Plan Dalet
Plan Dalet (or Plan D) was a plan that the
Haganah in
Palestine worked out during the autumn
1947 to the spring
1948. The purpouse of the plan was, according to
Zionist
sources to defend the establishment of a
Jewish state in
Palestine. According to Palestinian sources it was a plan with the
purpouse of conquering as much of Palestine as possible (Plan Dalet:
Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine, Walid, Khalidi, for
example).
Plan Dalet was revised in December, after the [[1947 UN Partition
plan]], and finalized on March 10, 1948. The first step of the
plan was initiated in April when Operation Nachshon was
launched, although the document states that action wasn't intended to
be undertaken before the British had left (which they didn't do
before (May 14):
- This plan rests on the general assumption that during its implementation, the forces of the [British] authorities will not be present in the country. (Plan Dalet, Section 2b)
Purpouse of Plan Dalet
The plan begins with:
- The objective of this plan is to gain control of the areas of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlements and concentration which are located outside the borders [of the Hebrew state] against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state. (Plan Dalet, Section 1a)
This passage has, by the Palestinian side, been interpreted to mean
that Plan Dalet was not really of defensive nature. But that the
Zioninsts intended to disregard the 1947 UN Partition plan and secure
positions outside the partition plans borders.
In Section 3b the plan describes how to deal with occupied "enemy
population centers":
- Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously. ... Mounting search and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the armed roce must be destroyed and the population expelled outside the borders of the state.
The plan assumed that most of the opposition would come from
semi-irregular forces and local militia which would work in civilian
areas.
See also
External links