Battle for Jerusalem

The Battle for Jerusalem took place during the 1947–1948 civil war phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It saw Jewish and Arab militias in Mandatory Palestine, and later the militaries of Israel and Transjordan, fight for control over the city of Jerusalem. Under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Jerusalem was to be a corpus separatum (lit. 'separated body') administered by an international body. Fighting nevertheless immediately broke out in the city between Jewish and Arab militias, with bombings and other attacks being carried out by both sides.

Beginning in February 1948, Arab militias under Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni blockaded the corridor from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, preventing food and essential supplies from reaching the Jewish population. This blockade was broken in mid-April of that year by Jewish militias who carried out Operation Nachshon and Operation Maccabi, both part of the Zionist offensive known as Plan Dalet. On 14 May and the following days, the Etzioni and Harel brigades, supported by Irgun troops, launched several operations that aimed to take over the Arab side of the city. In the meantime, the Arab Legion had deployed in the area of the former British Mandate that was allotted to the Arab state, not entering the corpus separatum but massively garrisoning Latrun to blockade West Jerusalem once again.

Israeli victories against the Arab militias in the city pushed Abdullah I of Jordan to order the Arab Legion to intervene. Jordanian forces deployed in East Jerusalem, fought the Israelis and took the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, following which the population was expelled and fighters taken as prisoners of war to Jordan. Israeli forces launched three assaults on Latrun to free the road to the city but without success; they then built an alternative road to Jerusalem before the truce imposed by the United Nations on 11 June and successfully broke the blockade. During the period known as the First Truce, West Jerusalem was supplied with food, ammunition, weapons and troops. Fighting did not resume during the remaining months of the 1948 war. Jerusalem was split between Israel and Jordan after the war, with Israel controlling West Jerusalem and Jordan controlling East Jerusalem along with the Old City.