Page 21 - Old Katamon INT RB_Neat

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Intermediate Level – ‫קטמון הישנה‬

The Battle of San Simon

In 1948, Katamon was an important neighborhood, because from
the tall San Simon monastery you could see and control the whole
area.
The Palmach soldiers realized that (they) have to conquer the
monastery in order to ensure the security of the adjacent Jewish
neighborhoods.
On April 29th 1948 in the middle of the night, soldiers entered the
monastery, which was empty at that time. When the Arab soldiers
from the neighborhood saw them, they started firing at them, and
so began a very hard battle that lasted all night and all day. A lot
of Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded in the battle. When
the soldiers thought they can’t keep fighting and decided to
surrender, they saw the Arab soldiers running away from the
neighborhood and realized they had won (the battle).
When the battle was over, the soldiers and wounded passed
through Rehavya, and all of the neighborhood’s residents came
out to the street and sang and cheered them on.
The victory at the San Simon battle was a hard and painful
victory, with a lot of fatalities on the Israeli side. But thanks to
this victory (they) were able to connect the Jewish neighborhoods
in northern Jerusalem with the neighborhoods in the south.

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