Deir Yassin
دير ياسين Dayr Yasin | |
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Etymology: "Monastery of [Sheikh] Yassin"[1] | |
Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
Coordinates: 31°47′9″N 35°10′41″E / 31.78583°N 35.17806°E | |
Palestine grid | 167/132 |
Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
Date of depopulation | April 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 depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Secondary cause | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
Current Localities | Givat Shaul Beth and Har Nof neighborhoods of Jerusalem |
Deir Yassin (Arabic: دير ياسين, romanized: Dayr 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.