POW and Detention Camps in the 1948 War of Independence

The Jewish Virtual Library records that 156 Israelis were captured by Egypt, 673 by Jordan, 48 by Syria, and 8 by Lebanon during the war.[2] These figures total 885, three more than the overall figure of 882 reported by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs; the sources do not reconcile the discrepancy.[1] Mid-June 1948 estimates attributed to Jewish authorities put roughly 700 Jewish prisoners in Arab hands and approximately 1,200 Arab prisoners in Israeli hands at that stage of the fighting. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) noted that these were estimates, not confirmed final counts, and that its delegates had visited and assisted between 1,500 and 2,000 POWs in total across all parties combined.[6]

The totals for individual engagements were substantial. At Gush Etzion, sources report varying figures: Benny Morris records that 357 POWs were transported to Transjordan after the bloc's fall, while a Jerusalem Post account puts the number at 260 defenders from the three settlements that surrendered after Kfar Etzion.[4][7] Ynet reports 320 Israeli prisoners taken to Jordan from Gush Etzion, including 68 women.[8] Egyptian forces took more than 100 prisoners during the capture of Kibbutz Nitzanim, and 45 Israelis — most from Mishmar HaYarden — were captured by Syria.[9][10]

During the early weeks of the war, the British Mandate authorities would not permit POW facilities in areas under their control, and captured combatants were often killed, briefly interrogated, or released rather than systematically detained.[4] As Haganah forces captured additional Arab towns and villages from April and May 1948 onward, the General Staff ordered temporary detention centers; practices remained inconsistent, and noncombatants were generally freed.[4]

A central Haganah POW camp was established in the abandoned village of Jalil al-Qibliya (Gelilot), north of Tel Aviv, on May 26, 1948; by June 12, it held more than 400 prisoners.[4] Men identified as being of military age were separated from other villagers and held in temporary enclosures before transfer to centralized camps. Pappé cites a late-June officer's complaint expressing concern about the concentration of Arab POWs and civilian prisoners and the need to relocate them to safer locations.[5]

The principal Jordanian facility for Israeli prisoners was the Umm al-Jamal camp (also rendered Umm al-Jimal), situated east of the Jordan River. After the Arab Legion captured the Gush Etzion settlements in May 1948, survivors were first taken to Hebron, where the National Library of Israel records that they were held for three weeks in hunger, overcrowding, and filthy conditions, and transferred when they were "on the verge of starvation."[11] Arab Legion soldiers intervened on more than one occasion to protect the prisoners from armed crowds or individuals who threatened them during transit.[11]

After the Hebron detention, hundreds of prisoners — men and women — were moved by convoy toward Transjordan. During the crossing of the Jordan River, Arab forces again intervened when a crowd attempted to stone the captives before they reached Umm al-Jamal.[11] The women held at the camp were released earlier than the men: Israel Hayom dates their release to June 8, 1948, while a Jerusalem Post account describes the women's captivity as lasting approximately six weeks.[12][13] The men remained at Umm al-Jamal for roughly nine months.[14]

Morris notes that Chaim Herzog assessed that the Arab Legion treated Israeli prisoners civilly and repeatedly obstructed attempts by Arab irregulars to harm them, though he also records that women and wounded prisoners who were to have been sent to Jewish Jerusalem under the surrender agreement were not released as stipulated.[4] One former Gush Etzion prisoner, whose eleven months in Jordanian captivity left severe psychological effects, attempted suicide three days after release; a district court later recognized his widow as a war widow, rejecting the Ministry of Defense's argument that his mental condition had predated captivity.[15]

Prisoners captured in the Old City of Jerusalem after its surrender on May 28, 1948 were also taken to Jordan. The surrender terms provided that men — including elderly men and youths — would be sent to POW camps, while women, noncombatants, and wounded people would go to Jewish lines on Mount Zion; a first-person account notes that the Red Cross selection of 51 patients for prison did not consistently reflect the severity of their wounds.[16] Aharon Liron, a wounded defender of the Jewish Quarter, was taken by truck to Amman and then to a detention camp in Jordan, where he was held until his release on March 3, 1949.[2][17]

The Etzion Bloc prisoners were not the only Israelis held at Umm al-Jamal. A Globes account of a captured Palmach group reports that after initial detention in Hebron's military government building, its members were transferred to Umm al-Jimal and held there until February 1949.[18] Torah scrolls carried into the camp by captives from the Gush settlements became a focus of religious life among the prisoners, according to Israel Hayom.[12]

The primary Egyptian facility was the Abbassieh camp on the outskirts of Cairo, inspected by ICRC delegates on June 17, 1948.[6] The camp held Jewish prisoners of war in eight masonry hutments, housing eight to ten men per hut; prisoners slept on palliasses on the ground, as no beds were provided, though the huts were described as being in good condition.[6] The facility had an adequate water supply, showers and laundry facilities, and latrines described as "perfectly clean." Prisoners requested DDT powder, which the authorities agreed to provide, and at their request the commandant also agreed to supply food in bulk so they could cook for themselves rather than receive pre-cooked meals.[6]

An Egyptian Army medical officer was responsible for sick prisoners, and the ICRC asked that a POW medical officer be permitted to oversee treatment. The delegates noted no apparent difficulties with religious observance and recorded requests for prayer books and Bibles. Egyptian authorities agreed to authorize one letter per prisoner per week, subject to reciprocity, and the ICRC held weekly visiting rights. Discipline was reported as good and morale as fairly good; no serious complaints were raised during the visit.[6]

At the time of the June 17 visit, the report stated that "the PW have no work," although some men were expected soon to be assigned to camp maintenance tasks such as kitchen duties and checking provisions.[6] No pay was recorded. Seven women were held as POWs at Abbassieh: Egyptian authorities classified them as combatants, while the women denied this, and ICRC delegates said they would seek to clarify their status.[6]

Kibbutz Nitzanim's captured members endured a different experience before reaching a permanent facility. The remaining kibbutz members were paraded through Majdal and Gaza before being held at Abassiya Prison for nine months; conditions were described as awful initially and improved over time, and the prisoners reportedly held a final party with their guards before returning to Israel in March 1949.[9]

The Times of Israel reports that 45 Israelis — including eight women — were captured by the Syrian army in 1948, the majority taken from Mishmar HaYarden.[10] One survivor, Rivka Grabovsky, described being captured during the Syrian assault, transferred through Quneitra to Damascus, and held in a police building alongside other Israeli captives. She and other Israeli POWs were held for eleven months before release in a prisoner exchange as the war wound down; Syria recovered 97 POWs in the exchange.[10] The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies also notes that survivors of Mishmar HaYarden were imprisoned in Syria, while survivors of Nitzanim were imprisoned in Egypt, with both groups returning to Israel after the war.[3]

Pappé describes the network as becoming formalized under Yigael Yadin's direct supervision by October 1948, with five prison camps operating in 1949.[5] The largest was Jalil, near present-day Herzliya; Atlit, south of Haifa, was another.[5] Pappé gives two estimates for the detained population: approximately 8,000 Palestinians spent all of 1949 in the camps, while a passage citing Ben-Gurion's diary gives a figure of 9,000 prisoners.[5]

Pappé identifies three facilities designated as special labor camps for Palestinian prisoners: Sarafand, Tel-Litwinski (now the site of Tel Hashomer Hospital), and Umm Khalid, near Netanya.[5] He reports that the military command proposed using prisoners for forced labor with political endorsement, intending the work to strengthen the Israeli economy and military capabilities.[5]

In an account Pappé attributes to a Tantura survivor, captured men were held for three days without food before being taken to Umm Khalid, where they performed quarry work and carried heavy stones under conditions involving meager food and severe beatings. After fifteen days, 150 men were moved to Jalil to clear rubble from destroyed Arab houses; a subsequent officer's statement that prisoners would be treated according to the Geneva Convention was said to have improved conditions.[5]

Pappé also reports that Red Cross officials, following a visit on November 11, 1948, described POWs as being exploited in a general local effort to strengthen the Israeli economy, and that some Palestinian inmates remained in the camps until 1955.[5]

Israel negotiated separate prisoner-exchange agreements with each country holding Israeli captives.[2] The first exchanges with Jordan ran from February 2 to March 3, 1949, the period during which Aharon Liron and most Jordanian-held Israeli POWs returned.[2][17] Five Israeli prisoners from the Faluja Pocket were returned on February 27, 1949, linked to the release of an encircled Egyptian brigade; the remaining exchanges with Egypt followed on March 7–9.[2] The exchange with Lebanon took place March 24, 1949.[2]

The Syrian exchanges proceeded in stages: six Israeli POWs returned on April 4, additional prisoners returned May 2–8, and the final Syrian exchange took place July 21, 1949.[2] Two groups of Israeli women captured when Gush Etzion fell to Jordan had been returned earlier, in June and November 1948, before the formal armistice exchanges.[2] Through these agreements, nearly all POWs on both sides were repatriated.[1]

The available sources provide detailed documentation of captivity conditions, camp locations, and the timing of prisoner exchanges, but do not establish a system of compulsory labor imposed on Israeli POWs held in Arab countries. The ICRC's June 1948 report on Abbassieh explicitly states that Israeli prisoners there had no work at the time of the visit, with limited camp-maintenance duties anticipated.[6] Accounts of Jordanian captivity at Umm al-Jamal and Syrian detention in Damascus describe prolonged confinement and, in some cases, harsh initial conditions, but do not document organized forced-labor programs directed at Israeli prisoners.[11][10]

The picture for Arab prisoners held by Israel is more complex. Pappé's account of Israeli-run labor camps draws on survivor testimony and archival material but represents a politically and historically contested interpretation. His figures for the detained population also differ internally, referring in one passage to approximately 8,000 Palestinians who spent all of 1949 in the camps and elsewhere citing a figure of 9,000 prisoners from Ben-Gurion's diary.[5]

Morris's account of the early Haganah detention system corroborates the establishment of temporary centers and the centralized Jalil camp but is less detailed on later labor arrangements.[4] The absence of labor-camp documentation for Israeli POWs in Arab hands reflects the limits of the sources examined and does not constitute evidence that no such arrangements occurred.