Latrun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The area of Latrun (Hebrew: לטרון) (al-Latrun in Arabic) is a region of the Ayalon Valley, about 15 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla. Latrun is the first of the hilly ridges that a traveller will pass while ascending along the classical highway to Jerusalem. Its significant strategic value made it the site of many battles, though it has recently become the site of several tourist attractions.
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[edit] History
In the Bible, the Ayalon Valley was the site of a battle in which Joshua defeated the Amorites; Latrun was also the scene of many attacks during the Crusades. A crusader stronghold there, "Le toron des chevaliers" (The Tower of the Knights), may be the origin of the name "Latrun". Another theory is that the name originates from the name the Christian pilgrims gave to the town "Castellum bonu Latronis" (The Fortress of the Good Thief). Little remains of the castle, which was held by the Templars by 1187. The main tower was later surrounded with a rectangular enclosure with vaulted chambers. This in turn was enclosed by an outer court, of which one tower survives.
In the year 1890, a monastery was established at Latrun by French monks of the Trappist order. The monks established a successful vineyard and today produce a variety of good wines.
The book All that Remains by historian Walid Khalidi, describes the small village of Al-Latrun that grew up here from the late 19th century, with residents coming from nearby Emmaus. According to the same source, the villagers were evacuated to Emmaus in 1949 as a result of the war and Latrun's location at the armistice line.
[edit] 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Following the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the British authorities built a number of police forts of similar design (named Taggart forts after their designer[1]) in various locations; Latrun was chosen as such a site due to its strategic significance, particularly its dominant position above the old Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem highway passing immediately below the hill-line. That police fort had an enormous impact on the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. As the last British troops departed from Palestine Mandate on May 14, 1948, the fort was occupied by the Transjordanian Arab Legion.
The Legionnaires used the fort to shell Israeli traffic on the highway and thus effectively imposed a siege upon Jerusalem. During early June, a rough alternative route was developed to its south that was nicknamed "Burma Road" after the American and British route into Nationalist China during World War II.
Just 10 days after the declaration of Israel, on May 24, 1948, the fort was assaulted by combined forces of Israel's newly-created 7th Brigade, and a battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade (where Ariel Sharon served as a platoon commander; he was wounded with most of his platoon and later recalled the decision to retreat to a nearby vale as the most crucial tactical decision of his life). The attack (codenamed "Bin-Nun A") failed, with heavy casualties. A week later, on June 1st, the fort withstood yet another attack ("Bin-Nun B"), even though its outer defences were breached.
Many of the Israeli conscripts were recent survivors of the Holocaust and were new immigrants; most were poorly trained. The equipment was also very poor, and artillery support was lacking. The results of the battle were mixed. The official combined number of casualties for both the battles was 139 (an extremely high figure for an assault conducted mainly by two battalions). As records are carefully kept for each fallen soldier, this figure seems exact. While the Tel-Aviv Jerusalem highway was not secured, the two Battles of Latrun can be seen as a limited strategic success, since they contained the Arab Legion and allowed the opening of the bypass road, which lifted the siege from Jerusalem.
Aluf Mickey Marcus was killed by accident June 22, 1948 at Latrun.
The battle, however, is often brought up as a failure of much greater proportions than it was; for instance, in 1985, Member of Knesset Doctor Uzi Landau had claimed that 2000 soldiers died in the fighting which would make up a third of all Israeli casualties of the 1948 war. When reminded about the real casualty count, Landau agreed to lower his estimate to 1000.
In the 1949 cease-fire agreement, the fort remained a salient under Jordanian control, which was in turn surrounded by a perimeter of no man's land. Under the cease-fire agreement, Jordan was not to disrupt Israeli travelers using this road; in practice, constant sniper attacks led Israel to build a bypass road around the bulge.
[edit] Today
In 1967's Six-Day War, Latrun was captured by Israeli forces. The main-road to Jerusalem was reopened and the fort became a museum and a memorial site for the Israeli Armor Corps.
The Armored Corps complex at the Taggart fort is today known as "Yad La-Shiryon" center, which includes a museum, a display of over 110 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles (including the Merkava and T-72 tanks), an amphitheatre, an auditorium, a synagogue and memorial for fallen soldiers of Israeli armored corps.
The Trappist Monastery is considered a popular tourist attraction with focus on its production of fine wines. The Miniature Israel tourist attraction was opened across the street in 2002.
In 1970, an intentional community known as Oasis of Peace (Hebrew: נוה שלום, Neve Shalom) was jointly founded by Israeli Arabs and Jews on a hilltop south of the Latrun ridge with the stated goal of engaging in educational work for peace and justice. In 1977, the Israeli settlement of Mevo Horon was built between Latrun and the West Bank proper to secure the Israeli claim to the region. Because of Latrun's strategic location above the most traveled highway in Israel, there is overwhelming consensus in Israel that the Latrun Salient won't be relinquished as part of any settlement to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
In July 2006, Latrun hosted a Birthright Mega Event concert, celebrating the sixth anniversary of the Birthright Israel program, and its 100,000th partcipant.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Note that the forts commonly called "Taggart" forts in Israel are named after Sir Charles Tegart - a misspelling apparently from transliteration of the name from English to Hebrew and then back to English.
Kennedy, Hugh (2000). Crusader Castles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79913-9.
[edit] Further reading
- Latrun (2002, ISBN 965-7130-10-7) is a novel by Ram Oren describing the two Battles of Latrun and the events surrounding them.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Yad Lashiryon, the armored corps memorial site and museum at Latrun:
- Latrun, from the Jewish Agency for Israel
- al-Latrun, from www.palestineremembered.com (Palestinian site that sets out to document villages destroyed or evacuated as a result of the 1948 and 1967 wars.)
- Mini Israel
