page_title: Abdullah Tal
section_title: Commander in 1948 War
hierarchical_section_title: Abdullah Tal / Commander in 1948 War
caption_attribution_description: English: Haganah and Irgun fighters from Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter being taken to prisoner of war camp in Transjordan, May/June 1948.
context_page_description: Abdullah El Tell served in the Transjordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 war in Palestine rising from the rank of company commander to become Military Governor of the Old City of Jerusalem. He was later accused of being involved in the assassination of King Abdullah I−which he denied−and spent many years in Egypt before returning to Jordan in 1967.
  El Tell was born into a wealthy family in Irbid just as the Ottoman army were retreating from the town. His mother reportedly held him up to the window to witness the soldiers leaving. His secondary education was in Egypt. When he was 18 years old, he was jailed for demonstrating against the British. In 1941, he joined the British Army and in 1942 completed an officer training course in the Suez Canal area.
context_section_description: In March 1948, El Tell was promoted to the rank of Major commanding the 6th Regiment of the Arab Legion, stationed in Jericho. In early May his regiment was involved in an attack on the three Jewish colonies at Kfar Etzion which dominated the road between Hebron and Bethlehem. His commander in-chief, Glubb Pasha, ordered him to withdraw his troops. On 12 May, however, El Tell told one of his officers in Hebron, Captain Hikmet Muhair, to radio Glubb's headquarters saying that his convoy was under fire from the Kfar Etzion. This resulted in the 6th Regiment receiving orders to attack. The Jewish positions had been holding off attacks from local irregulars but could not resist El Tell's troops who were backed with armoured cars. 127 prisoners were murdered after they had surrendered while 320 were taken to the prisoner of war camp at Mafraq.
  Glubb was reported to have informed the Haganah in early May that when the Mandate ended his forces would enter the area allocated by the partition plan to the Arab state with "limited objectives". He appears to have had no wish to send troops into Jerusalem. On 17 May, El Tell received a personal phone call from King Abdullah ordering him to move his troops into the Old City of Jerusalem where the Arabs were coming under increasing pressure from Haganah forces attacking from West Jerusalem. They arrived just in time to prevent a breakthrough at the Zion Gate where Palmach troops had briefly broken through to the Jewish Quarter. El Tell took charge of the siege of the quarter, methodically attacking each Haganah stronghold, and demolishing each position once it had been captured. On 25 May, he wrote to Otto Lehner of the Red Cross saying that unless the Haganah abandoned its positions in the Hurva Synagogue, he would be forced to attack it. The Haganah commander, Moshe Russnak refused, but Russnak was coming under increasing pressure from the civilian population to surrender. On 28 May, El Tell received a delegation led by Mordechai Weingarten which accepted his terms:
  1. All arms and ammunition to be surrendered.
  2. All men capable of bearing arms to be taken prisoner and transferred to Transjordan.
  3. All other inhabitants to be sent to New Jerusalem.
  4. El Tell personally guaranteed, on behalf of King Abdullah, the safety of all those surrendering.
  5. The Jewish Quarter would be occupied by Arab Legion troops.
  El Tell refused calls to take women combatants prisoners and is reported to have commented to Russnak "If I had know you were so few we would have come after you with sticks, not guns." The quarter was subjected to extensive looting after his troops withdrew.
  After the capture of the Jewish Quarter El Tell wanted to push on into New Jerusalem but this was blocked by Glubb, and El Tell instead launched an artillery bombardment which lasted for two weeks. He had 12 25-pounder field guns and 2 Iraqi six-inch howitzers available, but they were rationed to ten shells per gun per day.
  On 11 June, King Abdullah ordered a hudna (ceasefire) and on a visit to Jerusalem on the same day promoted El Tell to Lieutenant Colonel giving him command of three infantry companies forming an improvised BatEl Tellion based inside the Old City.
  There followed a series of meetings in the presence of UN observers between El Tell and Colonel David Shaltiel the commander of Israeli forces in West Jerusalem.
  The first dealt with demarcation lines in the Arab district of Musrara. On 16 June they discussed Deir Abu Tor, civilian access to retrieve personal belongings, "examination by Arabs of municipal records in the Jewish area", recovery of Torah scrolls from the Old City and the closing of the New Gate. On 7 July Shaltiel signed the "Mount Scopus Agreement" by which the Israelis agreed that Mount Scopus would be demilitarized and come under United Nations supervision. Two weeks later both men signed a formal cease-fire establishing "the status quo in no-man's land between the lines of the two parties." During this time the Israelis launched several attacks on the Old City. On 9 July it was subjected to an
caption: Israeli prisoners of war being taken by Arab Legion after securing Old Jerusalem to the prisoners camp in Mafraq
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