David Shaltiel

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David Shaltiel (

Biography

David Shaltiel was born on 16 January 1903 in

Shaltiel was married twice – first to Inge, then in 1942 to Yehudit, born Judith Irmgard Schonstedt (1913–2010), psychologist and daughter of a rabbinic family from Berlin. Shaltiel and Yehudit adopted a little girl, Tamar, who had to be returned to her biological mother.^{[citation needed]} He died in Jerusalem in February 1969.^[3]

Military career

In 1942–43, he was the Haganah Commander in Haifa. Fulfilling also the office of commander of the

He was also the mastermind behind Operation Kedem, which had the goal of capturing "East Jerusalem". The mission was carried out July 8, 1948, by Irgun troops and was a total failure. From that moment, he was, (according to himself), disgraced and his name was erased from official Israel history.^{[citation needed]}

Between June 11 and July 21, 1948, he had a series of meetings, mediated by the UN, with

Abdullah el Tell, the commander of Arab Legion troops in the Old City.

On July 7 they signed the "Mount Scopus Agreement" which stated that the Jewish enclave at Mount Scopus should be de-militarized and would come under UN supervision. On July 15 the Haganah and Irgun launched a massive bombardment on the Old City which was followed by infantry attacks on the New, Jaffa and Zion Gates. These failed to gain their objectives.^[4] On 21 July Shaltiel and el Tell signed a formal cease-fire based on the existing positions of their forces.^[5]

After the end of the Independence War, David Shaltiel founded the Border Corps of the Israeli army, Heyl Hasfar, and was its first commander. Later, because of administrative problems, he recommended the transfer of these units into the frame of the Israeli Police, and they became known as Border Guard, Mishmar Hagvul.

Diplomatic career

In the years 1950–1952 Shaltiel served as military attaché of Israel in France, and later fulfilled several diplomatic charges - as Israel's plenipotentiary minister in Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba^[6] (1952–1956), then in Mexico and concurrently to the Dominican Republic^[7] and Honduras (1956–1959)^[8] and ambassador in Netherlands (1963–1966).

References

Sources

• Collins/Lapierre: "O Jerusalem". 1973. History Book Club.
• Dayan, Moshe: "The Story of My Life." 1976.
  ISBN 0-688-03076-9
  .
• Lüth, Erich: David Shaltiel. Hamburger- Fremdenlegionär - Diplomat - Verteidiger von Jerusalem.
• Michael Studemund-Halévy, Sioniste au parfum romanesque: la vie tourmentée de David Shaltiel (1903-1969, in: Christoph Miething (ed.), Politik und Religion im Judentum, Tübingen 1999, pp. 255–264.
• Eli Tzur, Michael Halévy, Moshe Aronwald, Shomer leYisrael: David Shaltiel, Tel Aviv 2001

• The Jerusalem Battalion Archived 2022-01-09 at the Wayback Machine