Dov Yermiya

Who is Dov Yermiya?

Dov Yermiya is a former Israeli Defence Forces lieutenant-colonel. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was the officer who directed the assault that ended in the conquest of Saffuriyah, and his memory of the event confirms the version of events given by the Palestinians who fled. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Yermiya was expelled from his unit for voicing public criticism of the brutality of the IDF's treatment of civilians. In his diary account of the artillery and aerial assault on the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, he wrote that the quantity of bombs used to destroy the area reminded him of World War 2.

The following year he became famous for his account of that period in his book My War Diary: Lebanon June 5 -- July 1, 1982. Published in defiance of censorship laws, it provoked, according to the publishers, 'widespread controversy when it was first published in Israel', but was ignored by western media. The book criticized Israeli wrongdoings during the war, and was first published in Hebrew with the title "Yoman Hamilchama Sheli". It was later translated to English and published by South End Press.