On May 13, 1948, a day before the state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

was proclaimed, the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

launched Operation Shfifon (, ''lit.'' Operation Cerastes Cerastes) with the aim of capturing the British outposts in the Old City of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and preventing the Arab forces from taking control of them first. Such an eventuality had long been anticipated, and plans prepared called Operation Shfifon ('horned viper'; some translate it as 'Serpent') and quickly followed by Operation Kilshon.O Jerusalem! by Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre Publisher: Simon & Schuster page 367

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Etzel (Irgun) history

Bevingrad surrounded by barbed wire on the left
Battles and operations of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War May 1948 in Asia Jerusalem in the 1948 Palestine war 1948 in Israel Plan Dalet {{Israel-mil-stub

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