ABSTRACT
With every passing day in the West Bank, more and more of the “facts” of history that I learned growing up the United States as a Jewish-American are dissolving into myths as I hear first-hand stories about the past and present of Israel and Palestine. I recently learned that 57 years ago today, members of the Irgun and Stern gangs, two armed Jewish guerilla groups, broke into the Palestinian homes in the village of Deir Yassin in the middle of the night and systematically murdered between 110 and 140 peaceful inhabitants. The murderers felt that the Palestinian presence stood in the way of their vision of a pure Jewish state even though the village lay outside the area recommended by the United Nations to be included in the future Israel.
