Needstrat: The Jewish plan D for Palestine

On 10 March 1948 a group of Jewish officials and experts led by the leader of the Zionist Movement David Ben-Gurion, later Prime Minister of Israel finalised their Plan Dalet. Much was at stake as conflict in Palestine had escalated over the last decades between the Palestinian native population and Jewish settlers that had recently arrived from Europe. The UN general Assembly had on 29 November 1947 voted for the termination of the British Mandate and the partition of Palestine. Now the parties were preparing themselves for the day the British would leave the country.
The objective of Plan D was according to the Jewish virtual library “to gain control of the areas of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlement and concentration which are located outside the borders [of the Hebrew state] against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.”

It also states “4. Mounting operations against enemy population centers located inside or near our defensive system in order to prevent them from being used as bases by an active armed force. These operations can be divided into the following categories: Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously.

Mounting search and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the. armed force must be destroyed and the population must be expelled outside the borders of the state".

The outcome was the creation of Israel on 14 May 1948, invasion of the neighbouring Arab countries, war and the emptying of most Palestinians from the territory withn Israel's borders. Scholars, including Jewish historians Benny Morris and Ilan Pappe, disagree about the purpose of Plan D. This is a controversial theme relevant for today's ongoing conflict.