Adapted mainly from Walid Khalidi’s All That Remains:  The Palestinian Villages Occupied 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.

* All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 by Walid Khalidi.