The Old City of Jerusalem was divided into Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Moslem quarters.
At one time the Jewish quarter had a population of 15,000, but with the growth of the New City, the majority of the Jews moved into the modern sections and by 1947 only 2,500 Jews had remained in the Old City. They were mostly elderly and sick people.
Soon after the UN decision, the Arabs laid a siege to the Jewish section of the Old City cutting it off from the modern Jewish quarters. British soldiers took up positions on the outskirts of the Jewish section, but did nothing to halt the Arab attacks against Jews. To the contrary, they attacked Jews, encouraged Arab aggression and attempted to disarm Jewish youth, who defended the section.
In the first period of the siege, food supplies were brought into the section by convoys, which were guarded by British soldiers. Later, however, the British were reluctant to accompany such convoys and openly urged the Jewish population to abandon the section.
On the 13th of May, the British began to evacuate the Old City. The 150 Jewish defenders—composed of members of Hagana, Irgun Zvai Leumi and local Jews—were confident that they would be able to drive off the Arab attacks and with help of the Jewish forces of the Modern City, remove the Arab siege.
As soon as the British left the Old City, the defenders occupied important strategic positions around the Jewish quarter. There were, however, prevented from larger actions against the Arabs by the Hagana command in the Modern City. The Hagana commander—who, in accordance with an agreement between all Jewish fighting groups, was in charge of all Jewish forces, believed that the Red Cross and the UN would intervene in the fighting in the Old City and that the siege of the Jewish section would be raised without battle, and in accordance therewith the defenders were not to attack the Arabs. It was also due to reliance on immediate UN intervention that the defenders acceded to a request by an armistice commission, composed of foreign consuls in Jerusalem, to evacuate some of the positions they held. The loss of these positions, which were subsequently occupied by the Arabs, contributed decisively to the fall of the Jewish section.
Only two days later, after neither the Red Cross nor the UN had intervened and the Arabs had begun to shell heavily the Jewish section, did the Hagana command in the Modern City permit the defenders to undertake all military action which they deemed necessary. But by then important positions had been lost and Arabs were on the offensive.
The poorly armed defenders withstood bravely the Arab attacks on the section. Heroically they fought for every building and refused to respond to the calls for surrender, hoping that the Jewish forces of the Modern City would come to their relief.
In the night of May 18, a detachment of the Palmach broke into the Jewish section. It remained in the Old City for a few hours only and during that period the Hagana command brought into the Jewish quarter a force of 80 reserve soldiers. They were mostly old and inexperienced men who could not hold the positions on the wall the Palmach had occupied and could not give any substantial aid to the defenders.
At the time the Palmach broke through the Old city wall, a fighting unit of the Irgun Zvai Leumi was ready to go into the Jewish quarter. Why did the Hagana command send there a hastily mobilized reserve force and not avail itself of the soldiers of the Irgun? Answers Ophir: The Hagana would not let the Irgun earn the laurels of the defense and liberation of the Jewish quarter. The Hagana command might also have received instructions from the Israeli authorities not to permit entry into the Old City of a force which could not be “trusted.” The soldiers of the Irgun might have attempted to conquer the site of the Temple—an action, which in the view of the Israeli authorities might have complicated the political situation.
Early in the morning of May 19, the Palmach left the Jewish quarter. Soon afterwards the Arabs retook the positions on the Old City wall from which they had been driven by the Palmach and the Jewish quarter was again isolated.
Suffering from acute shortages of food and ammunition, the defenders of the quarter withstood the relentless attacks of the Arab Legion which entered the battle. Bringing heavy sacrifices they fought for every block against the enemy who was much superior in arms and men. Street after street they had to abandon—but their fighting spirit it did not subside. Side by side with the small groups of able-bodied young men and women, even the wounded and children participated in the fighting. Every night they hoped for help from the Jewish forces in the Modern City. When the expected help was not forthcoming, they surrendered to the Arab Legion.
On May 28, the Legion occupied the Jewish quarter. The aged, women, children and wounded were permitted to cross into the Modern City. The able-bodied men were taken prisoners. They numbered 35. Perceiving the small number of able-bodied men who had remained, the commander of the Arab Legion commented: “You have fooled me. If I would have known the real strength of your force, I would have fought against you with sticks.”
Thus fell the Jewish quarter of the Old City.
By Tovia Preschel
Jewish Press
June 22, 1962