "Al-Iskandroni Brigade" unit that fought in Tantoura filed a lawsuit against Katz for defamation. He soon apologized and retracted his conclusions, which he says today was "one of the biggest mistakes" he made in his life.

Schwartz says he "understands that the film may face criticism," but sees "a new generation of Israelis today that is more willing to discuss the difficult events in the history of the young nation."

“On the one hand, I am afraid of being criticized, but on the other hand, Israel is changing,” he continues, adding, “I am a Zionist and support the existence of a special state for the Jews, but I think it is very important for us to understand our history.”

"It happened"

In the documentary, some of the soldiers interviewed firmly deny that any Palestinians have been killed outside the context of the battle for the city, and speak of a “legend.”

But others assert unequivocally that Israeli forces shot and killed Arabs after the fighting ended.

Estimates vary widely on the number of dead in the village. In 1948, more than 760,000 Palestinians fled their homes.

Former soldier Yusef Diamant says in the film, "It was terrifying... I don't want to talk about it, but it happened."

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the film or about the events at Tantora, but Schwartz confirms that he received “useful, direct and professional” help from the army during his research.

In addition to the testimonies, the film presents the opinions of historians and experts, one of whom puts forward the theory of shifts in the ground level before and after the battle, indicating human intervention in the soil, which could indicate the possibility of digging mass graves in the place.

The film concludes that Palestinians may have been buried under what is now a car park next to the Tantura Beach in northern Israel that is heavily intended for today. Noting that there is no longer a village called Al-Tantora, but the tourist village of Dur was built on its ruins, whose beaches were declared nature reserves. On its lands there is also the cooperative village (kibbutz) “Nahshulim”.

Invitations to investigate

After the film was shown, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for the formation of an “international commission of inquiry” into the “crimes and massacres” committed by Israeli forces in the 1948 war.

In an editorial, the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz called for the formation of a "working team" to investigate the events in the village of al-Tantura. It also called on the state to open its archives after 73 years of its founding.

Schwartz says that he took "personal psychological risks" in investigating the events at Tantora, adding, "I am this man who thought I was masters of our historical reality, but in fact I was raised on a legend."

And he explains, “Telling ourselves a story that there was no (Palestinian) people before us, would not be useful,” considering it a “founding myth of the nation,” adding, “I think we need to be real and mature as a society.”

Israeli historian Adam Raz, who helped produce the film, says fighting the debate over what happened in Tantoura is not "in the national interest."

Raz, who works at the Akevot Institute, which specializes in state archives on the Arab-Israeli conflict, says that Jews and Palestinians will live side by side “now, after a hundred years.” He added, “If we want to move forward toward reconciliation, we need to deal with our past.”(AFP)