From 13–18 May 1948 Jewish forces from the Haganah and

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

executed Operation Kilshon ("Pitchfork"). Its aim was to capture the Jewish suburbs of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, particularly

Talbiya ar, الطالبية , settlement_type = Neighborhood of Jerusalem , image_skyline = File:TalbiyaDec122022 01.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = ...

in central Jerusalem.

Operation

At midnight on Friday 14 May, the British declared its civil and military authority in Jerusalem to be at an end. In the morning they evacuated the city in two large convoys, one moved north towards

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

and the other south towards

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

. The Zionists managed to obtain a schedule of their withdrawal in advance and could thereafter launch the operation almost immediately. The

Yishuv Yishuv ( he, ישוב, literally "settlement"), Ha-Yishuv ( he, הישוב, ''the Yishuv''), or Ha-Yishuv Ha-Ivri ( he, הישוב העברי, ''the Hebrew Yishuv''), is the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Israel (corresponding to the ...

forces quickly managed to take control of buildings that the British had nationalized in "Bevingrad" zones. These were heavily fortified security zones that the British had built up around key installations in the city to protect against Irgun attacks. From 1946 to 1948, security zones with huge coils of barbed wire filling the streets and dragon's teeth blocking the incursion of armed vehicles began appearing around Jerusalem. (subscription)Rosenne, Shabtai
"The United Nations and Israel's War of Independence"
in ''An International Law Miscellany''. 1993: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 646. . One such zone, established in 1946, encompassed the eastern end of Jaffa Road and included the

Russian Compound The Russian Compound ( he, מִגְרַשׁ הָרוּסִים, ''Migraš ha-Rusim'', ar, المسكوبية, ''al-Muskubīya'', russian: Русское подворье в Иерусалиме) is one of the oldest districts in central Jer ...

, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, the Central Post Office, and the Generali Building. Jerusalemites called these fortified zones "Bevingrad", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsErnest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–194 ...

, who had denied

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivors entry to Palestine, and the Russian city of Stalingrad, where large-scale fortifications had been emplaced prior to the 1942 Battle of Stalingrad. On Friday, 14 May 1948, the Irgun forces headed for the Bevingrad on Jaffa Road. The first building they recaptured was the Generali Building, now evacuated. The Irgun forces hoisted the Israeli flag over the lion statue on the roof before moving on to take control of the Russian Compound and the Police Academy further north. They also recaptured the Notre Dame Church, the

American Colony American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Sheikh Jarrah Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

, German Colony, Baka,

Talpiot Talpiot ( he, תלפיות, literally 'turrets' or 'magnificently built') is an Israeli neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem, established in 1922 by Zionist pioneers. It was built as a garden suburb on land purchased by the Tel Aviv-based P ...

, and the

Greek Colony Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...

. A large portion of what was captured was to become the Israeli-controlled portion of Jerusalem—"West Jerusalem"—but some of the heaviest battles of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war were to follow and the Jerusalem frontier was to be redrawn many times.

References

External links

Etzel (Irgun) history

Photos

Bevingrad surrounded by barbed wire on the left
{{coord, 31, 46, 51.49, N, 35, 13, 24.44, E, display=title Nachshon 20th century in Jerusalem May 1948 events in Asia 1940s in Jerusalem

Operation

See also

References

External links

Photos