Kafr Qasem is a
Palestinian town in central
Israel bordering the
West Bank. On October 29, 1956, at the start of the
1956 War, Kafr Qasem was the site of a massacre in which 48 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by
Israeli border police. Those killed included children and women, one of whom was pregnant. Israel fearing that Jordan might attack, had placed Palestinian villages near the Jordanian-controlled West Bank under a curfew. Border police officers were reportedly ordered to shoot on sight any villagers violating the curfew. However, many Kafr Qasem residents were working in fields or in other locations outside of the village when the curfew was first declared and Israeli police fired on them when they returned past the curfew hour. An Israeli court later convicted the Israeli border policemen of murder, but all were released from prison within a year. See "
50 years after massacre, Kafr Qasem wants answers," Yoav Stern, Haaretz, October 30 2006; and "
48 human beings were massacred-and we have forgotten them," Shirley Racah and Abed Kannaneh, +972mag, Nov 3, 2013.