1952 raid on Beit Jala
The 1952 raid on Beit Jala was a part of the reprisal operations that were carried out by Israel in response to Arab fedayeen attacks from across the Green Line. It involved an Israeli incursion into Beit Jala, a town in the Jordanian-annexed West Bank, on 6 January 1952, after which three houses were rigged with explosives and subsequently blown up; the attack killed seven civilian residents. After the attack, the perpetrators left leaflets at the site that were written in Arabic and explained the nature of the killings as a "penalty" for the earlier rape and murder of an Israeli Jewish girl by Palestinian Arab infiltrators, who were supposedly locals of Beit Jala, in the neighbourhood of Bayit VeGan in Jerusalem.
Background
From the 1949 Armistice Agreements until 1953, Israel had lodged 99 complaints with Jordan concerning the infiltration into Israel of armed groups or individuals from the Jordanian-annexed West Bank, and an additional 30 complaints of Jordanian soldiers crossing the Green Line into Israeli territory. During this time, Jordan had also lodged 5 complaints with Israel concerning the infiltration of armed groups or individuals, and an additional 162 complaints of Israeli soldiers crossing the Green Line into Jordanian territory. One such complaint by Israel concerned the infiltration of an Arab group who had raped and murdered a Jewish girl in the neighbourhood of Katamon in Jerusalem in February 1951. Mansi was subsequently detained by Jordanian authorities, but later released and placed on surveillance. Shortly afterwards, Israeli authorities passed on information to the Jordanians that Mansi was stockpiling explosives.On 4 December 1951, a Jewish girl known as Leah Feistinger, who was walking home from a bus stop in the neighbourhood of Bayit VeGan in Jerusalem, was raped, mutilated, and murdered by an Arab group led by Mansi; her body was found discarded in a cave approximately a mile away from the border between Israel and the Jordanian-annexed West Bank, inside Israeli territory.
Major Loreaux, an investigating officer from the Mixed Armistice Commissions of the United Nations, reported to chairmen Commander E. H. Hutchison and Commandant G. Bouvet that the Jewish girl had been raped and murdered, with her face mutilated. He also reported that he saw no evidence of infiltration from Jordanian territory and suggested that Israeli police investigate the incident.
Israel stated that the perpetrators were three Arab residents from Beit Jala: Saïd Salah Jamʽan, Jamil Muhammad Mujarrab, and Muhammad Mansi.
Reprisal raid
Following an Israeli incursion into the Jordanian-annexed West Bank on 6 January 1952, three houses in Beit Jala were rigged with explosives and blown up. According to Hutchison, the upper floor of the first house was completely destroyed; the lower part of the house, which had been built into the side of the hill, was still partially intact, with bullet holes visible in the walls and doors. The inhabitants, a 23-year-old man and his wife, were killed in the blast. The second house had damage on one wall that was pockmarked with bullets and had shattered windows. In the third house, a woman and her four children, ranging in age from 6 to 14, were found dead. When one of the demolition charges allegedly failed, the attackers used grenades.After the attack, the perpetrators left leaflets at the site, which were written in Arabic and read as follows: