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Operation Dekel

Battles and operations of the 1948 Arab–Israeli WarHistory of NazarethJuly 1948 events in Asia

Operation Dekel (Hebrew: מבצע דקל, romanized: Mivtza Dekel, lit. 'Operation Palm Tree'), was the largest offensive by Israeli forces in the north of Palestine after the first truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out by the 7th Armoured Brigade led by Canadian volunteer Ben Dunkelman (called Benjamin Ben-David in Israel), a battalion from the Carmeli Brigade, and some elements from the Golani Brigade between 8–18 July. Its objective was to capture Nazareth and the Lower Galilee. On 15 July Israeli aircraft bombed Saffuriya village and caused panic among the population; many of the villagers fled northwards toward Lebanon, others found shelter in Nazareth, leaving about 100 elderly people behind. On the evening of 16 July, Nazareth surrendered to the Israelis after a light fight which left one Israeli dead and one wounded. The Arab Liberation Army forces in the village under the command of Fawzi al-Qawuqji retreated to the mountains in the north. In sharp contrast to the surrounding towns, the inhabitants of Nazareth were never forced to evacuate as Dunkelman refused to obey orders from Haim Laskov to evacuate them.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Operation Dekel (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Operation Dekel
79, Shefaram

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N 32.781502777778 ° E 35.201738888889 °
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79
Shefaram
North District, Israel
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Shfaram synagogue
Shfaram synagogue

The Shfaram synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת בשפרעם) (Arabic: شفا عمرو كنيس) is an ancient synagogue located in the Israeli-Arab city of Shfaram, Northern Israel. The synagogue was built in the 17th century, atop the ruins of an ancient synagogue that had been built on a site where, according to tradition, the Sanhedrin had once sat. The synagogue fell into ruin, but during the mid-18th century, Bedouin chieftain Zahir al-Umar gave permission to the Jews to return and renovate the synagogue there. The synagogue was renovated by Rabbi Chaim Abulafia and his students. Shfaram was noted in 1845 by Rabbi Joseph Schwarz in his book Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine as having "about thirty Jewish families who have an old synagogue". Jews lived in Shfaram until the 1970s when the community disbanded. Subsequently, the building fell into disrepair and was only recently renovated. Although being abandoned, the keys to the former house of worship are held by a local Muslim and the synagogue is treated with respect by the local Arabs.In November 2006 the building was rededicated after works to renovate the synagogue were carried out voluntarily by a group of newly qualified police officers. At the ceremony, Shfaram mayor Ursan Yassin retold how that during the October riots he had been forced to physically protect the location and had told local youngsters who wanted to burn it down that they could set him alight, but he would not allow them to harm the synagogue. There were however reports of damage to religious artifacts in the ancient synagogue on October 9, 2000.