WAR IN PALESTINE 1948 Strategy and Diplomacy CASS SERIES:ISRAELI HISTORY, POLITICS AND SOCIETY Series Editor:Efraim Karsh This series provides a multidisciplinary examination of all aspects of Israeli history, politics and society, and serves as a means of communication between the various communities inter- ested in Israel:academics, policy-makers, practitioners, journalists and the informed public. 1. Peace in the Middle East: The Challenge for Israel, edited by Efraim Karsh. 2. The Shaping of Israeli Identity: Myth, Memory and Trauma, edited by Robert Wistrich and David Ohana. 3. Between War and Peace: Dilemmas of Israeli Security, edited by Efraim Karsh. 4. US–Israeli Relations at the Crossroads, edited by Gabriel Sheffer. 5. Revisiting the Yom Kippur War, edited by P. R. Kumaraswamy. 6. Israel: The Dynamics of Change and Continuity, edited by David Levi-Faur, Gabriel Sheffer and David Vogel. 7. In Search of Identity: Jewish Aspects in Israeli Culture, edited by Dan Urian and Efraim Karsh. 8. Israel at the Polls, 1996, edited by Daniel J. Elazar and Shmuel Sandler. 9. From Rabin to Netanyahu: Israel’s Troubled Agenda, edited by Efraim Karsh. 10. Fabricating Israeli History: The ‘New Historians’, second revised edition, by Efraim Karsh. 11. Divided Against Zion: Anti-Zionist Opposition in Britain to a Jewish State in Palestine, 1945–1948, by Rory Miller. 12. Peacemaking in a Divided Society: Israel After Rabin, edited by Sasson Sofer. 13. A Twenty-Year Retrospective of Egyptian-Israeli Relations: Peace in Spite of Everything, by Ephraim Dowek. 14. Global Politics: Essays in Honour of David Vital, edited by Abraham Ben-Zvi and Aharon Klieman. 15. Parties, Elections and Cleavages: Israel in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective, edited by Reuven Y. Hazan and Moshe Maor. 16. Israel at the Polls, 1999, edited by Daniel J. Elazar and M. Ben Mollov. 17. Public Policy in Israel, edited by David Nachmias and Gila Menahem. 18. Developments in Israeli Public Administration, edited by Moshe Maor. 19. Israeli Diplomacy and the Quest for Peace, by Mordechai Gazit. 20. Israeli–Romanian Relations at the End of Ceaucescu’s Era, by Yosef Govrin. 21. John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales to Israel, by Abraham Ben-Zvi. 22. Green Crescent over Nazareth: The Displacement of Christians by Muslims in the Holy Land,by Raphael Israeli. 23. Jerusalem Divided: The Armistice Regime, 1947–1967, by Raphael Israeli. 24. Crises in the Contemporary Persian Gulf, edited by Barry Rubin 25. A Dissenting Democracy: The Case of ‘Peace Now’, An Israeli Peace Movement, by Magnus Norell. Israel: The First Hundred Years (Mini Series), edited by Efraim Karsh. 1. Israel’s Transition from Community to State, edited by Efraim Karsh. 2. From War to Peace? edited by Efraim Karsh. 3. Israeli Politics and Society Since 1948, edited by Efraim Karsh. 4. Israel in the International Arena, edited by Efraim Karsh. Special issues: The Israeli Arabs, edited by Alexander Bligh The Fateful Triangle: Israel, the Hashemites and the Palestinians, edited by Efraim Karsh and P.R. Kumaraswamy WAR IN PALESTINE 1948 Strategy and Diplomacy DAVID TAL Tel Aviv University First published 2004 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 2004 David Tal All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tal, David.War in Palestine 1948: strategy and diplomacy / David Tal. (Israeli history, politics, and society) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Israel–Arab War, 1948–1949. 2. Israel–Arab War, 1948–1949 – Armistices. 3. Israel–Arab War, 1949–1949 – Diplomatic history. I. Title. II. Series. DS126.9 .T285 2003 956.042 – dc21 2002035057 ISBN 0-203-49954-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-58156-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-7146-5275-X (Print Edition) To Dali, with all my love 1 Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Maps xi Introduction 1 1. Towards Invasion 7 2. Communal War 41 3. Invasion 145 4. The Egyptian Invasion of Palestine:169 From Containment to the First Truce 5. The Israeli–Jordanian Front, 15 May–10 June 201 6. The Palestine Northern Front, 15 May–10 June 247 7. The First Truce 269 8. Ten Days of Fighting:The Egyptian–Israeli Front 291 9. Ten Days of Fighting:The Israeli–Jordanian Front 303 10. Ten Days of Fighting:The Northern Front 333 11. The Second Truce:Days of Diplomacy and Military 345 Preparation viii War in Palestine, 1948 12. The Egyptian–Israeli Front:The Decisive Campaigns, I 373 13. Jordan–Israel:A Permanent Cease-Fire Agreement 401 14. The Northern Campaign:The Decisive Stage 417 15. The Egyptian–Israeli Front:The Decisive Campaigns, II 429 Conclusion 469 Select bibliography 477 Index 485 1 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitutde to the Israel Galili Association for the Study of the Defense Force, and to its director Mr Shlomo Sela. The Association, Mr Sela and the late head of the Association’s Steering Committee, General (Res.) Uzi Narkis inspired this book, and throughout the years supported the research materially and mentally. A special note of gratitude is dedicated to Professor Alon Kadish and Mr Sela for the permission they gave me to consult and use the drafts of the papers which Professor Kadish was editing for a book on the 1948 war, which was initiated by the Israel Galili Association for the Study of the Defense Force. I would like also to thank Dr Bruce Maddy-Weizman for his most helpful and important remarks and notes and Mr Arik Rodnizki for his most valuable assistance. I would like to thank the following for their financial assistance:Yad Avi Hayishuv, Jerusalem; The Curiel Center for International Relations and its former director, Professor Eli Bar-Navi; Tel Aviv University School of History, its former Head, Professor Shula Volkov and the cur- rent head of the School, Professor Yosi Kostiner. I would like also to thank Professor Dan Laor for his support, and the Irene Young Endowment for Scientific Publication for their generous help. Ms Georgina Clark-Mazo of Frank Cass Publishers was always help- ful and attentive, and I would like to thank her for her goodwill and assistance. My family were also participants in the work on the book, even if in some cases, against their will. My three dear children, Omer, Marva and Eynav, shared with me the burden of writing. My wife, Dalia, was there always for me, a true friend and companion. The book is dedicated to her, with all my love. 1 Abbreviations AHC Arab High Committee ALA Arab Liberation Army AYO Arab Youth Organization BGA Ben-Gurion Archives BGD Ben-Gurion Diaries BGWD Ben-Gurion War Diaries BMEO British Middle Eastern Office CZA Central Zionist Archive DP Displaced Person FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States HA Hagana Archives IAF Israeli Air Force IDF Israel Defense Forces IDFA Israel Defense Force Archives IZL Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Zionist Organisation) JI Jihad Islami JSP Jewish Settlements Police LHI Lohamei Herut Israel (Israel’s Freedom Fighters/ the Stern Gang) LPA Labour Party Archives MEJ Middle East Journal MELF Middle East Land Forces MES Journal of Middle Eastern Studies PGI Provisional Government of Israel PRO Public Record Office UNSCOP United Nations Special Committee on Palestine UNTSO United Nations Treaty Supervision Organization Metulla Aadeisse Dan Dafna Kefar Szold Ramot Malikiya Naftali Lahavot Habashan Lake Hula Nahariya Yehiam Safad Acre Haifa GALILEE Lake Tiberias Mediterranean Sea Tiberias Nazareth Atlit Tantura Mishmar Afula Gesher Ha’emek Pardess Hanna Beisan Sh. Hussein Jenin Bridge Tirat Hadera Tsevi Kefar Vitkin Netanya Tulkam Tel Mond Nablus Sarona Ramat SAMARIA Gan Ras el-Ein Tel Aviv Miqve Petah Tiqva Darniya Jaffa Israel Tel Litwinsky Bridge Yazur Lydda Airport Holon Rishon le-Tsion Beit Nabala Ben Shemen Ramle Lydda Ramallah Atarot Rehovot Qalandiya Neveh Latrun Ya’aqov Jericho Allenby Hulda Nabi Samwil Bridge Qiryat AnavimEin Fara Deir Springs Muheisin Qastal Har Tuv Ma’ale Jerusalem Isdud Masmiya ha-Hamisha Nabi Daniyal Bethlehem Artas Kefar Etzion Solomon’s Pools JUDEA Dead Sea Hebron Gaza North Palestine Mediterranean Sea Rafah Dead Sea Beersheba Nevatim Tse’elim Revivim Kurnub N E G E V International borders UN partition boundaries, 29 Nov 1947 Main road Gulf of Aqaba Aqaba South Palestine 1 Introduction In the past half-century, Israel and the Arabs have fought five wars, each of them—1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982—distinguished by an indi- vidual name. However, the historian of the future, with the benefit of hindsight, will probably see the wars fought by Israel and the Arabs as points on a sequence which will be called ‘The Arab–Israeli War,’ begin- ning with the 1948 conflict. Yet 1948, too, was but one event in a long history of confrontation dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the Zionist movement penetrated Palestine. The research on these themes is far from exhausted. Not only has the Arab–Israeli conflict and the wars that have punctuated it not been examined from the broader perspectives of social, economic and cultural history, much remains to be done even as regards military–diplomatic history.