Operation Shoter

The Arab villages of Mount Carmel served as staging points for attacks on Jewish traffic in the three roads surrounding them, especially on the Tel Aviv – Haifa Road, during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The road and its surrounding area was the site of frequent skirmishes between Arab and Jewish forces. After the Haganah captured Haifa in April 1948, momentum shifted in its favor, These villages had refused to let in the Arab Liberation Army during the civil war, but did not ally themselves with the Jewish forces. Sniper fire from village militiamen effectively closed this road, but by the beginning of the truce they were completely cut off from other Arab forces. The village residents also set up roadblocks and mines, and dug trenches and foxholes along the road. The commander of the triangle was in contact with the Iraqi Army nearby, and there was an Israeli fear that the Iraqis would attempt to connect with his forces. The coastal road was the main traffic artery between the central and northern parts of Israel; not having access to it meant that all traffic and supplies had to go east through Wadi Milk, a dangerous route which also passed close to Arab villages. ==Prelude==

Prior deliberations and failed assaults The Israel Defense Forces made attempts to capture the villages blocking the road on June 18 and July 8, but failed to overtake them, in part due to the villages' superior strategic position. On July 14, 1948, in a cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan commented that the Little Triangle was putting lives in danger, and asked what was being done about this. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion replied that: Following the success at Tira on July 16 a follow-up was tried in Jaba' and Ayn-Ghazal. It was estimated that the Arab fighters who fled Tira moved to the Little Triangle. Three companies of the Guard Corps and Israel Navy were allocated, as well as a number of cannons and armored vehicles. At 10:30, the artillery and INS Wedgwood began firing at the villages, and at 14:30, the infantry forces moved on the villages. Two positions were captured by one of the companies, but an order was given to retreat. Another company met with heavy resistance and retreated. The navy suffered 2 killed and 7 wounded, with more casualties among the other units. Planning and preparations On July 18 two Israeli motorists were killed and the IDF informed the villagers that they must surrender or be evacuated. Thus, the justification for such operation was that the territory in question was part of the Jewish state according to the 1947 Partition Plan and therefore a police operation was permitted there, hence the name, "Policeman" (Shoter). The plan was to besiege the triangle with armored units and artillery, while the actual capture would be made by military police, and the Alexandroni and Carmeli brigades. A military police force was added to the plan to give it the appearance of a policing action. The operational planners initially assumed that the Arab force consisted of less than one company and the MPs were new recruits who had not yet completed basic training. They were used because the military police could not spare any other troops. Moshe Zadok, head of the IDF Manpower Directorate, assured the Chief MP Officer, Danny Magen, that his troops would not be engaged in combat, but would rather watch from the sidelines. The military police's planning and logistics were described as "amateurish"—the soldiers received defective helmets, their attack was set to a time when the rising sun would blind them, and command posts assigned to soldiers who had previously served in the Jewish Brigade due to a lack of qualified commanders. ==Operation==

On July 24, six 65 mm Napoleonchik guns were stationed about 3 km to the west of the villages, and mortars were put to the southeast. At 22:40, a Golani company left a farm near Mazar (north of Jaba') to attack the Arab positions. They encountered an ambush and retreated after 6–9 soldiers were injured. At midnight, Alexandroni and Carmeli companies set out to attack Ayn Ghazal from the south, accompanied by military police forces. Meanwhile, the Golani forces regrouped and at 19:50 set out to attack Jaba' again. Prisoners interrogated later are quoted, in a report to the Israeli General Staff, as claiming that fleeing villagers were "repeatedly fired on by Israeli soldiers and aircraft." In all, the Arabs suffered 60 dead during their flight. At 07:00 on July 26, Ayn Ghazal itself was captured by Alexandroni's 1st Company. At 07:25, after the 3rd Company occupied Jaba', all of the military positions in the triangle were under Israeli control. The retreating Arabs, about 800 in number, eventually reached Iraqi lines at 'Ara and Ar'ara under the command of Khaleel Jassim, where they received good treatment and provisions. They escaped with an estimated 810 rifles and 20 Bren guns, which, according to Arab sources, were buried and not used. ==Aftermath==

The operation captured the final Arab pocket on the Tel Aviv – Haifa road, thereby freeing it for Israeli civilian and military traffic. Allegations of atrocities and ceasefire violation Azzam Pasha, the Secretary General of the Arab League issued a statement alleging that atrocities were committed during and after the attacks. In particular it was stated that 28 people from al-Tira were burnt alive. The IDF rejected these allegations but admitted that their soldiers had found 25–30 bodies at Ayn Ghazal in "an advanced state of decomposition" and that the soldiers made prisoners bury the remains. The IDF also buried about 200 bodies found in the three villages after the battle. On July 28, the United Nations peace envoy Folke Bernadotte issued a statement which said that there was "no evidence to support claims of massacre." The next morning, a team of UN observers came to survey the damage and did not find any bodies; they were buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. On September 8, Bernadotte produced a more detailed report, concluding that the assault on the villages was unjustified, especially in view of an offer from the villagers to negotiate, and that the attack violated the truce. It condemned the "systematic" demolition of Ayn Ghazal and Jaba'. In conclusion the report demanded that Israel allow the return of the villagers and assist in the rebuilding of their homes. By the time Israel's Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett issued his response on September 28, Bernadotte had been assassinated by the militant Zionist group Lehi. His replacement, Ralph Bunche, did not pursue the matter. ==See also==