Operation Yiftach

Operation Yiftach (Hebrew: מבצע יפתח‎, Mivtza Yiftah) was an offensive of the Israeli Haganah between 28 April and 29 May 1948 aimed at capturing the eastern Galilee. The central objectives were the capture of Safed and the securing of the Lebanese and Syrian borders before the British Mandate ended on 14 May 1948. It was carried out by two Palmach battalions commanded by Yigal Allon.

Contents

Background

Operation Yiftach was part of Plan Dalet which aimed at securing the areas allocated to the Jewish state in the UN partition plan before the end of the British Mandate in Palestine.[1] With the ending of the Mandate in sight, British forces had begun to withdraw from less strategic areas such as north-eastern Galilee. In these areas there was a scramble by both sides to occupy abandoned police and military facilities. Local militias and Arab volunteers had taken over the Palestine Police forts in Safed and at Nebi Yusha. On 17 April the Haganah launched an attack on the fort at Nebi Yusha, which failed. A second attack on 20 April resulted in the deaths of twenty two of the attackers. As a result of this defeat Yigal Allon, the Palmach C.O. was given command of the operation. Nebi Yusha was finally taken on 20 April in an attack in which planes dropped incenduary bombs on the fort.[2] The army camp at Rosh Pinna was handed over to the Haganah/Palmach by its British commander on 28 April.[3][4] Allon approached the campaign believing that the best way of securing the frontiers was to clear the area completely of all Arab forces and inhabitants.[5] This operation was to be the foundation of his reputation that 'he left no Arab civilian communities in his wake.'[6]

Safed had a pre-war population of 10,000–12,000 Arabs and 1,500 Jews, and was the base for 700-800 local and foreign irregulars.[7] The attack on Safed was similar to the attack on Arab Tiberias on 16-17 April, in that it began with a particularly destructive attack on a neighbouring village resulting in loss of morale in the town.[8]

Operation

On 1 May 1948, the Palmach's 3rd Battalion attacked the village of Ein al-Zeitun 1 km North of Safed. It began shelling the village at 03:00 in the morning, using one of the first Davidka mortars as well as two 3-inch and eight 2-inch conventional mortars. The Davidka was a homemade mortar that fired an oversized shell and was nearly useless due to its inaccuracy, but was useful because of the loud noise of the projectile when it flew and detonated. Although hardly capable of causing casualties, the weapon actually was quite effective in demoralizing defending Arabs, some of whom reportedly even thought the explosions were "atomic bombs", which they knew Jews had helped to develop.[9]

Once they entered the village most of the 'young adult males' fled but 37 were taken prisoner and were probably amongst the 70 men executed in a valley between the village and Safed two days later. Those who remained in the village were rounded up and expelled. Over the next two days Palmach sappers blew up and burnt houses in the village.[10] There followed a sub-operation, Operation Matateh, starting on 4 May, which cleared five Bedouin tribes from the Jordan Valley south of Rosh Pinna.

On 6 May the Palmach launched a ground attack on Safed, but failed to take the citadel. The failure was blamed on insufficient bombardment. Despite Arab attempts to negotiate a truce and the British Army being authorised to intervene, a second attack was launched on night of 9-10 May. It was preceded by a 'massive, concentrated' mortar bombardment in which the Davidka was used again.[11] An Israeli account describes the final assault as occurring in heavy rainfall, with Palmach forces fighting "all night, attacking in waves up the hilly streets of the town, fighting from house to house and from room to room.'[12]

Following the capture of Safed, Palmach units moved north to secure the borders with Lebanon and Syria. On 14–15 May the Palmach's 1st Battalion was involved in a clash with Lebanese units at Qabas.[13] In his later writing Allon claimed that a 'whispering' campaign he launched was of great importance. This involved local Jewish mukhtars who had contacts in local Arab communities being told "to whisper in the ears of several Arabs that giant Jewish reinforcements had reached Galilee and were about to clean out the villages of the Hula". An IDF intelligence report attributed success to this tactic in the case of ten villages, though it suggest that some may also have been bombarded.[14] There is some evidence that 'Syrian officers or Arab irregular commanders' ordered women and children be evacuated from villages north-east of Rosh Pinna.[15]

Aftermath

In the words of Chaim Herzog, on the morning of 11 May "the by-now-familiar mass Arab evacuation from the town began."[16] The only civilians who remained in Safed were "about" 100 Muslims, "average age 80" and "34-36 elderly Christian Arabs". In late May or early June the Muslims were "expelled" to Lebanon and on 13 June the Christians were removed by lorry to Haifa.[17] 4-5,000 Bedouin and villagers who remained in the Hula area after the creation of the state of Israel were trucked across the Syrian border during the 1956 Suez War.

Arab communities captured during Operation Yiftach

Name Date Defending forces Brigade Population
'Arab al-Zubayd 20 April 1948 villagers fled n/a 800
Al 'Ulmaniyya 20 April 1984 n/a n/a 260
Kirad al-Ghannama 22 April 1948 evacuated n/a 350
Kirad al-Walid 22 April 1948 evacuated n/a 280
Tulayl late April 1948 n/a n/a 340
Al-Didara April/May 1948 n/a n/a 100
Al-Shuna April/May 1948 n/a n/a 170
Ein al-Zaytun 1 May 1948 none Palmach 3rd Battalion 820
Biriyya 1 May 1948 n/a n/a 240
Ghuraba 1 May 1948 n/a n/a 220
Khiyam al-Wali 1 May 1948 evacuated n/a 280
Al-Muftakhira 1 & 16 May 1948 n/a n/a 350
Fir'im 2 & 26 May 1948 n/a n/a 740
Muqhr ql-Khayt 2 May 1948 n/a n/a 490
Qabba'a 2 May 1948 n/a n/a 460
Al-Wayziyya 2 May 1948 n/a n/a 100
Jubb Yusuf 4 May 1948 n/a n/a 170
Harrawi 5 & 25 May 1948 Arab Liberation Army n/a n/a
'Akbara 9 May 1948 15-20 villagers Palmach 1st Battalion 390
Al-Ja'una 9 May 1948 n/a n/a 1,150
Safed 9/10 May 1948 Arab Liberation Army
local militia		 Palmach 12,610
9,780 Moslem
2,400 Jews
430 Christians[18]
Abil al-Qamh 10 May 1948 n/a Palmach 1st Battalion 330
Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta 10 May 1948 village militia
20-30 men		 n/a 350
Dallata 10-11 May 1948 n/a n/a 360
Qaddita by 11 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 240
Al-Buwayziyya 11 May 1948 villagers fled n/a 510
Al-Khalisa 11 May 1948 village militia n/a 1,840
Al-Zuq Al-Tahtani 11 May 1948 n/a n/a 1,050
Al-Malikiyya 12 May 1948
changed hands
15 May, 29 May, 7 June,
Operation Hiram		 Arab Liberation Army
2nd Yarmuk Battalion		 Palmach 360
Hunin 14 May 1948 village militia n/a 1,620
Al-Na'ima 14 May 1948 n/a n/a 1,240
inc. 210 Jews
Al-Shawka al-Tahta 14 May 1948 villagers fled n/a 200
Khan al-Duway 15 May 1948 n/a n/a 260
Qatiyya 19 May 1948 n/a n/a 940
Lazzaza 21 May 1948 evacuated whispering campaign 230
inc 100 Jews
Al-Zuq al-Fauqani 21 May 1948 village militia
20-30 men		 whispering campaign 160
'Ammuqa 24 May 1948 evacuated Palmach 140
Al-Zawiya 24 May 1948 n/a n/a 760
Al-Manshiya 24 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign n/a
Jalula 24/25 May n/a n/a 420
Al-'Abisiyya 25 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 1,510
inc. 290 Jews
Baysamun 25 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 20
Al-Dawwara 25 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 1,100
inc. 400 Jews
Al-Khisas 25 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 530
inc. 60 Jews
Mallaha 25 May villagers fled whispering campaign 890
Al-Mansura, Safad 25 May 1948 n/a whispering campaign 360
al- Salihiyya 25 May 1948 n/a n/a 1,520
Qadas 28/29 May
changed hands
7 June, Operation Hiram		 Lebanese Army n/a 390
Al-Dirbashiyya May 1948 n/a n/a 310
Al-Sanbariyya May 1948 n/a n/a 130
Taytaba May 1948 n/a n/a 530

References

  1. ^ Chaim Herzog, 'The Arab-Israeli Wars'. ISBN 0 85368 367 0. page 33.
  2. ^ All That Remains, page 481
  3. ^ Morris, Page 121.
  4. ^ Herzog,page 33. For Allon's appointment (his Palmach code-name was Sasha) see Morris, page 121.
  5. ^ Morris, page 121. 'simplest and best way...'
  6. ^ Morris, page 219.
  7. ^ Morris, page 102
  8. ^ All that remains, page 428. Morris page 71, page 71. Describes the 12 April attack on Khirbet Nasir ad-Din above Tiberias: 'some non-combatants were apparently killed and some houses destroyed.'
  9. ^ http://www.isralight.org/assets/Text/RBF_tazriametzora07.html
  10. ^ Morris, page 102. 'All that Remains', page 437: "The sight of the village being leveled had a demoralizing effect in the city'.
  11. ^ Morris, page 103. The same night a unit of Trans-Jordanian Volunteers were ordered to leave the city due to political divisions in the Arab leadership.
  12. ^ Herzog, page 34. But he makes no mention of the bombardment.
  13. ^ All that remains, page 483.
  14. ^ Morris, pages 122-123. page 124: "far more complex tha Allon's subsequent recollection."
  15. ^ Morris, page 121.
  16. ^ Herzog, page 34.
  17. ^ Morris, page 105.
  18. ^ Survey of Palestine 1945/1946.ISBN 0 88728 216 3. (Estimate as at 31st December, 1946). Page 12.

Bibliography

Pre-IDF
Nachshon · Harel · Bi'ur Hametz · Hametz · Yevusi · Yiftach · Matateh · Balak · Maccabi · Gideon · Barak · Ben-Ami · Kilshon · Schfifon · Bin Nun Alef
IDF
Erez · Bin Nun Bet · Pleshet · Yitzhak · Yoram · Brosh · Dekel · Danny · Kedem · An-Far · Death to the Invader · Shoter · Hiram · Yoav · Assaf · Horev · Uvda