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78-422: [REDACTED] Egyptian paramilitary forces and local militias; Operation Ha-Har ( Hebrew : ההר , The Mountain ), or Operation El Ha-Har , was an Israeli Defence Forces campaign against villages southwest of Jerusalem launched at the end of October 1948. The operation lasted from 19 to 24 October and was carried out by troops from the Harel and Etzioni Brigades . The villages were defended by units from

156-558: A legal fiction since 1805, now was officially terminated. Hussein Kamel was declared Sultan of Egypt , and the country became a British protectorate . A group known as the Wafd (meaning "Delegation") attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to demand Egypt's independence. Included in the group was political leader, Saad Zaghlul , who would later become Prime Minister. When the group

234-674: A Jew born in Jerusalem in 1877, leased the khan and moved there with his family, offering travelers light meals and care of animals. During the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine , this area saw fierce fighting between Arab forces and Jewish convoys on the way to blockaded West Jerusalem . Bab al-Wad and the defile it guards changed hands between the Arab Liberation Army supported by local Arab irregulars, and Jewish Palmach and Haganah units, until April 20 1948, when

312-404: A cluster of tubes resembling rockets that point towards Jerusalem. The battles of 1948 were commemorated by a Hebrew song, Bab al-Wad , with words by Haim Gouri and music by Shmuel Fershko . The song has been performed by numerous famous Israeli singers, such as Yafa Yarkoni , Shoshana Damari , Shlomo Gronich , and Harel Skaat . The song has four verses, with the fourth verse spoken before

390-460: A coup d'état that began the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 . On 26 July, Farouk abdicated in favour of his seven-month-old son, Ahmed Fuad, who became King Fuad II . At 6pm the same day, the now former king departed Egypt on the royal yacht, along with other members of the royal family, including the new infant king. Following precedent for a sovereign under the age of majority, a Regency Council

468-559: A longer but safer detour route. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War , when the Latrun area was captured by Israel, the main Tel Aviv–Jerusalem highway was once again constructed on the shortest route past Latrun and Sha'ar HaGai. Today's already four-lane wide Highway 1 is currently (2016) being widened due to increasing traffic, by further carving into the slopes of the Wadi Ali gorge. Until

546-698: A much smaller force from the Fifth Battalion broke-away and travelled with a battle corps of the 10th Armored Brigade on the Bayt Jibrin highway and captured Beit Jimal . Having taken that strategic location and having silenced the Egyptian cannon fire that dominated the Bayt Jibrin highway, this enabled troops from the Givati infantry brigade, known as Shu'alei Shimshon , to proceed unhindered unto Bayt Jibrin . The following day (21 October), Moshe ("Morris") Ben-Dror,

624-650: A small sum of cash. 30°3′N 31°13′E  /  30.050°N 31.217°E  / 30.050; 31.217 Shaar HaGai Sha'ar HaGai ( Hebrew : שער הגיא ) in Hebrew, a name literally translated from Bab al-Wad or Bab al-Wadi in Arabic ( Hebrew : באב אל-ואד , Arabic : باب الواد or باب الوادي ), meaning Gate of the Valley , is a point on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway , 23 km from Jerusalem , where

702-633: A unit from the Fifth Battalion raided the village of Zakariyya (site of the present-day Zekharia ), which action them opened the Elah Valley road to al-Khader (today, regional highway 375). Many of the villagers in Zakariyya had fled to the hills, but returned to live in their village and were allowed to stay there, until they were eventually resettled in 1950, with compensation, some in Ramlah , while others choosing to move to Jordan . With war approaching, by

780-564: The 1949 Armistice Agreement . Kingdom of Egypt The legal status of Egypt had been highly convoluted, due to its de facto breakaway from the Ottoman Empire in 1805, its occupation by Britain in 1882, and the re-establishment of the Sultanate of Egypt (destroyed by the Ottomans in 1517) as a British protectorate in 1914. In line with the change in status from sultanate to kingdom,

858-741: The Egyptian military . Most British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947 (the British army maintained a military base there), but nationalist and anti-British sentiment continued to grow after the War. Anti-monarchy sentiments further increased following the disastrous performance of the Kingdom in the First Arab-Israeli War . The 1950 election saw a landslide victory of the nationalist Wafd Party and

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936-701: The Italian Invasion of Egypt , Battle of Sidi Barrani or the Battle of Mersa Matruh , First , Second Battles of El Alamein . The government of Egypt, and the Egyptian population, played a minor role in the Second World War. When the war began in September 1939, Egypt declared martial law and broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. It did not declare war on Germany, but the Prime Minister associated Egypt with

1014-677: The Muslim Brotherhood (1928), which eventually became a potent political and religious force. King Fuad died in 1936, and the throne passed to his 16-year-old son, Farouk . Rising nationalist sentiment in Egypt and Sudan, and British concern following Fascist Italy 's recent invasion of Abyssinia led to the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 , which required the United Kingdom to withdraw all troops from Egypt proper (excluding Sudan), except in

1092-556: The Mutamassirun (Egyptianized). Despite the fact these communities were foreigners, they took part in Egyptian society and were considered to be homogenous groups by Egyptian nationalists. The Mutammassirun community had most of its members leaving Egypt in the 1950s. After the Suez Crisis of 1956, more than 1,000 of 18,000 people who carried British or French nationality were expelled and were only allowed to take one suitcase with them and

1170-513: The Suez Canal Zone (agreed to be evacuated by 1949), but permitted the return of British military personnel in the event of war. The Kingdom was plagued by corruption, and its subjects saw it as a puppet of the British, notwithstanding the bitter enmity between King Farouk and the United Kingdom during the Second World War, as evidenced by the Abdeen Palace incident of 1942 . This, coupled with

1248-614: The land mines along the route had been dismantled and cleared for safe passage, the entire force continued to move until it reached the intersection near the Arab village of Ḥousan . There, a firefight broke-out between Jordanian infantry accompanied with armored cars carrying cannons and the advance guard of the Har’el. At length, the Jordanian forces retreated, and by dusk, the Har’el Brigade entered

1326-402: The 2000s, the remains of armoured cars that belonged to Jewish convoys and were destroyed during the 1948 war were lining the route as a memorial to the war dead. Most of them were regular trucks with improvised armour made of two sheets of steel and a layer of wood in between, which led to them being called "sandwich trucks". Then they had to be relocated by the army to the two extremities of

1404-437: The 21st of October, the residents of Jarash had fled their hilltop village. An integrated force of armored vehicles and infantry proceeded on the road (now route 386) in the direction of Bayt 'Itab (near the present site of Bar Giora ). Before the break of dawn (22nd of October), it became evident to the fighting force that the town's inhabitants had all deserted the village. The houses of the villages were demolished, and when

1482-510: The Arab Legion into armed conflict with Israeli forces. On the moon-lit night of 19 October, the troops of the Har'el Brigade commenced operations which were later coined "El Ha-Har", moving to capture Dayr Aban (to the south of Mahseya ) where there was located the 'Joint' military outpost in which, both, Egyptian forces joined by local militias from Dayr Aban lay on the one side, and Israeli troops on

1560-454: The Arabic name. The Jaffa–Jerusalem road was initially made accessible for wheeled vehicles by the Ottomans in 1867, and since then served as the main highway to Jerusalem, favoured over more topographically convenient routes such as the one following the ridge north of it and known since biblical times as the "ascent of Beth-Horon " (todays's Route 443 ). The journey from Jaffa to Jerusalem

1638-719: The Arabs recaptured the heights around Bab al-Wad closing off the Tel Aviv -Jerusalem road. After the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , the fort at Latrun , two kilometres west of Bab al-Wad, was held by the Arab Legion , the British-trained and commanded army of Transjordan , thus reinforcing the Arab siege of West Jerusalem. The Palmach 's 10th (Harel) Brigade under the command of Lt. Col. Yitzhak Rabin , future prime minister of Israel , managed to capture Bab al-Wad itself, but

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1716-713: The Axis. In June 1940, the King dismissed Prime Minister Aly Maher, who got on poorly with the British. A new coalition government was formed with the Independent Hassan Pasha Sabri as Prime Minister briefly, followed by Hussein Sirri Pasha . Following a ministerial crisis in February 1942, the ambassador Sir Miles Lampson , pressed Farouk to have a Wafd or Wafd-coalition government replace Hussein Sirri Pasha's government. On

1794-673: The British Foreign Secretary , recommending that the protectorate should be replaced by a treaty of alliance. As a result, Curzon agreed to receive an Egyptian mission headed by Zaghlul and Adli Pasha to discuss the proposals. The mission arrived in London in June 1920 and the agreement was concluded in August 1920. In February 1921, the British Parliament approved the agreement and Egypt

1872-731: The British authorities in Cairo imposed martial law and once again deported Zaghlul. Demonstrations again led to violence. In deference to the growing nationalism and at the suggestion of the High Commissioner , Lord Allenby , the UK recognized Egyptian independence in 1922, abolishing the protectorate, and converting the Sultanate of Egypt into the Kingdom of Egypt. Sarwat Pasha became prime minister . British influence, however, continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms. Britain retained control of

1950-438: The British government mobilised 60,000 troops in 10 days, in what was described as the biggest airlift of troops since World War Two.' As the British refused to leave their base around the Suez Canal, the Egyptian government cut off the water and refused to allow food into the Suez Canal base, announced a boycott of British goods, forbade Egyptian workers from entering the base and sponsored guerrilla attacks. The situation turned

2028-589: The British influence in Egyptian affairs persisted. Of particular concern to Egypt was Britain's continual efforts to divest Egypt of all control in Sudan. To both the King and the nationalist movement, this was intolerable, and the Egyptian Government made a point of stressing that Fuad and his son King Farouk I were "King of Egypt and Sudan". The government of Egypt was legally neutral in World War II. The army

2106-531: The British war effort. It broke off diplomatic relations with Italy in 1940, but never declared war, even when the Italian army invaded Egypt. King Farouk practically took a neutral position, which accorded with elite opinion among the Egyptians. The Egyptian army did no fighting. It was apathetic about the war, with the leading officers looking on the British as occupiers and sometimes holding some private sympathies toward

2184-679: The Canal Zone, Sudan and Egypt's external protection, the police, army, the railways and communications, the protection of foreign interests, minorities and Sudan pending a final agreement. Representing the Wafd Party , Zaghlul was elected Prime Minister in 1924. He demanded that Britain recognize the Egyptian sovereignty in Sudan and the unity of the Nile Valley . On November 19, 1924, the British Governor-General of Sudan, Sir Lee Stack ,

2262-451: The Egyptian army and local militias. By the end of the campaign over a dozen villages had been captured. It coincided with Operation Yoav which attacked Egyptian positions further south. In mid-October 1948, the Har’el Brigade published a combat ordinance, which read: "The enemy is planning to cut-off the well-springs of immigration and [Jewish] settlement, to build a nest of war conspiracies against us and against all those who love peace in

2340-482: The Fifth battalions about the plan to take military action in the area of Beit Jimal and Dayr al-Hawa , and gave orders unto them to carry out reconnaissance missions with a view of watching enemy movement in that territory and to prepare an operational plan for the conquering of those villages if and when the fighting should be renewed. In a written dispatch, "Raanana" had informed Palmach-Harel headquarters responsible for

2418-478: The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth battalions, the 10th Armored Brigade ( Hebrew : חטיבה 10 ), Intelligence unit, logistics officers, transportation, medical services, saboteurs, corps of engineers, artillery officer, quartermaster and personnel administration. "Raanana", at this time, felt confident that he now had everything that he needed to plan and execute military operations that would result in widening Israel's control over

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2496-487: The Har’el Brigade to withdraw all forces, meaning, Israeli forces were to relinquish their grip on Ḥousan. OC Central Command, General Zvi Ayalon, passed these instructions to Joseph Tabenkin, demanding that all hostilities end immediately, and that they return to the "Forked Junction" (today, Tzur Hadassah ), 4-6 kilometers from Bayt Jala and 6.2 miles (10 km) from Bethlehem. Tabenkin, the Brigade commander, being startled by

2574-706: The Jerusalem Corridor southward, as far as the Elah Valley , including that road that branched off between the Shaar HaGai - Bayt Jibrin highway, and ascended eastward through the Elah Valley as far as al-Khader (today, regional highway 375). The Brigade was initially supposed to take-up a position on a mountain in the vicinity of the Arab village, Ḥousan , and what was then known as "the Fork" (now, Tzur Hadassa ), and to be on stand-by for further movement, if called for, in

2652-597: The Jordanian Arab Legion would react. On 19 October, when the "junction" in the south was captured and there was once again an unobstructed land-link with settlements in the Negev, the Brigade was given leave to commence military operations in its sector of the country. Among the considerations for permitting the Brigade to start its offensive was the fact that the Arab Legion had not intervened in Israeli military operations in

2730-448: The King was forced to appoint Mostafa El-Nahas as the new Prime Minister. In 1951 Egypt unilaterally withdrew from the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 and ordered all remaining British troops to leave the Suez Canal. According to the BBC, 'In October 1951 a tense stand-off between the British and Egyptian governments broke down over the number of UK troops stationed in the country. In response,

2808-465: The Officer of Special Operations, unto whom was made available a vast quantity of weapons for the prosecution of that war, was given the liberty to make preparations for war and was tasked with drawing-up a series of military plans, which he did in consultation with the brigade commander and the battalion commanders." The plan of military action which they devised called out for an integrated unit consisting of

2886-795: The Ottoman period, the country was administered as the Egypt Eyalet , followed by the autonomous tributary state of the Khedivate of Egypt ruled by the Muhammad Ali dynasty . In 1914, Khedive Abbas II sided with the Ottoman Empire and the Central Powers in the First World War , and was promptly deposed by the British in favour of his uncle Hussein Kamel , creating the Sultanate of Egypt . Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had been hardly more than

2964-468: The addition of 120 mm. mortar for this area; 2) In the event that operations should be halted, a call to the United-Nations for a cease-fire." "Raanana" waited impatiently for a prompt answer, but his request to "occupy other positions" was denied him. Nevertheless, in spite of being denied, these positions were still taken by force when operations began, the Har’el Brigade continuously moving and extending

3042-555: The area around the Suez Canal into a low level war zone. On 24 January 1952, Egyptian guerrillas staged an attack on the British forces around the Suez Canal, during which the Egyptian Auxiliary Police were observed helping the guerrillas. In response, on 25 January, General George Erskine sent British tanks and infantry to surround the auxiliary police station in Ismailia and gave the policemen an hour to surrender their arms in

3120-418: The border of Jewish hegemony as far as Wādi Surar ( Nahal Sorek ), where it was also deemed necessary to establish a military outpost beyond its south bank. In the meantime, Palmach-Harel headquarters continued to make suggestions to the higher military echelon on ways in which the Jerusalem Corridor could be better secured by extending its control over other vital areas. "Having prevailed upon their officers,

3198-449: The central front: "In all these last few days, the enemy has not ceased from his own operations in this sector [of the country]. There has been an exchange of unrelenting gun-fire. The strategic location itself is not easy to hold-on to, since it is much lower than the other positions. Our suggestion would be, 1) consolidating and expanding the position by occupying other positions, with additional operations conducted by small raiding parties;

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3276-578: The commander of the Fifth Battalion, put together a battle corps consisting of two companies of riflemen, a support company and saboteurs, who were instructed to take Bayt Nattif and to destroy its houses, whose inhabitants had fought against the Convoy of thirty-five fallen soldiers who were sent to aid their beleaguered comrades in Gush Etzion . Many of the town's inhabitants had taken up refuge in nearby Umm al-Ra'us , but were prevented from returning. At night,

3354-515: The crest of the mountain range where it received orders to arrange for the military occupation and capture of Dayr al-Hawa (site of the present-day Nes Harim ), a village perched at an elevation of some 637 meters above sea-level. This was done with the intent of making it a springboard for further military operations while advancing toward the mountains overlooking al-Khader , Bethlehem and Hebron. The Brigade began sending out armed patrol-parties of two to three men in order to acquaint themselves with

3432-601: The defeat in the Palestine War of 1948–1949, led to the 1952 Egyptian Revolution by the Free Officers Movement . Farouk abdicated in favour of his infant son Ahmed Fuad, who became King Fuad II . In 1953 the monarchy was abolished, and the Republic of Egypt was established. The legal status of Sudan was only resolved in 1953, when Egypt and United Kingdom agreed that it should be granted independence in 1956. During

3510-441: The direction of Gush-Etzion , Hebron , Bayt Jala and Bethlehem . Hostilities began on 15 October 1948, when Israeli troops assigned to Operation Yoav took the offensive to the south, opposite Egyptian army positions in the northern Negev . The Har’el Brigade, stationed further north, remained inactive for four days, a decision taken by the IDF's General Staff and which, for political reasons, wanted to see first whether or not

3588-416: The fighting. The Memorial for the Pioneers of the Road to Jerusalem  [ he ] , erected in memory of the Jewish Independence War fighters who died in battles fought over the road to Jerusalem, stands on the side of the highway near Neve Ilan , and Shoresh Interchange  [ he ] . The 1967 work of Israeli sculptor Naomi Henrik is built of stainless steel and concrete and consists of

3666-435: The final chorus. Here I walk silently And I remember them, every single one Here we fought, together, over cliffs and boulders Here we were to one family Bab al Wad Forever do remember our names As convoys broke through to the city On the roadsides lie our dead The iron hulk as silent as my comrade Israelis referring to the location in daily life call it by the Hebrew name Sha'ar HaGai (שער הגיא) in Hebrew, but

3744-429: The future German emperor Frederick III . In 1898 the site was used again by German emperor Wilhelm II and his wife Augusta Victoria , who slept there in a tent camp. The largest bell for the church of the Augusta Victoria Foundation , initiated by Wilhelm during his 1898 visit and built between 1907 and 1910, weighed six tonnes and required that the road be widened and paved. After World War I, Todros Warshavsky,

3822-404: The gorge, where they have been secured against scrap metal thieves, conserved and displayed on the side of the highway. In a park south of the main road is the Mahal Memorial Monument  [ he ] , which commemorates Mahal , the ca. 4000 Jewish and non-Jewish military volunteers who came from abroad to fight in Israel's War of Independence in 1947–48, of whom 119 lost their lives during

3900-501: The grounds. The police were arming the guerrillas. The police commander called the Interior Minister, Fouad Serageddin , Nahas's right-hand man, who was smoking cigars in his bath at the time, to ask if he should surrender or fight. Serageddin ordered the police to fight "to the last man and the last bullet". The resulting battle saw the police station levelled and 43 Egyptian policemen killed together with 3 British soldiers. The Ismailia incident outraged Egypt. The next day, 26 January 1952,

3978-458: The loudspeakers. The sudden onslaught and bombardment, along with the noise, had its desired effect, causing a retreat of all Egyptian forces from the Arab village. During this battle, Israeli forces suffered only one casualty, the deputy battalion commander of operations belonging to the Fifth Battalion, who had stepped momentarily out of his bunker to view the surgical attack. From there, the Brigade proceeded to climb higher ground until it reached

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4056-499: The monarchy, and declared Egypt a republic on 18 June 1953, abrogating the constitution of 1923. In addition to serving as head of the Revolutionary Command Council, and Prime Minister , Naguib was proclaimed as Egypt's first President , while Nasser was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister. Ethnic Egyptians made up the majority of the population in Egypt. However, thousands of Greeks, Jews, Italians, Maltese, Armenians and Syro-Lebanese were present in Egypt. These communities were known as

4134-420: The night of 4 February 1942, British troops and tanks surrounded Abdeen Palace in Cairo and Lampson presented Farouk with an ultimatum . Farouk capitulated, Nahhas formed a government shortly thereafter. However, the humiliation meted out to Farouk, and the actions of the Wafd in cooperating with the British and taking power, lost support for both the British and the Wafd among both civilians and, more importantly,

4212-479: The northern Negev, while there was also some concern that the United Nations Security Council might call for a cease-fire on 19 October. If that were to happen, the Brigade would have lost its opportunity to expand the Jerusalem Corridor by ridding it of hostile elements. The Jordanian Arab Legion had decided to concentrate its forces in Bethlehem and in Hebron in order to save that district for its Arab inhabitants, and to prevent territorial gains for Israel. With

4290-440: The order, went urgently that night to Har’el HQ in Abu-Ghosh and tried to convince his commanders to reexamine their decision and to continue with the prosecution of the war, but to no avail. The result of the campaign to expand the Jerusalem Corridor as far as the western foothills of the Judean mountains , freeing it from pockets of resistance, helped, in the final analysis, to determine the border of Israel with Jordan during

4368-449: The other, had taken-up positions at a distance of sixty metres from each other. Egyptian forces lay to the east, while Israeli forces to the west. The attack was spearheaded by a company of men conscripted from abroad ( Hebrew : אנשי גח"ל ), accompanied with artillery fire and " Davidka " mortars. They also made use of a stratagem whereby, in the night, they played on a phonograph the sound of rapid machine-gun fire, which blared loudly over

4446-452: The party to retreat. A third detail sent out was also fired upon, which actions taken together gave the Brigade a correct assessment of the enemy's preparedness for battle. Given these circumstances, plans were drawn-up for the attack on Dayr al-Hawa. Two companies attacked Dayr al-Hawa. In addition to the massive firepower from their personal weapons, they were also aided by a 120 mm. mortar battery. When they had come within 200 meters of

4524-604: The present-day Moshav Mata ), upon hearing the sound of gunfire from the direction of Dayr al-Hawa , were gripped with fear and trepidation. When they were told that some of the residents in Dayr al-Hawa had been killed, out of concern for their own safety, the villagers took flight, taking with them provisions and bedding material for their needs, and the last of that summer's harvest from their fields (wheat and lentils), fleeing by lorry to al-Khader , whence they found temporary shelter in caves around Bayt Jala , before eventually settling in Dheisheh Camp . Afterwards, on 20 October,

4602-447: The process of taking the village, three companies with support weapons, accompanied by armored vehicles, had ascended the mountain. In the coordinated attacks, the Har’el Brigade had captured three military outposts: the 'House' outpost, the 'Cannon' outpost and the 'Joint' military outpost. In each of them, the Brigade initially met-up with some resistance. Tabenkin recalls: "When the 'Joint' outpost and Dayr al-Hawa had been captured, there

4680-411: The public transportation to Jerusalem. The Regimental Operations Department initiated patrols south of the Jerusalem Corridor . They assumed that when fighting resumed, the task of the Brigade would be to expand the corridor southward. Thus, before Operation El Ha-Har (Unto the Mountaintop) was approved, "Raanana" (Eliyahu Sela), the Officer in charge of Regimental Operations, had informed the Fourth and

4758-407: The road begins to ascend through a deep valley flanked by steep rocky slopes, of the intermittent Nahshon Stream  [ he ] , or Wadi Ali in Arabic. The Arabic name Bab al-Wad, 'Gate of the Valley', was used in Hebrew as well, as seen in the 1948 song , until after the establishment of the State of Israel and the creation of the Hebrew name , Sha'ar HaGai, a verbatim translation of

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4836-413: The road section west of it, controlled from Latrun, remained in Jordanian hands until 1967, cutting off this main access route to Jerusalem. In order to bypass the Arab-held bottleneck, the Israelis constructed the so-called Burma Road , named after the famous World War II road into China . This very steep bypass road was in use during the first, crucial part of the war, being replaced after six months by

4914-446: The terrain, and to learn about the feasibility of sending out greater forces to infiltrate enemy lines. The plan was to cross-over the railroad line that connected Jerusalem with Hartuv . Scouts succeeded in crossing over the railway without being detected, and reached a position southwest of Dayr al-Hawa. When a second detail was sent out to ascertain whether or not the route could be traversed, they were ambushed by gunfire, which caused

4992-419: The title of the reigning Sultan, Fuad I , was changed from Sultan of Egypt to King of Egypt . Throughout the Kingdom's existence, Sudan was formally united with Egypt. However, actual Egyptian authority in Sudan was largely nominal due to United Kingdom's role as the dominant power in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . As had been the case during the Khedivate of Egypt , and the Sultanate of Egypt, the Egyptian monarch

5070-420: The valley of Wadi Fukin , in accordance with the cease-fire agreement. Even so, the fighters of the Fifth Battalion made themselves ready for continued action. The general feeling among the troops was that they were fully capable of taking the entire area between Bethlehem and Hebron, based on military intelligence of enemy troops in the region. However, by midnight, Prime-Minister David Ben-Gurion had instructed

5148-416: The village Ḥousan. On 22 October, at 15:30 hours, at the request of the United Nations Security Council , a cease-fire took effect, in which both sides agreed. One hour later, the Har’el Brigade received instructions to withdraw from the village, which news caught them by surprise, and to return to the intersection, and there to wait for further orders. The troops were then withdrawn and were positioned along

5226-475: The village, the firing of auxiliary weapons used to assist them in the initial onslaught was brought to a halt. Another force assaulted the village from a different side. The villagers, being attacked from in front and from behind, soon capitulated. By midnight, units of the Fourth Battalion had taken full command of the village Dayr al-Hawa where they found the villagers had fled with their animals. At this success, they began making preparations for further action. In

5304-407: The war raging in the south between Israeli soldiers assigned to Operation Yoav and Egyptian forces, the Har’el Brigade set out in its mission with two objectives in mind, namely, extension of Jewish control over the Jerusalem Corridor by cutting-off pockets of resistance, viz. Egyptian forces that were operating in the immediate region, while simultaneously making an effort not to inadvertently draw

5382-493: The world, to cut-off from Israel the Negev ; to inflict harm to the capital, the center of yearnings of the generations of Israel; to subjugate the Hebrew element of Jerusalem; to dismantle Jewish industry; to block-off the sea; to deny the independence of Haifa and its port. These schemes will be eradicated on the battlefield." Up until that time, the Brigade had been active in capturing infiltrators who sought to carry out attacks against Jews and their property, as also in securing

5460-438: Was "Black Saturday" , as the anti-British riot was known. It saw much of downtown Cairo which the Khedive Ismail the Magnificent had rebuilt in the style of Paris, burned down. Farouk blamed the Wafd for the Black Saturday riot, and dismissed Nahas as prime minister the next day and replaced by Aly Maher Pasha . On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement , led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser , toppled King Farouk in

5538-405: Was arrested and deported to the island of Malta , demonstrations started to occur in Egypt. From March to April 1919, there were mass demonstrations that turned into uprisings. These are known in Egypt as the First Revolution . In November 1919, the Milner Commission was sent to Egypt by the British to attempt to resolve the situation. In 1920, Lord Milner submitted his report to Lord Curzon ,

5616-580: Was asked to send another mission to London with full powers to conclude a definitive treaty. Adli Pasha led this mission, which arrived in June 1921. However, the Dominion delegates at the 1921 Imperial Conference had stressed the importance of maintaining control over the Suez Canal Zone and Curzon could not persuade his Cabinet colleagues to agree to any terms that Adli Pasha was prepared to accept. The mission returned to Egypt in disgust. In December 1921,

5694-459: Was assassinated in Cairo and pro-Egyptian riots broke out in Sudan. The British demanded that Egypt pay an apology fee and withdraw troops from Sudan. Zaghlul agreed to the first but not the second and resigned. With nationalist sentiment rising, Britain formally recognized Egyptian independence in 1922, and Hussein Kamel's successor, Sultan Fuad I , substituted the title of King for Sultan. However,

5772-499: Was created for us the preeminence of decisive force, and we then decided to move also by day... When dawn broke [the following morning], it was decided that the soldiers of the Fifth Battalion would proceed unto Bayt Nattif with the intent, that after the capture of the village, it would be possible to proceed onward [unhindered] over the Bayt Ha-Elah road northward ( sic )." The people of the neighboring Arab village, Allar (site of

5850-596: Was formed, led by Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim . The Regency Council, however, held only nominal authority, as real power lay with the Revolutionary Command Council , led by Naguib and Nasser. Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers' riots in Kafr Dawar on 12 August 1952, which resulted in two death sentences. Following a brief experiment with civilian rule, the Free Officers abolished

5928-526: Was not in combat. In practice the British made Egypt a major base of operations against Italy and Germany, and finally defeated them both. London's highest priority was control of the Eastern Mediterranean, especially keeping the Suez Canal open for merchant ships and for military connections with India and Australia. Several battles of the North African campaign were fought on Egyptian soil, such as

6006-493: Was reduced, thanks to this upgrade, from three to two days and Bab al-Wad became the one place where travellers had to stop for the night. For this purpose, the Ottomans built there an inn or caravansary , used soon after, in 1869, the year of the inauguration of the Suez Canal , by travelling royalty taking a detour to Jerusalem such as Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary , the future British king Edward VII and his brother-in-law

6084-476: Was styled as the sovereign of "Egypt and Sudan". During the reign of King Fuad, the monarchy struggled with the Wafd Party , a broadly based nationalist political organisation strongly opposed to British influence in Egypt, and with the British themselves, who were determined to maintain their control over the Suez Canal . Other political forces emerging in this period included the Communist Party (1925), and

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