Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni arrived in the Jerusalem sector in December 1947 and by March 1948 had about 128 men. He established his headquarters at Bir Zeit and started to conduct a blockade of Jerusalem by attacking the Jewish convoys to the city. Hasan Salama, with 950 men of the "Jihad" and 228 irregulars, took responsibility for the operations in the Lydda and Ramle sectors, at the entry of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road.