Siege of Jerusalem (1948)

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Siege of Jerusalem
Part of Israeli War of Independence
Date November 9, 1947 - July 18, 1948 Location Jerusalem, Israel Result Israeli forces lifted the siege of western Jerusalem, Transjordanians conquered the Old City and northern districts and destroyed the Jewish Quarter. The city was divided for 19 years.
Combatants
Israel, Jewish militias: (Haganah, Irgun, Lehi) British officers with the Israeli force	Transjordan Army of the Holy War Arab Liberation Army British officers seconded to Transjordan Egypt
Commanders
David Shaltiel	Sir Alan Cunningham Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni Anwar Nusseiba , General Sir John Bagot Glubb Pasha
Strength
1,500-3,000 men	6,000 jordanian troops 2,000 egyptian troops 500 palestinian militia
Casualties
700 military dead, 3,300 civilian dead (approx.)	unknown

1948 Arab-Israeli War
Jerusalem - Gush Etzion - Kfar Etzion - Yad Mordechai

The siege of Jerusalem was a complex series of military and terrorist events beginning on December 1, 1947 and lasting through January, 1949. The siege was initiated by local Palestinian Arab militias immediately after the United Nations adopted a resolution ordering partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The siege was continued by the Transjordan Arab Legion, assisted by British officers and by the Egyptian Army until the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

The intention of besieging forces was to isolate and destroy or disposess the 100,000 Jewish residents of the city. The siege lasted until Israeli forces were able to build a bypass road through the Judean Hills called the Burma Road and by conquering the neighboring towns of Lod and Ramle.

Contents 1 Background 2 War of the Roads 3 The Bombing Campaign 4 Jewish Counter-Attack 5 The Siege of the Jewish Quarter 6 Battle of Gush Etzion 7 The British Evacuation 8 The Battle of Latrun 9 The Burma Road 10 The Battle of Ramat Rachel 11 The Partition of Jerusalem 12 Lasting Effects 13 Revisionism 14 References

[edit] Background

• Geography
• Population
• The 1947 partition plan and the Corpus separatum
• Arab Political Leadership
• British policy to frustrate the Corpus Separatum, e.g. Operation Chaos

[edit] War of the Roads

• Resupply columns
• Fall of Atarot and Nevi Shmuel
• Near famine in the city
• Battle of Kastel
• Battle of Deir Yassin or Deir Yassin Massacre
• Hadassah medical convoy massacre

[edit] The Bombing Campaign

• The bomb maker, Fawzi al-Kutab
• Ben Yehuda Street
• Palestine Post
• Jewish Agency

[edit] Jewish Counter-Attack

• Fall of Katamon and St. Simeon Monestery

[edit] The Siege of the Jewish Quarter

• Jewish Quarter is Besieged
• British lock in inhabitants
• Arab Legion takes the Quarter and blows it up, including the Hurva Synagogue

[edit] Battle of Gush Etzion

• Siege and fall of Gush Etzion kibbutzim, the Kfar Etzion massacre.

[edit] The British Evacuation

• Fall of Bevingrad

[edit] The Battle of Latrun

• Haganah failure to occupy the concrete Taggart fort at Latrun overlooking the Tel Aviv highway, and its subsequent occupation by the Arab Legion, newly assigned to Transjordan.
• Failed attempts to clear the road.
• Critical involvement of British military personnel, and their withdrawal.

[edit] The Burma Road

• Arrival of Mickey Marcus
• Engineering the road
• End of the blockade

[edit] The Battle of Ramat Rachel

• Egyptian Army repeatedly takes and loses control of Ramat Rachel
• Egyptian Army cut off by fall of Beersheba.

[edit] The Partition of Jerusalem

• Armistice and division of the city along ethnic and religious lines
• Mandelbaum Gate
• Isolation of Mount Scopus
• Isolation of Jewish holy places, including the Western Wall

[edit] Lasting Effects

• Diplomatic isolation of the city
• Travel restrictions
• Decline of Christian population in Jordanian sector
• Outbreak of 1967 Six Day War

[edit] Revisionism

• Disappearance of the siege from history
• Views of Arab and pro-Arab writers

[edit] References

• Dov Joseph (1960) The Faithful City. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• John Roy Carlson (1951) From Cairo to Damascus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Larry Collins & Dominique LaPierre (1972) O Jerusalem. New York: Simon and Schuster.