Tantura, destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948, thought to be site of notorious massacre New UK study featuring 3D mapping, eyewitness accounts could help locate up to 200 bodies LONDON: Three potential sites for the location of mass graves have been identified in a Palestinian village destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948. Historians have long believed that Tantura, near Haifa, was the site of an atrocity amid stories from survivors that up to 200 men may have been executed in the village after surrendering to Israeli soldiers belonging to the Alexandroni Brigade. The site of two of the mass graves are thought to be beneath a beachfront car park. The village was once home to around 1,500 Palestinians but is now the Dor Beach resort. In 1948 the area would have been open, possibly as part of an orchard. An investigation by Forensic Architecture — a research organization based at Goldsmiths, University of London — has identified the locations, creating a 3D map of the area using geographic data and photographs recorded and compiled by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine, as well as eyewitness testimonies, to assess changes in the landscape where bodies may have been buried or exhumed. The third location, thought to have also been the site of mass executions, reportedly had human remains recovered from it several years later. The Forensic Architecture report, commissioned by Palestinian human rights group Adalah, has been used as evidence to petition Israeli authorities on behalf of families of the victims to demarcate the identified sites. “It is hard to argue that there are no mass graves in Tantura. The families’ rights to visit these sites and the right to dignified burial have obviously been violated under both Israeli and international law,” Suhad Bishara, Adalah’s legal director, told The Guardian “What we hope with the filing is that it’s not a matter for the Israeli courts to decide ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on, but just how to facilitate access.” Adnan Haj Yahya, whose family owned the land where the third site has been identified, was 17 years old when Israeli forces took Tantura. He told investigators that he and a friend were forced to dig the grave by the Israelis, and bury dozens of bodies. “I will never forget that day, it’s still very clear to me. I lost my belief in God that day,” he told The Guardian. “The world should know what happened to us in Tantura.” As many as 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes in 1948 by Israel, in an event known as the Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic. At least 500 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed.