David Shaltiel David Shaltiel ( hebrew : דוד שאלתיאל , { B . 16 January 1903 Berlin - 1969 Jerusalem ) was an Israeli military and intelligence officer , later also diplomat , and was most well known for being the district commander of the Haganah in Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab - Israeli war . Life and career . He was born in Berlin into a Portuguese orthodox Jewish family settled in Hamburg . At 16 , Shaltiel joined the Zionist youth movement Blau Weiss , and he went to Palestine in 1923 . However , he was not happy there , and returned to Europe in 1925 . From 1925 - 1930 he was enlisted in the French Foreign Legion . In 1934 he returned to Palestine . There he started working for the Haganah , being charged with buying arms in Europe . In 1936 he was captured in Aachen , Germany , by Gestapo . Shaltiel spent the three next years in prisons / concentration camps , including Dachau and Buchenwald . When he was sent to Berlin in 1939 the Haganah succeeded in freeing him . He then went back to Palestine . There he was at first condemned to death for murder by the British , but a British War Council later acquitted him . In 1942 - 43 , he was the Haganah Commander in Haifa . Fulfilling also the office of commander of the Counterintelligence service - the " Ran " - and of the Intelligence Service - the Shin Yud - of the Haganah , he was involved in the conflicts between the Haganah and the other Jewish underground groups - Irgun and Lehi . Later , as Haganah ' s link to these organizations , Irgun , helped them coordinate several missions with the Haganah . Among them the widely condemned attack at Deir Yassin . In 1948 , he was the local Haganah district commander when the village was attacked by Irgun and Lehi Jewish fighters despite a non - aggression pact signed between the Zionists and the Mukhtar of the village , the villagers wanting to remain neutral in the war . At first Shaltiel did not agree with attacking Deir Yassin , but after a day he surrendered and wrote a letter to them saying that he had " no objection to your carrying out the operation " . Yitzchak Levi , head of the Jerusalem branch of Haganah Intelligence , proposed that the inhabitants should be notified that the truce was over , but Shaltiel then refused to endanger the operation by warning them . He was also the mastermind behind Operation Kedem , which had the goal of capturing " East Jerusalem " . The mission was carried out July 8 , 1948 by Irgun troops and was a total failure . From that moment , he was , ( according to himself ) , disgraced and his name was erased from official Israel history . Between June 11 and July 21 , 1948 , he had a series of meetings , mediated by the UN , with Abdullah el Tell , the commander of Arab Legion troops in the Old City ] ] . [ [ File : El Tel and Shalteil . jpg | thumb | right | One of the meetings between Abdullah el Tell and David Shaltiel On July 7 they signed the " [ [ Mount Scopus ] ] Agreement " which stated that the Jewish enclave at Mount Scopus should be de - militarized and would come under UN supervision . On July 15 the Haganah and Irgun launched a massive bombardment on the Old City which was followed by infantry attacks on the [ [ New Gate | New ] ] , [ [ Jaffa Gate | Jaffa ] ] and [ [ Zion Gate ] ] s . These failed to gain their objectives . On 21 July Shaltiel and el Tell signed a formal cease - fire based on the existing positions of their forces . After the end of the Independence War , David Shaltiel founded the Border Corps of the Israeli army , Heyl Hasfar , and was its first commander . Later , because of administrative problems , he recommended the transfer of these units into the frame of the Israeli Police , and they became known as Border Guard , Mishmar Hagvul . In the years 1950 - 1952 Shaltiel served as military attaché of Israel in France , and later fulfilled several diplomatic charges - as Israel ' s plenipotentiary minister in Brazil and Venezuela ( 1952 – 1956 ) , then in Mexico ( 1956 – 1959 ) and ambassador in Netherlands ( 1963 – 1966 ) . He died in Jerusalem in 1969 . Shaltiel was married twice - first to Inge , then in 1942 to Yehudit , born [ [ Judith Irmgard Schonstedt ] ] ( 1913 – 2010 ) , psychologist and daughter of a rabbinic family from Berlin . Shaltiel and Yehudit adopted a little girl , Tamar , who had to be returned to her biological mother . References . Collins / Lapierre : " O Jerusalem " . 1973 . History Book Club . Dayan , Moshe : " The Story of My Life . " 1976 . ISBN 0 - 688 - 03076 - 9 . Lüth , Erich : " David Shaltiel . Hamburger - Fremdenlegionär - Diplomat - Verteidiger von Jerusalem . " External links . 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