Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer By: Kimberly Cruse

The Israel War of Independence • The first large-scale assaults began on January 9, 1948, when approximately 1,000 Arabs attacked Jewish communities in northern Palestine. • The Arabs rejected the partition of Palestine and refused to set up the projected Arab state • The British administration, then still governing Palestine under the Mandate, refused to carry out the recommendations of the United Nations to implement the partition plan. • The British government made it plain that it would do all in its power to prevent the birth of the Jewish state. • Britain announced that she would not -- and indeed, she did not -- carry out the orderly transfer of any functions to the Jewish authorities in the Interim before the end of the Mandate on May 15, 1948.

The Israel War of Independence (Cont.) • Immediately after the United Nations Assembly decision, the Palestine Arabs launched their preliminary ambush on the Jewish community • The British Army gave them considerable cover and aid. • It obstructed Jewish defense on the ground • It blocked the movement of Jewish reinforcements and supplies to outlying settlements • It opened the land frontiers for the entry of Arab soldiers from the neighboring Arab states • It maintained a blockade in the Mediterranean and sealed the coast and ports

The End of the Independence War • Even after a strongly-worded Resolution of May 29, 1948 ordering a four-week cease-fire, they went on fighting, and it took lengthy negotiations by the UN Mediator to bring the truce into force on June 11th. • Towards the end of the four weeks, the Council appealed to the parties to prolong the truce. • Israel responded, but the Arabs did not, and hostilities were resumed on July 9, 1948. • The War proceeded through the rest of 1948 with a series of truces, frequently broken, to the negotiated agreements that ended the war in 1949.

The End of the Independence War (Cont.) • Fighting ended with a cease-fire January 7, 1949 • The War of Independence was formally terminated on July 20, 1949 with the signing of the Israel-Syria armistice agreement. • Only Iraq did not sign an armistice agreement with Israel. It preferred to withdraw its troops and hand over its sector to the Arab Legion of Jordan. • At the end of the War of Independence in 1949, Jerusalem was left divided, with a border running through the city and cutting neighborhoods, streets, even houses.

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer • Came out in 1955 • Israeli film • Black and White • 1 hour 45 minutes • Directed by Thorold Dickinson • Cast: Edward Mulhare, Haya Harareet, Michael Shilo, Michael Wager, Shoshana Damari

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer (Cont.) • Based on stories by Zvi Kolitz, Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, is a series of episodes. A group of young soldiers, one woman and three men, (an American, a native-born Jew, an ex-member of the British protectorate and a Yemenite woman)has been assigned to secure one of the hilltops on the road to Jerusalem during the last hours of the War of Independence (1948), before the UN cease-fire comes into affect. The entire film is told as a flashback and therefore the viewer knows at the start that the four soldiers do not survive.

Sources • http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hill_24_doesnt_answer/ • http://www.jhvc.org/video_library/index.php?film_id=25 • http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=537236++ • http://www.jfw.at/alte_jahre/1998/body_givah_24_einah_onah___hill_24_.html • Many other…

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer