Givat HaEm
Encyclopedia
Giv'at Ha'Em is a hill (giv'a) named for Henrietta Szold
, known as the mother (em) of Youth Aliya. The hill lies in Upper Galilee
in northern Israel
, 196 m above sea level, 1 km east of the Route 918
and 2 km north of Kfar Szold
. The basalt
hill, like a few other hills in the eastern Hula Valley, was formed by a spurt of basalt stone during the formation of the Syrian-African Rift
.
It was located directly across from Syrian positions like Tel Azaziat
or Burj Babil on the slopes of the Golan Heights.
But also the Syrian army built strong fortifications on the slopes of the Golan Heights.
In the following years, Israeli troops on the hill were frequently involved in fire exchanges with Syrian troops, who were shelling the farmers in the Hula valley .
.
During the Six-Day war
, the 8th Brigade, which was brought from the Sinai, and the Golani Brigade
were deployed near Giv'at Ha'Em. They had to face very difficult topographical conditions: the steep, rugged and rocky slopes of the Golan prevented an easy build of a transportation line, while the Syrian army sat in well fortified strongholds and could fire easily from above.
Nevertheless, it was from Giv'at Ha'em that Israel made its first advances into Syria.
After 2 days of heavy bombardment by the Israeli Air Force
, the breakthrough came at 10:00 on the morning of 9 June, 1967. It was commanded by Colonel Albert
's tank brigade 8, which showered the Syrian posts to the north, on the top of the Heights. In a complex engineering operation, soldiers from the Engineering Corps cleared the way of mines. They were followed by bulldozers which leveled a route for the tanks on the rocky face.
During the battle, the 8th Brigade advanced toward the direction of Zaura and Qela, while traversing difficult terrain and meeting Syrian resistance; at the end of the battle, only two functioning tanks reached Qela.
A force consisting of infantry, Nahal
and paratroopers defeated a series of other posts overlooking the Hula valley in the southern sector of the Heights and enables the passage of tanks deep into enemy territory.
In the wake of the 8th the Golani brigade under the command of Colonel Yona Efrat advanced and captured the posts in Burj Babil, Tel Azaziat and Tel Faher.
At Burj Babil, Syrian officers fled after the first Israeli shots were fired, prompting their men to do the same.
By contrast, the number of Syrian units that fought on in their positions even long after the Israelis had gained the upper hand was at least as great an probably greater, than those instances of units breaking at first contact. Indeed, at Tel Azaziat
, the officers tried to surrender their position to the Israelis, but their men would have none of it: they fired on their officers and then fought the Israelis tooth and nail before they were overwhelmed by tank fire and the inevitable flanking attack.
In Tel Faher
was the most fatal combat of all.
On the night of June 9 - 10, the 8th brigade advanced toward the Banias
region and captured it on the morning of the 10th of June.
(KKL, JNF). There is an almost unbeatable view of the eastern Upper Galilee
, where the costly battle took place. The former frighteningly well fortified Syrian base of Tel Azaziat
has lost its scariness.
Henrietta Szold
Henrietta Szold was a U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of the Hadassah Women's Organization. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandate Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.-Biography:...
, known as the mother (em) of Youth Aliya. The hill lies in Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, 196 m above sea level, 1 km east of the Route 918
Route 918 (Israel)
Route 918 is a north-south regional Israeli highway in the Golan Heights.-Junctions on the route:From south to north:*Gadot junction next to Gadot with Highway 91*Gonen junction next to Gonen with Route 959...
and 2 km north of Kfar Szold
Kfar Szold
Kfar Szold is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee area of Israel.-History:Kfar Szold was founded during the 1940s by Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Austria and Germany and was named after Henrietta Szold, who founded Hadassah, the Women's Zionist organization...
. The basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
hill, like a few other hills in the eastern Hula Valley, was formed by a spurt of basalt stone during the formation of the Syrian-African Rift
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
.
After independence 1948
Israeli soldiers began building a border outpost on Giv'at Ha'Em after the War of Independence.It was located directly across from Syrian positions like Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat is a hill in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav She'ar Yashuv, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher. The basalt hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages...
or Burj Babil on the slopes of the Golan Heights.
But also the Syrian army built strong fortifications on the slopes of the Golan Heights.
In the following years, Israeli troops on the hill were frequently involved in fire exchanges with Syrian troops, who were shelling the farmers in the Hula valley .
The Six day war 1967
Syrian units designated to take part in Victory began assembling on the night of May 24. Troops from the Syrian 35th Division reinforced the positions at Banias and Tel AzaziatTel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat is a hill in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav She'ar Yashuv, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher. The basalt hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages...
.
During the Six-Day war
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
, the 8th Brigade, which was brought from the Sinai, and the Golani Brigade
Golani Brigade
The Golani Brigade is an Israeli infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. Its symbol is a green tree on a yellow background, and its soldiers wear a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the...
were deployed near Giv'at Ha'Em. They had to face very difficult topographical conditions: the steep, rugged and rocky slopes of the Golan prevented an easy build of a transportation line, while the Syrian army sat in well fortified strongholds and could fire easily from above.
Nevertheless, it was from Giv'at Ha'em that Israel made its first advances into Syria.
After 2 days of heavy bombardment by the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
, the breakthrough came at 10:00 on the morning of 9 June, 1967. It was commanded by Colonel Albert
Albert Mandler
Avraham 'Albert' Mandler was an Israeli major general. In the 1967 Six-Day War he was a colonel commanding the 8th Mechanized Infantry Brigade....
's tank brigade 8, which showered the Syrian posts to the north, on the top of the Heights. In a complex engineering operation, soldiers from the Engineering Corps cleared the way of mines. They were followed by bulldozers which leveled a route for the tanks on the rocky face.
During the battle, the 8th Brigade advanced toward the direction of Zaura and Qela, while traversing difficult terrain and meeting Syrian resistance; at the end of the battle, only two functioning tanks reached Qela.
A force consisting of infantry, Nahal
Nahal
Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
and paratroopers defeated a series of other posts overlooking the Hula valley in the southern sector of the Heights and enables the passage of tanks deep into enemy territory.
In the wake of the 8th the Golani brigade under the command of Colonel Yona Efrat advanced and captured the posts in Burj Babil, Tel Azaziat and Tel Faher.
At Burj Babil, Syrian officers fled after the first Israeli shots were fired, prompting their men to do the same.
By contrast, the number of Syrian units that fought on in their positions even long after the Israelis had gained the upper hand was at least as great an probably greater, than those instances of units breaking at first contact. Indeed, at Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat is a hill in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav She'ar Yashuv, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher. The basalt hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages...
, the officers tried to surrender their position to the Israelis, but their men would have none of it: they fired on their officers and then fought the Israelis tooth and nail before they were overwhelmed by tank fire and the inevitable flanking attack.
In Tel Faher
Tel Faher
Tel Faher is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park...
was the most fatal combat of all.
Battalion of the Golani Infantry Brigade was assigned to clear some thirteen positions, including Tel Fakhr--an imposing, horseshoe-shaped bastion three miles inside Syrian territory. All had been subjected to prolonged air attack in the hope of reducing their defenses or inducing their garrisons to flee. [..] the Israelis underestimated the bunkers' ability to withstand massive bombing, while navigational errors again placed them directly under the Syrians' guns. One by one, the battalion's nine tanks and nineteen half-tracks were picked off, their passengers wounded or killed. Reuven Dangor, driver of one of those tanks, found himself targeted by multiple artillery pieces. "No sooner had we passed the southern part of the tel than I felt a violent jolt ... The driver's compartment filled with smoke and then, when I finally recovered from the shock, we caught another blast, harder and deadlier than the first, in the turret. I escaped through the emergency hatch and looked for the crewmembers who'd been sitting in the turret. The turret, though, was empty."
On the night of June 9 - 10, the 8th brigade advanced toward the Banias
Banias
Banias is an archaeological site by the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights...
region and captured it on the morning of the 10th of June.
Present
Today, on top of the quiet hill are various explanations built by the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
(KKL, JNF). There is an almost unbeatable view of the eastern Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
, where the costly battle took place. The former frighteningly well fortified Syrian base of Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat
Tel Azaziat is a hill in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 330 m above sea level, 1.5 km east of moshav She'ar Yashuv, 1.5 km south east of kibbutz Dan and 2 km west of Tel Faher. The basalt hill was a Syrian military outpost built within the DMZ, used to shell the Israeli villages...
has lost its scariness.
External links
- JPost travel A monumental north