ABSTRACT
The Israeli-Jordanian war was in many respects a war over Jerusalem. The two armies hardly fought elsewhere, and it was Jerusalem that preoccupied both sides and determined the nature of their fighting even beyond the city itself. For the Jews, fighting there influenced the strategy and conduct of war because of Ben-Gurion’s insistence on preventing the fall of Jerusalem at almost any cost. Consequently, the main Jewish war effort was directed towards the front that was not necessarily the biggest threat to the very existence of the new Jewish State. It was Ben-Gurion’s unequivocal conviction that there was no point in the establishment of the Jewish State if it did not include Jerusalem which gave this front its importance. Thus, while the Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi and (foremost) Egyptian Armies were heading to Israel, Ben-Gurion’s main attention was given to the one place where there was no threat of invasion to the Jewish State. It was only after he achieved his prime goal —ensuring that (western) Jerusalem would come under the State of Israel’s control, and that the road to the city from the coastal road would be in Jewish hands-that Ben-Gurion was ready to turn his attention elsewhere.
