1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Prof. Benny Morris

Author:Prof. Benny Morris
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Published: 2013-04-18T05:54:00+00:00

On zz May the Iraqis threw in the towel and withdrew back across the Jordan. The brigade group, now joined by the forward elements of two further brigade groups, the First and Third, drove southward along the east bank and then crossed the river westward at the Damiya Bridge into Samaria. During the First Truce, in June and July, two further scratch brigades, the Fourth and Fifth, joined the Iraqi force in the West Bank.306 By September, the Iraqi expeditionary force, with five brigades, consisted of eighteen thousand soldiers, making it the largest Arab army in Palestine.307 A handful of British officers "advised" the Iraqi army until they were ordered home in early June 308 1949'

Once in Samaria, the Iraqis were largely inactive. But renewed Haganah pressure on the Legion at Latrun resulted in a minor Iraqi attack, at Glubb's request, to disperse Haganah energies. On 28 May an Iraqi battalion attacked and took part of the Coastal Plain settlement of Geulim, southeast of Netanya. Alexandroni troops counterattacked-while the Iraqis were busy looting-and retook it.309 A handful of IAF aircraft periodically bombed and strafed the Iraqis during the next three days.310 The Iraqis hunkered down in Samaria and made no further offensive efforts, except the capture on 30-31 May of Ras al-`Ein water pumping station, midway between Geulim and Lydda.

The IDF decided to take on the Iraqis at the northern tip of their perimeter, in Jenin. It is unclear what motivated the General Staff: a desire to preempt a possible Iraqi push toward the Jezreel Valley or to the Mediterranean through Israel's narrow "waist" (at places a mere ten miles wide from the Arab lines to the sea); a desire to draw Legionnaires away from Latrun or to prevent Iraqi assistance to the Legion; or merely to grab additional land before the UN truce came into effect.311

In preliminary operations, on 28-30 May, Golani units advanced southward from the Jezreel Valley and captured a string of Palestinian villages: Zir'in, Nuris, and al-Mazar, in the Gilboa foothills, and the crest of Mount Gilboa itself, as well as Tel Meggido and the village of Lajjun to the west. The area had been held only by a ragtag collection of militiamen. Its conquest paved the way for the advance on Jenin.

On i -z June Moshe Carmel launched the core of the offensive, using the Carmeli Brigade's two battalions, the Twenty-first and Twenty-second, and Golani's Thirteenth Battalion, with additional Golani companies in reserve. The objective was to conquer Jenin and surrounding villages and "to kill and destroy the enemy."312 Golani swiftly overran the villages of Sandala, Mugei bila, Jalama, and Arana, and on the morning of 3 June Carmeli, in three columns, moved on Jenin itself. But although the Twenty-first Battalion managed to occupy three hills overlooking the town from the west, the Twentysecond and an armored bus column failed to take some of their objectives, including the key Jenin police fort to the east, and parts of the town itself. The troops suffered from the intense heat and from an inability to dig in on the rock-encrusted hills.

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