Summary
Commander of the Israeli northern front in 1948, who ordered Nazareth’s expulsion on 17 July 1948 and was countermanded by Ben-Gurion, and who, a day after Operation Hiram took the Galilee, ordered all his unit commanders to achieve a quick purification of the occupied areas and to help the residents leave, in Manna’s account (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.73, 102).
Details
- Ben-Gurion’s pre-occupation telegram to Carmel set up a special administrative team for Nazareth and ordered strict prohibitions on desecrating churches and monasteries and on looting (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.72).
- On 17 July 1948, the day after Nazareth’s surrender agreement was signed, Carmel issued an order to expel the city’s entire population; Ben Dunkelman refused to carry it out, Haim Laskov referred the question to Ben-Gurion, who prohibited the expulsion, and an attempt was made to replace Dunkelman’s battalion (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.73). Pappe’s account names the northern commander Moshe Karmil; the spelling difference is recorded on the Manna source page.
- On 31 October 1948 Ben-Gurion recorded a summary of Carmel’s report on Operation Hiram: out of approximately 60,000 residents of the occupied area, about half remained while the rest had migrated; Ben-Gurion commented: “Many will migrate later” (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.102).
- That same morning, 31 October, Carmel sent a telegram to all commanders of military units: “Do everything you can to achieve a quick and immediate purification of the occupied areas of all enemy elements, according to standing orders. It is imperative to help the residents leave the occupied regions.” He reported the same day on the mission’s partial fulfilment and his hope to complete it in coordination with the prime minister and minister of defense (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.102).
- After consulting the general staff, Carmel decided to impose a curfew on all Arab villages in the 5–15 kilometre strip along the Lebanese border and issued orders to begin expelling their residents, to create a border strip “clean” of Arab residents (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.108).
Related pages
Nakba and Survival, David Ben-Gurion, Nazareth, Operation Hiram, Ben Dunkelman