The Battle of Qastal is a decisive battle in the history of Palestine. It took place during the 1948 war (the Nakba), and was part of the military movements of the Zionist gangs in Operation Nahshon.
Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, one of the most prominent Palestinian mujahideen leaders who tried to defend Jerusalem in the Nakba War, was martyred there. This battle took place near the village of Al-Qastal, which is one of the strategic entrances to the city of Jerusalem.
The Battle of Qastal was an Israeli military operation whose goal was to overthrow the city of Jerusalem. Former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion says in his book “The Resurrection and Destiny of Israel” that Operation Nahshon “began with the occupation of the road leading to Jerusalem, as well as Beit Mahsir, and culminated in the occupation of Al-Qastal, the fortified hill near Jerusalem.”
Arab disappointment and Jewish support
At the beginning of March 1948, armed Zionist gangs were able to occupy Al-Qastal. A large force of men from the Palmach and Haganah gangs attacked it and took control of it after a short battle with its residents.
The gangs displaced all the residents of the village, and began fortifying it with barbed wire, iron, cement, and mines, as well as military equipment and explosives.
The British Army did not intervene in any way to prevent the occupation of Qastal or the displacement of its residents, even though the instructions of its Commander-in-Chief to Arabs and Jews prohibited the presence of armed men or military manifestations on the Jerusalem-Jaffa road, but this order was applied to Arabs only.
The commander of the Holy Jihad Battalion, Abdul Qader al-Husseini, went to Damascus at the end of March 1948 to contact the military committee of the Arab League supervising the fighting in Palestine.
After presenting the committee officials with the details and dangers of the situation in Jerusalem, he demanded the provision of weapons equivalent to what the Zionist forces have and to enable his forces to defend the city of Jerusalem.
While he was in the Syrian capital, he received news of the major Zionist attack on Jerusalem and its success in occupying the village of Al-Qastal, which has a strategic location overlooking the main road between Jerusalem and Jaffa.
The Arab Military Committee did not respond to Al-Husseini’s request, and during the meeting news came about the fall of Qastal, and he expressed the ability to recover it if he had ammunition and weapons available to him, but the response was negative.
Abdul Qader Al-Husseini angrily addressed the military committee, “You are criminals. History will record that you lost Palestine. I will occupy Al-Qastal, and I and all my Mujahideen brothers will die.” Then he turned to his companion and friend Qasim Al-Rimawi, and said to him, “Let us return to Palestine so that we may die the death that we have set before us.” “Let us be martyred or be victorious over the enemies.”
The Palestinians mobilized approximately 300 fighters from various Arab villages and cities, led by Subhi Abu Jabara, Kamel Erekat, Ibrahim Abu Dayyeh, Abdullah Al-Omari, Hafez Barakat, Khalil Anoun, and Abdel Fattah Darwish.
The Palestinian attack began on April 4, 1948, and the Jews were unable to fully control Qastal. The battle continued for three days, but the Palestinian fighters ran out of ammunition, while the Haganah gangs were receiving supplies and ammunition by plane.
Events of the Battle of Qastal
The commanders of the Qastal battle were aiming to recover the village because “Al-Qastal is Jerusalem,” said Abdul Qader Al-Husseini, who advanced the Fedayeen with his companions and assistants – most notably Ibrahim Abu Dayyah – and the fighting was fierce, and Ibrahim Abu Dayyah and 16 other fighters were seriously injured, and ammunition almost ran out, which The attackers were forced to retreat, but Commander Abdul Qader Al-Husseini advanced with some of his companions and clashed with the Jews, wounding three of them and leaving only one fighter with him.
The Jews were able to surround Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, and the news reached the Palestinians outside Qastal, who gathered from all directions with great enthusiasm. Help came from the “Holy Jihad,” the “Guardians of the Noble Sanctuary,” the “Jerusalem Youth,” the people of Hebron, the villages of the valley, and the army. Rescue.
Days of intense fighting passed before the Palestinian counterattack, which was launched under cover of artillery shelling and machine gun fire. “They climbed the steep, rugged cliffs while shouting war cries,” a New York Times correspondent wrote.
On April 8, 1948, at three o’clock in the afternoon, a force consisting of several groups of Palestinian mujahideen entered the village. The Palestinians who gathered from various regions were able to retake Al-Qastal, and remained there for about six hours. Abdul Qadir Al-Husseini was martyred in the battle that day.
But the Zionist gangs came to great relief after losing 350 people killed, and Haganah reports indicate that some of its leaders were killed during the withdrawal.
The Palmach forces reoccupied the village with an attack that began on the night of the eighth and dawn of the ninth of April 1948. When they approached the village this time, they were surprised to find that it was empty, because the Mujahideen who had retaken Al-Qastal were participating in the funeral of the martyr Al-Husseini in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Palmach forces surrounded the village with some armored vehicles to prevent the arrival of reinforcements, then proceeded to storm it, blew up the houses and displaced the residents. Al-Qastal fell into the hands of the Jews and Jerusalem was captured.
This attack coincided with the massacre that took place in the village of Deir Yassin, which was no more than five kilometers away from Al-Qastal.
