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Adapted mainly from Walid Khalidi’s All That Remains:
The Palestinian Villages Occupid and Depopulated by Israel in 1948
Our village was situated strategically on a hill at the junction of
the al-Ramla-Jerusalem highway with other highways that led to Gaza
and Ramllah. This location lay just south of an ancient Roman road
that ran from the Mediterranean coast through Emmaus/’Imwasand up
the mountains to Jerusalem.
Because of its proximity to this road, the site of al-Latrun had
strategic importance. Its name may have been derived from the phrase
Le Toron des Chvaliers (“ The Tower of the Knights” in Old French),
which was the name of a castle built on the site by the Crusaders
between 1150 and 1170. Salh al-Din al-Ayyoubi (Saladin) captured the
castle in 1187. Migrants from neighboring [Palestinian] villages
moved to al-Latrun during the [Ottomani] governorship of Mustafa
Thurayya Pash (1852-62). In the late ninteenth century, al-Latrun
was a small, mud-brick village built within the walls of the
Crusader castle. Frnech Tappist monks built a monastery cum
agricultural school on a slope near the village in 1890 that became
famous for its vineyards. During the British mandate it was
classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.
Al-Latrun’s population was predominantly Christian.
This strategically located hamlet, which controlled the Jerusalem-Jaffa
road, was the scene of a long series of battles in the course of the
war. Six separate Israeli attacks were launched to capture the al-Latrun
salient between mid-May and mid-July 1948. The first attack, during
Operation Makkabi by Giv’ati Brigade for a brief period on 16-17
May, according to the History War of Independence. This occurred
while the ArabLiberation Army was in the process of handing over its
position to the Arab Legion. However, al-Latrun was regained by Arab
forces [ under the inspired leadership of Abul Qader al-Husseini].
On orders from Ben-Gurion who decided on the occupation of
Jerusalem, a new Israeli attempt was made to capture al-Latrun, but
this attempt was repulsed by the Arab Legion, which inflicted heavy
casualties upon the Israeli forces. The New York Times stated that
Arab Legion units rushed to the area to participate in the
twenty-four-hour battle on 25-26 May. The fierce fighting later
spread to the nearby Palestinian villages. Another Israeli attempt
was made on 30 May, but it was repulsed again even after the Israeli
units reached al-Latrun police station in a bid to demolish it.
The New York Times quoted the Israeli commander of the attack that
his units had left the village badly burned and its police station
gutted.
Upon their failure twice to recapture the strategic Palestinian
hamlet, the Israelis concentrated on finding an alternative route to
Jerusalem, by bypassing al-Latrun. Consequently, “Burma Road,”
rejoining the road to Jerusalem at the village of Saris was hastily
built, but proved insufficient for military purposes. However, a
fourth Israeli attempt to occupy al-Latrun was made during the night
of 8-9 June. But the attacking Israeli brigades of Har’el and
Yiftach were repulsed and driven back again by units of the Arab
Legion.
A fifth Israeli attempt to occupy al-Latrun took place in the wake
of Operation Dani on 15-16 July after the end of the first truce,
which was imposed on the Arabs by the Security Council and gave the
Israeli a precious ten days (July 8-18, 1948) to rearm. [For
example, three B-17s bombers purchased by the Haganah in the United
States had been flown Czechoslovakia to be outfitted and armed. On
July 15 they set out for Israel, ordered to bomb Cairo and other
Egyptian targets on the way, according Benny Morris’ Righteous
Victims as reproduced from HaAretz, July 16, 1848].
As the second truce drew near, the commander of Operation Dani
decided to focus on al-Latrun. He intended to isolate the village
from its hinterland and attack from the east. Once again the Israeli
forces were driven back and their desperate attack failed,
sustaining nineteen casualties in a fierce confrontation wit the
Arab Legion, according to the official Israeli version.
Nonetheless, a sixth and final Israeli attempt, just before the
second truce on July 18, involved a direct frontal assault by units
of the Yiftach Brigade. The Israeli forces were equipped this time
with a number of armoured vehicles, including two Cromwell tanks
that had been dispatched from the northern sector. However,
technical difficulties with one of the tanks led to the failure of
this attack. Two days into the second truce, a 20 July New York
Times dispatch stated that al-Latrune had been completely surrounded
by Israeli forces. But it remained accessible from Arab-held
territory, being linked by the road to Ramallah. On August 10,
United Nations mediator Count Folke Bernadotte announced that Arab
Legion forces had withdrawn from al-Latrun, after having controlled
for many weeks. He did not mention the cause of the withdrawal. The
following day, Bernadotte ordered Israeli forces to withdraw from
Hill 312 on the al-Latrun-Ramallah road because the position had
been occupied after the truce was proclaimed.
The History of the War of Independence states that Israel was
granted the right to use the al-Latrun-Jerusalem road in the
armistice agreement with Jordan. As a result the old al-Latrun
became part of the West Bank and severed as a camp for the Jordanian
army, whereas the new al-Latrun fell in the no-man’s-land. The of
al-Latrun moved to the neighboring village of Immwas, on the West
Bank. Their houses remained empty until 1967, when al-Latrun was
occupied by Israel during the June War.
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