War of Independence | MyIsraeliGuide

Having concluded our study of Israel’s wars in class, we were now to go out into the field to get a better idea of the story behind the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, the longest and most difficult war that has been fought in Israel’s history, with 1% of the population killed in action. Although we have been touching on the wars in our tours around the country, these two trips are dedicated to two of the most serious fronts of the war: the road to Jerusalem and then the south of the country. Both Jerusalem and the south were cut off from the rest of the country and were effectively put under siege; difficult and costly battles were fought to break through. Today’s tour was dedicated to the road to Jerusalem in 1948; next week we shall explore the Southern Front.

View over the narrow Bab-el-Wad / Shaar Hagay

We began our day near the small village of Shoresh, just off route 1, in the Masrek Nature Reserve. Hiking along the ridge, we reached a viewpoint over Shaar Hagay, known by many by its Arabic name, Bab-el-Wad. Both translate as ‘the Gate of the Valley’. Here, the road to Jerusalem ascends through a narrow gorge. Our guide explained that the local Arabs soon realised it would be more effective to lay siege to Jewish population areas rather than to attack them outright, with many key roads passing through areas of large Arab population. This area of the Jerusalem road was particularly vulnerable with its steep ascent causing supply lorries to struggle along at around 10km/h, sitting ducks for the assembled forces on the slopes of the valley.

The Israelis tried many different methods to break through – using convoys, then adding primitive armour to their trucks. But they could still not break through. The viewpoint made it clear the huge challenge faced by these convoys. We read some witness accounts from drivers; they were absolutely terrified.

View over the snow-covered Castel

Leaving the viewpoint, we drove slightly further down route one to the Castel. This was the site of the first Arab village conquered by the Israeli forces in the war. It played an important role in the war, in terms of boosting morale, even though the site went on to exchange hands a couple of times before being finally conquered. Here the Israelis killed the commander of the local Arab forces when he was by chance shot by a sentry – another significant morale boost. At close to 800m above sea level, this was an important vantage point on the Jerusalem road.

The site was still covered in a deep blanket of snow from the previous weekend, when Israel had suffered its worst storms in over 100 years. The snow had by now hardened but this was not going to stop Israelis from enjoying its novelty – there were plenty of kids frolicking around and a fair amount of adults also!

Snow-covered Kiriat Anavim Cemetery for the Harel Brigade

Turning back on ourselves, we made a short stop at the Kiriat Anavim cemetery. It seemed that we were the first to visit since the stop and there was still a lot of snow here also. Trees also lay all over the place, blown over by the strong winds. This is the cemetery of the Harel Brigade, part of the Palmach, who were responsible for fighting the battle to open and protect the road to Jerusalem. They suffered the heaviest losses of any part of the nascent IDF in the war; one third of the brigade was killed. We heard the stories of some of their most famous fallen, and reflected on the tragic losses of this period.

Memorial for the Armoured Corps (Yad Lashiryon), Latrun

Continuing north, we stopped at the Memorial for the Armoured Corps (Yad Lashiryon) at Latrun. Now also a museum for tanks (which they claim has the biggest variety of tanks of any collection in the world), we learned about the formation of the Israeli armoured corps in order to try to take this hilltop in the 1948 war. Here was a former British fortress, and taking it was essential in order to control the road to Jerusalem. Unfortunately the Arabs had also realised this and from May 1948 the area was swarming with soldiers of the Jordanian Arab Legion, the best trained soldiers in the region. We had a quick tour of some of the tanks and visited the memorial, designed by the famous sculptor Danny Caravan.

View over the area of the Burma Road

The Israelis fought five battles for Latrun, all of them tragic failures. Realising the futility of further attacks, they ingeniously built a by-pass around the area (and also that of the problematic Shaar HaGay). As they copied a technique used by the British in the East, this new route was known as the Burma Road. We relocated to a viewpoint near Neve Shalom whence we could better understand how the battles played out, and also the location of the Burma Road. With the construction of this new route, the siege of Jerusalem was broken, and later a new road was built connecting the area just west of Latrun with the area of Shoresh. With the Latrun and Shaar Hagay area remaining under Jordanian control until 1967, this became the road to Jerusalem in the interim.

The siege of Jerusalem was lifted, and now the forces could focus on the Jewish areas cut off by the Egyptians in the south. More on that to come after our next field trip…

As we move more and more into the modern period today’s trip was focused around a group of more modern settlements and towns that lie along the south part of the central coastal plain. In English, between Tel Aviv and Ashdod. The idea was to tell some of the stories that led to the formation of the state through looking at some of the people and groups who helped lay the groundwork for it to happen.

Our first stop was just outside Holon, at Mikve Yisrael. Founded in the mid-19th century by a Frenchman called Carl Netter, this was the beginning of Israel’s modern-day agricultural revolution, at least for the Jews. He decided that there was a need for the Jews to learn how to work the land, and opened an agricultural school to teach them how to do so. The local Jews at the time were unconvinced (for the first couple of years he only had one pupil) but over the years the school gradually grew, particularly with the large waves of immigrants from Europe who were specifically keen to work the land.

Mikve Yisrael: At the end of this avenue Herzl met with Kaiser Wilhelm II

In addition to playing this important role in early state building, the school was the site of a famous meeting between Theodore Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1898. Herzl came here specifically to meet the Kaiser while he was visiting the region to try and persuade him to support the Zionist cause by petitioning the Ottoman Sultan. He was somewhat unsuccessful.

We visited various old buildings around the site including the synagogue, the old winery and the machine room. The school is still functioning so we also got to encounter some of the contemporary students. And there was quite a good film about the history of the site.

We journeyed south to Rishon Letzion (First to Zion), established in 1882 and now the fourth biggest city in Israel. The 17 families who arrived here from Russia did not know much about building a settlement and suffered a lot in a struggle for finding a local water source. In the end, thanks to support from Baron de Rothschild in Paris (his first support to the Zionist immigrants) they were able to dig a deep well to the groundwater. They were so excited to have found water that the slogan ‘we found water!’ is now a part of the city symbol.

A lesson in Hebrew at Rishon Letzion

Rishon (as it is often called) has a small museum about the city history and we visited the old synagogue, the site of the well (it is very deep!) and a few old homes. The city claims to be have invented the Israeli flag and also home to the creation of the national anthem (or at least setting it to music). It is the site of the first school to be taught entirely in Hebrew, and we had the pleasure of receiving a lesson from ‘David Yudelovitch’, the school’s founder!

The old synagogue at Ness Tziona

We journeyed south to Ness Tziona, where we visited the home of the town’s founder, Reuben Lehrer. He was a wealthy Russian Jew who in 1883 traded his lands in Russia for this small and rather unappetising wasteland in the Land of Israel. After persuading 10 other families to join him (so that he had quorum for his prayers) he began to make the best of it and here were the first Jewish beekeepers in the modern period. Ness Tziona also claim to have invented the Israeli flag, so a bit of controversy there with their northern neighbours in Rishon. In addition to the original home, we were able to visit the old synagogue.

Home of Chaim Weizmann, Rechovot

Southwards we continued to Rechovot, visiting the grand home of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of the State of Israel. Weizmann’s story is very impressive; he was a scientific mastermind who became wealthy through his patents, particularly for creating acetone through a biological method and the manufacture of synthetic rubber. He was also a tireless campaigner for the Zionist cause helping secure the 1917 Balfour Declaration, lobbying the British against their immigration restrictions and working hard to help get the UN to pass the partition plan in 1947. As we wondered through his home we heard stories about his life, and finished the visit by paying our respects at his grave.

Ayalon Institute, Rechovot

Our final stop of the day was at the Ayalon Institute, located in Rehovot. I was very pleasantly surprised by the site, probably because I really like any stories to do with espionage or clandestine operations. Here, right next to a large British army base, the Hagana (the defence force for the Jews in Israel pre-state) built a large underground ammunition manufacturing facility, underneath a functioning kibbutz were most of the inhabitants were completely unaware of what was going on beneath them. In large thanks to this facility, the nascent IDF were able to have the ammunition required to fight in the War of Independence in 1948.

It was a great story of subterfuge and bravery and very interesting to descend into the underground facility. Well worth the visit!

MyIsraeliGuide

Tag: War of Independence

The Road to Jerusalem in 1948

Settlements of the Judean Coastal Plain