Partition Resolution

On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab State. This same resolution also called for the internationalization of Jerusalem. The U.N. resolution was accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs.

Hostilities

The Arabs at once opened fire against the Jewish community in Palestine and Jewish Jerusalem was subjected to siege, famine, and devastation. In one of the worst Arab attacks, on April 13, 1948, Arab rioters attacked a convoy of armored vehicles carrying doctors, nurses, and researchers as it passed through the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem on its way to the Hadassah hospital on Mt. Scopus. Seventy-eight people were killed -- and the British prevented access to the wounded.

Invasion

After the British left the country and the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed (May 14, 1948), the Arab armies of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Transjordan invaded Israel. Three of these armies surrounded Jerusalem, bombarded the City, and sought to capture it. In four weeks, 170 Jewish civilians were killed and 1,000 injured by Arab shellfire.

Old City of Jerusalem Captured

The Arab Legion entered the Old City and captured the whole eastern part of Jerusalem. The Jewish inhabitants of the Old City were taken captive and much of the Jewish Quarter was destroyed. Of the eastern part of the city, Israel succeeded in retaining only the Mt. Scopus enclave (containing the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital), which was completely isolated from the rest of Israel. This state of affairs was to continue until 1967.

The mood in Jerusalem at the time was somber. As Harry Levin wrote in Jerusalem Embattled:

"Hard to think of the Old City without a single Jew. When was there such a time? Nearly 800 years ago Maimonides found Jews there. The old underground synagogue of Yochanan Ben Zakkai is reputed to have been standing nearly 2000 years ago; now, like the neighboring Hurva it is a shambles. Jews were in the Old City when the Seljuks conquered it, and in the days of the Crusades, when the Turks took it over. Allenby found them when he conquered it from the Turks. But today, not one is left."

Symbol of the Divided City: The Mandlebaum Gate

Jerusalem Besieged

Cut off, Jerusalem faced perilous circumstances. During the course of the War, Arab marauders attacked supply columns to the besieged city. Alternative water supplies were arranged and the secret "Burma Road" was constructed from the western approaches to Jerusalem in order to enable food to be brought to the starving city.

Buffer Zone

In the course of the fighting, the two warring sides agreed to the demarcation of a buffer zone between the Israeli and Jordanian controlled zones of the city. On November 30, a ceasefire was agreed upon that went into effect on April 3, 1949, with the signing of the Armistice Agreement with Jordan on the Island of Rhodes.