Over Their Dead Bodies: Tantura, the Forgotten Massacre

Overview

This film explores testimonies from expelled residents of Tantura, a former Palestinian Arab fishing village that was located 28 kilometers south of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine. In May 1948, the village was attacked by Jewish Haganah forces as part of a regional “cleansing” operation in the foothills of Mount Carmel, with the goal of expelling the Arab residents. Many Palestinians were killed and hundreds were imprisoned. Those who survived fled to the nearby village of Fureidis, which was spared destruction when Jewish residents of nearby towns interceded on its behalf. Other survivors became refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Kibbutz Nahsholim and Moshav Dor were subsequently built on land on the outskirts of Tantura. A mass grave is believed to be located under a parking lot, but current residents oppose exhuming the bodies.