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The Battle for Jerusalem: An Unintended Conquest
Including a chapter on post-war Jerusalem
"Prose that is as graphic as it is lucid. The Battle for Jerusalem is deservedly acclaimed as a classic of its genre." Prof. Howard M. Sachar, author of A History of Israel.
"Extraordinarily dramatic." Prof. Edward N. Luttwak, author of Stategy: The Logic of War and Peace
Abraham Rabinovich arrived in Jerusalem five days before the Six Day War as a reporter for an American newspaper. He covered the battle for the city and was on the Temple Mount a few hours after its capture. To understand the momentous events he had witnessed, he subsequently interviewed 300 soldiers, officials and civilians.
The conquest of the Old City, a major event in modern Middle East history, was something that Israel's leaders had not planned and that some of them did not want.
The book was written soon after the war, when memories were fresh. The current revised edition expands the context, political and military, and offers new perspective from both sides of the battlefield.
With the outbreak of war with Egypt, Israel sought to avoid a second front. Hours after Jordan opened artillery fire, Israel refrained from substantive retaliation as it sought a cease-fire. Only after Jordanian troops penetrated the Jewish city did Israel respond on the ground, and even then in measured stages.
The Israeli cabinet was divided over capture of the Old City. It was, surprisingly, the religious ministers who argued against it most vigorously. They feared that Israel could not stand up to international pressure if it annexed an entity that was not just the cradle of Jewish history but also sacred to Christianity and Islam. However, events created a vacuum on the West Bank into which Israel was inexorably pulled, step by step.
We witness the heated debate in Jordanian military headquarters where King Hussein had handed over command of his army to an Egyptian general. The latter's strategy was designed to meet Egypt's needs, not Jordan's. It would cost Jordan the West Bank.
The book begins with a description of Jerusalem as a divided city, split between Israel and Jordan since Israel's War of Independence. With the onset of the crisis in 1967, anxiety grips Israeli Jerusalem which had been besieged for months in the earlier war and elaborate emergency measures are set into motion. On the Arab side of the city, by contrast, there is euphoria and anticipation of an easy victory. Virtually nothing is done to prepare the civilian sector.
The Israeli general staff pushes for a pre-emptive air strike against Egypt but the government resists. Tensions reach a point where at least one general, Ariel Sharon, considers the possibility of a putsch. The appointment of Moshe Dayan as defense minister opens the way to war.
Defense of Israeli Jerusalem is entrusted to the Jerusalem Brigade, made up of local reservists. The greatest concern is Mount Scopus, an Israeli enclave behind Jordanian lines. An Israeli armored brigade is dispatched from the coastal plain with orders to reach Scopus by flanking the Jordanian line. It would have to breach thick minefields and scale difficult terrain as it races a brigade of Jordanian tanks coming up from Jericho. With time pressing, a paratroop brigade is ordered to relieve Scopus by driving through the center of the Jordanian defenses.
The reader follows the grueling battles in the trenches of Ammunition Hill and the streets of east Jerusalem through the eyes of the men who fought there. We see the growing isolation of the Jordanian garrison in the Old City, their last bastion. In a room lit only by distant flares, the Jordanian commander informs the local governor that he is pulling his troops out. A number of soldiers choose to remain and engage the Israeli troops from the alleys and ramparts of the walled city. A classic tale.
"Prose that is as graphic as it is lucid. The Battle for Jerusalem is deservedly acclaimed as a classic of its genre." Prof. Howard M. Sachar, author of A History of Israel.
"Extraordinarily dramatic." Prof. Edward N. Luttwak, author of Stategy: The Logic of War and Peace
Abraham Rabinovich arrived in Jerusalem five days before the Six Day War as a reporter for an American newspaper. He covered the battle for the city and was on the Temple Mount a few hours after its capture. To understand the momentous events he had witnessed, he subsequently interviewed 300 soldiers, officials and civilians.
The conquest of the Old City, a major event in modern Middle East history, was something that Israel's leaders had not planned and that some of them did not want.
The book was written soon after the war, when memories were fresh. The current revised edition expands the context, political and military, and offers new perspective from both sides of the battlefield.
With the outbreak of war with Egypt, Israel sought to avoid a second front. Hours after Jordan opened artillery fire, Israel refrained from substantive retaliation as it sought a cease-fire. Only after Jordanian troops penetrated the Jewish city did Israel respond on the ground, and even then in measured stages.
The Israeli cabinet was divided over capture of the Old City. It was, surprisingly, the religious ministers who argued against it most vigorously. They feared that Israel could not stand up to international pressure if it annexed an entity that was not just the cradle of Jewish history but also sacred to Christianity and Islam. However, events created a vacuum on the West Bank into which Israel was inexorably pulled, step by step.
We witness the heated debate in Jordanian military headquarters where King Hussein had handed over command of his army to an Egyptian general. The latter's strategy was designed to meet Egypt's needs, not Jordan's. It would cost Jordan the West Bank.
The book begins with a description of Jerusalem as a divided city, split between Israel and Jordan since Israel's War of Independence. With the onset of the crisis in 1967, anxiety grips Israeli Jerusalem which had been besieged for months in the earlier war and elaborate emergency measures are set into motion. On the Arab side of the city, by contrast, there is euphoria and anticipation of an easy victory. Virtually nothing is done to prepare the civilian sector.
The Israeli general staff pushes for a pre-emptive air strike against Egypt but the government resists. Tensions reach a point where at least one general, Ariel Sharon, considers the possibility of a putsch. The appointment of Moshe Dayan as defense minister opens the way to war.
Defense of Israeli Jerusalem is entrusted to the Jerusalem Brigade, made up of local reservists. The greatest concern is Mount Scopus, an Israeli enclave behind Jordanian lines. An Israeli armored brigade is dispatched from the coastal plain with orders to reach Scopus by flanking the Jordanian line. It would have to breach thick minefields and scale difficult terrain as it races a brigade of Jordanian tanks coming up from Jericho. With time pressing, a paratroop brigade is ordered to relieve Scopus by driving through the center of the Jordanian defenses.
The reader follows the grueling battles in the trenches of Ammunition Hill and the streets of east Jerusalem through the eyes of the men who fought there. We see the growing isolation of the Jordanian garrison in the Old City, their last bastion. In a room lit only by distant flares, the Jordanian commander informs the local governor that he is pulling his troops out. A number of soldiers choose to remain and engage the Israeli troops from the alleys and ramparts of the walled city. A classic tale.
474 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Abraham Rabinovich
11 books21 followersAbraham Rabinovich is a journalist born and raised in New York City. A graduate of Brooklyn College and a US Army veteran, he worked as a reporter for Newsday and arrived in Israel on the eve of the Six Day War. After completing his first book, The Battle for Jerusalem, he joined the Jerusalem Post as a reporter and feature writer. His freelance articles have been published in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and The New Republic, among other publications. He is the author of six books, including The Yom Kippur War, The Boats of Cherbourg and Jerusalem on Earth. He lives in Jerusalem and has two daughters and five grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 26, 2024
This is a history of the capture of Jerusalem by Israel in 1967. Rabinovich was an American journalist on the ground at the time, and the book is distinctly journalistic. We get lots of impressions of mood, lots of action shots, and only a small amount of analysis. The account is relentlessly chronological.
The book is at its best in describing the mood and reactions of Israeli civilians; Rabinovich was there, he has a fine journalistic eye, and the ability to convey mood vividly. He emphasizes something I hadn't understood before reading it, which is that the war started after several weeks of mobilization; when the war started, there was a distinct sense of tension relieved.
One of the main themes in the book is the question of "who authorized the capture of the Old City." As the book's title suggests, Rabinovich argues that this was not a deliberate decision, but was almost spur-of-the-moment. The morning of June 5, when the war started, nobody intended it. The Israeli plan was to stand on the defensive on the Jordanian front. By that evening, without any very definite decision-making, the army was committed to an assault, with the vision of encircling the Old City. The field officers (brigade and battalion) had the distinct notion that if they could seize it, they would. The Cabinet (particularly Dayan) did authorize the advance, but the army was straining to do it already and Dayan was more nearly restraining than spurring the advance.
A thing that is obvious in the text, but the author does not call attention to, is that a large fraction of Israeli losses were due to "friendly fire." I don't know how much of this was the result of carelessness or bad procedures, and how much this is just a reflection of the large Israeli superiority in firepower during the assault.
This book is almost exclusively the Israeli view in military terms. We hear a bit about what King Hussein was thinking, a bit about the civilian view in Jerusalem, but only a handful of "man in the street" perspectives from the Arab side, and nothing whatsoever from Arab military personnel. This is a pity; it would be nice to understand in more detail why the Jordanian defenders of the Old City fled, when they could have stayed with safety.
Another theme of the book was how very informal the Israeli army was. People just show up looking to fight. Officers are casual in reattaching small groups (particularly of tanks) to whatever unit needs them. When the paratroops seize the Rockefeller Museum, they pause to sign the guestbook.
I've now read this several times and find there's a lot in there that comes out in rereading. I get an increasingly clear understanding of the geography and am able to map it to places I have visited and streets I have seen. And I have a new appreciation for what urban combat is like.
The book is at its best in describing the mood and reactions of Israeli civilians; Rabinovich was there, he has a fine journalistic eye, and the ability to convey mood vividly. He emphasizes something I hadn't understood before reading it, which is that the war started after several weeks of mobilization; when the war started, there was a distinct sense of tension relieved.
One of the main themes in the book is the question of "who authorized the capture of the Old City." As the book's title suggests, Rabinovich argues that this was not a deliberate decision, but was almost spur-of-the-moment. The morning of June 5, when the war started, nobody intended it. The Israeli plan was to stand on the defensive on the Jordanian front. By that evening, without any very definite decision-making, the army was committed to an assault, with the vision of encircling the Old City. The field officers (brigade and battalion) had the distinct notion that if they could seize it, they would. The Cabinet (particularly Dayan) did authorize the advance, but the army was straining to do it already and Dayan was more nearly restraining than spurring the advance.
A thing that is obvious in the text, but the author does not call attention to, is that a large fraction of Israeli losses were due to "friendly fire." I don't know how much of this was the result of carelessness or bad procedures, and how much this is just a reflection of the large Israeli superiority in firepower during the assault.
This book is almost exclusively the Israeli view in military terms. We hear a bit about what King Hussein was thinking, a bit about the civilian view in Jerusalem, but only a handful of "man in the street" perspectives from the Arab side, and nothing whatsoever from Arab military personnel. This is a pity; it would be nice to understand in more detail why the Jordanian defenders of the Old City fled, when they could have stayed with safety.
Another theme of the book was how very informal the Israeli army was. People just show up looking to fight. Officers are casual in reattaching small groups (particularly of tanks) to whatever unit needs them. When the paratroops seize the Rockefeller Museum, they pause to sign the guestbook.
I've now read this several times and find there's a lot in there that comes out in rereading. I get an increasingly clear understanding of the geography and am able to map it to places I have visited and streets I have seen. And I have a new appreciation for what urban combat is like.
August 24, 2017
Wasn't really into it. Was hard to keep track of all the troops and their movements.
July 10, 2020
Pretty good book. Well written, well told. Recommended.
January 14, 2014
Great coverage of the battle for Jerusalem in 1967. Some of the accounts got a little confusing and long-winded but it makes you appreciate the efforts of the soldiers who were fighting. The pictures are also impressive.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews