April 9, 1953 Deir Yassin

The Jordanian daily al Urdun quoted a refugee, Yunes Ahmed Assad, formerly of Deir Yassin, as saying:

“The Arab Exodus… was not caused by the actual battle, but by the exaggerated description spread by the Arab leaders to incite them to fight the Jews… For the flight and fall of the other Villages, it is our leaders who are responsible, because of the dissemination of rumours exaggerating Jewish crimes and describing them as atrocities in order to inflame the Arabs… they instilled fear and terror into the hearts of the Arabs of Palestine until they fled, leaving their homes and property”