Deir Yassin

Deir Yassin
دير ياسين
Dayr Yasin
Deir Yassin today, part of the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center
Deir Yassin today, part of the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center
Etymology: "Monastery of [Sheikh] Yassin"[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Deir Yassin (click the buttons)
Deir Yassin is located in Mandatory Palestine
Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°47′9″N 35°10′41″E / 31.78583°N 35.17806°E / 31.78583; 35.17806
Palestine grid167/132
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationApril 9–10, 1948[3]
Area
 • Total
2,857 dunams (2.6 km2 or 1.0 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
610[2]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary causeExpulsion by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesGivat Shaul Beth and Har Nof neighborhoods of Jerusalem
The hill of Deir Yassin, 2023

Deir Yassin (Arabic: دير ياسين, romanizedDayr Yāsīn) was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 inhabitants about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Jerusalem. Deir Yassin declared its neutrality during the 1948 Palestine war between Arabs and Jews. The village was razed after a massacre of around 107 of its Arab residents on April 9, 1948, by the Jewish paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi. The village buildings are today part of the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, an Israeli public psychiatric hospital.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 293
  2. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  3. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #362. Also give causes of depopulation.