Kafr Qasim massacre

"The Kafr Qasim massacre took place in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Qasim (Kfar Kassem) situated on the Green Line, at that time, the de facto border between Israel and the West Bank on October 29, 1956. It was carried out by the Israel Border Police (Magav) and resulted in 48 Arab civilians dead, including 6 women and 23 children aged 8-17. Arab sources usually give the death toll as 49, as they include the unborn child of one of the women.

The border policemen who were involved in the shooting were brought to trial and found guilty and sentenced to prison terms, but all received pardons and were released in a year. The brigade commander was sentenced to pay the symbolic fine of 10 prutot (old Israeli cents). The Israeli court found that the command to kill civilians was “blatantly illegal”.

In December 2007, President of Israel Shimon Peres formally apologised for the massacre.