Battle of Karameh

Battle of Karameh
Part of the War of Attrition and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

King Hussein after checking an abandoned Israeli tank
Date21 March 1968
Location
Karameh, Jordan
31°57′00″N 35°34′48″E / 31.95000°N 35.58000°E / 31.95000; 35.58000
Result

Both sides claim victory[1]

Belligerents
Israel Israel (IDF)

Jordan Jordan (JAF)
Palestine Liberation Organization PLO

Commanders and leaders
Israel Levi Eshkol
Israel Uzi Narkiss
Israel Moshe Dayan		 Jordan King Hussein
Jordan Amer Khammash
Jordan Mashour Haditha
Jordan Asad Ghanma
Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat
Palestine Liberation Organization Abu Iyad
Palestine Liberation Organization Abu Jihad
Palestine Liberation Organization Abu Ali Iyad
Strength

Israel About 15,000[4]
47 tanks[5]

(1 armored brigade
1 infantry brigade
1 paratroop battalion
1 engineering battalion
5 artillery battalions)

Jordan 2nd armored division[6]
(10 artillery batteries
4 brigades
1 Patton tank battalion[5])

Palestine Liberation Organization 900[7]–1000[8] guerrillas
Casualties and losses

Israel:

28[9]– 33 dead[10]
69[9] – 161 wounded[10]
27 tanks damaged, 4 left behind[10]
2 APCs[5]
2 vehicles[5]
1 aircraft[10]

Jordan: 40[11]–84 dead[10]
108[12]- 250 wounded[10]
4 captured[13]
28 tanks damaged, 2 captured[14]

PLO:
156 dead[10]
~100 wounded
141 captured[10]
175 buildings destroyed[10]

The Battle of Karameh (Arabic: معركة الكرامة) was a 15-hour military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and combined forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) in the Jordanian border town of Karameh on 21 March 1968, during the War of Attrition. It was planned by Israel as one of two concurrent raids on PLO camps, one in Karameh and one in the distant village of Safi.[15]

After Jordan lost control of the West Bank to Israel in 1967, Palestinian fighters known as fedayeen moved their bases to Jordan and stepped up their attacks on Israel and Israeli-occupied territories, taking the border town of Karameh as their headquarters. The IDF claimed that the purpose was to destroy the fedayeen camps at Karameh, and to capture the leader of the PLO Yasser Arafat as reprisal. Israel also wanted to punish Jordan for its perceived support to the fedayeen.[16] A large Israeli force launched an attack on the town on the dawn of 21 March, supported by fighter jets. Israel assumed the Jordanian Army would choose to not get involved in the battle, but the latter deployed heavy artillery fire, while the Palestinian irregulars engaged in guerrilla warfare. The Israelis withdrew, or were repulsed, after a day-long battle, having destroyed most of the Karameh camp and taken around 140 PLO members prisoner.[3]

Both sides declared victory. On a tactical level, Israel managed to destroy the Karameh camp.[13][9] While on a political level, Jordan and the PLO inflicted relatively high casualties on the Israelis, who left behind three dead soldiers in Karameh along with several damaged Israeli vehicles and tanks—later paraded in Amman by the Jordanian Army.[4] The engagement also marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian fighters,[17] and the issuance of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 248, which unanimously condemned Israel for violating the cease-fire line and its disproportionate use of force.[18]

The battle gained wide acclaim and recognition in the Arab world, and the following period witnessed an upsurge of support from Arab countries to the fedayeen in Jordan. The Palestinians had limited success in inflicting Israeli casualties, but King Hussein allowed them to take credit, to the point of proclaiming "we are all fedayeen".[19][20] However, as the PLO's strength began to grow in the aftermath, the fedayeen began to speak openly of overthrowing the Hashemite monarchy, and the ensuing tensions with the Jordanian authorities eventually precipitated in their expulsion to Lebanon during the events of Black September in 1970.[21]

  1. ^ Bruno Basílio Rissi; Débora Hanna F. de Lima; Mila Pereira Campbell; Raquel Fanny Bennet Fagundes; Wladimir Santana Fernandes (1 August 2015). Long-lasting peaces: Overcoming the war-peace hiatus for a sustainable future. Art Letras. p. 45. ISBN 9788561326678.
  2. ^ a b Pollack (2002), p. 333
  3. ^ a b "Guerrillas Back at Jordan Camp; Attack by Israelis Failed to Destroy Base at Karameh or Wipe Out Commandos". The New York Times. 23 March 1968. Retrieved 26 October 2015.(subscription required)
  4. ^ a b Spencer C. Tucker; Priscilla Roberts (12 May 2005). Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, The: A Political, Social, and Military History: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 569–573. ISBN 9781851098422.
  5. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Debacle in the desert was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Battle of Karamah" (PDF). JAF (in Arabic). 1 January 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference morris368 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference carta-1961 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Herzog, The Arab-Israeli Wars, p. 205
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cite error: The named reference morris369 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Steve Posner (14 May 2014). Israel Undercover. Syracuse University Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780815652038.
  12. ^ "UJ celebrates 47th anniversary of Karameh Battle". The Jordan Times. The Jordan News. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b Zeev Maoz, Defending the Holy Land, A Critical Analysis of Israel's Security and Foreign Policy, University of Michigan Press, 2006, pages 244–246
  14. ^ Nasser A. Abufarha (2006). The making of a human bomb: state expansion and modes of resistance in Palestine. The University of Wisconsin — Madison. p. 106.
  15. ^ Ben-Tzedef, Eviatar (24 March 2008). "Inferno at Karameh". nfc (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 21 September 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  16. ^ Dishon (1 October 1973). Middle East Record 1968, المجلد 4. John Wiley & Sons. p. 407. ISBN 9780470216118.
  17. ^ Saada, Tass & Merrill, Dean Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life Illinois 2008 pp 4–6 ISBN 1-4143-2361-1
  18. ^ "The situation in the Middle East". United Nations Security Council. 1968. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  19. ^ "The Israeli Assessment". Time. 13 December 1968. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.(subscription required)
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference neff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference telegraph was invoked but never defined (see the help page).