22 feb 1948 año - Ben Yehuda Street bombings

Descripción:

The Ben Yehuda Street bombings refer to a series of attacks perpetrated or ordered by Palestinian Arabs, some of them acting as suicide bombers, on civilians in downtown Jerusalem, from February 1948 onwards. The attacks were carried out on Ben Yehuda Street, a major thoroughfare. On February 22, 1948, three British Army trucks led by an armoured car driven by Arab irregulars and British deserters exploded on Ben Yehuda Street killing from 49 to 58 civilians and injuring from 140 to 200.

The bomb may have been intended to kill members of the Furmans (Palmach convoy escorts) who lodged in the Atlantic and Amdursky Hotels but had left on patrol shortly beforehand. In addition to the two hotels, the Vilenchick Building and the Kupat-Milveh Bank were destroyed. The bomb had been created by Fawzi al-Qutb. The convoy was led by a Jerusalemite militant, 'Azmi al-Ja'uni, who spoke fluent English and could pass himself off as a British officer. Two British deserters, Eddie Brown, a police captain who claimed that the Irgun had killed his brother, and Peter Madison, an army corporal, had been persuaded to join the attack, also by the promise of substantial financial rewards.

In the ensuing confusion, Jewish residents immediately blamed the British for the attack. David Ben-Gurion, on visiting the site of the carnage, has been cited as putting some responsibility for this Arab attack on the shoulders of Jewish thugs, stating, "I could not forget that our thugs and murderers had opened the way." The Irgun spread word ordering militants to shoot on sight any Englishman. By day's end, eight British soldiers had been shot dead, while a ninth was murdered while laid up in a Jewish clinic for treatment of a wound. Lehi also reacted several days later by blowing up a train full of British soldiers as it drew out of Rehovot station, killing 27.

The day after, on 23 February, a Jewish offensive, deploying mortars, was launched against the Arab neighbourhood of Musrara, in Jerusalem, killing seven Arabs, including an entire family. The Arabs believed it was in revenge for the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing, though, according to Israeli historian Itamar Radai, at the time the Jews and their official institutions blamed only the British for the incident.

Añadido al timeline:

fecha: