"All about Kafr Qassem", a One-time Edition of a Booklet Condemning the Massacre, 1956

"All about Kafr Qassem", a One-time Edition of a Booklet Condemning the Massacre, 1956
"Hakol al Kafr Qassem" [All about Kafr Qassem], one-time edition. Editor: Uri Selah. Tel-Aviv: "Dfus Chadash" press, [1956].
The booklet was presumably printed during late December 1956, approx. two months after the massacre in Kafr Qassem. It opens with a review of the events and eyewitness testimonies, followed by a series of articles by Dan Ben Amotz, Amos Kenan, Avraham Shlonsky, Gershom Schoken and others, condemning the massacre. The last page features a petition calling for a public trial, with a blank space for signing and instructions for the reader: "sign it […] cut the page, fold it and send it by mail to the address: Speaker of the Knesset, Jerusalem".
During the Kafr Qassem Massacre, 49 residents of the village, including women and children, were shot to death by the Israel border police after violating a curfew imposed on the village, of which they were unaware, while working outside the village. Initially, the authorities tried to hide the events from the public and the military censor imposed a gag order on written and broadcasted media. This booklet was printed illegally under the gag order and was distributed secretly. Its first copies were printed at the expense of the Mapam party (the paper was donated by Uri Avneri and Shalom Cohen, the owners of the weekly "Haolam Hazeh") and were distributed by members of "Hashomer Hatza'ir" movement. During distribution, some members of "Hashomer Hatza'ir" ran into members of the Security Services, who confiscated the booklets and burnt them. Shortly thereafter, an additional edition of the booklet was printed, funded by the Maki party.
7, [1] pp. 34.5 cm. Sheets unopened in their upper edges. Good condition. Minor blemishes.