The Battle in Defense of the Water Pipeline in the Negev
The long pipeline, laid between Nir-Am and the settlements in the region, was easily sabotaged by the Bedouins in the area. It was guarded by foot patrols and jeep reconnaissance patrols. They then began patrolling in armored "Parpar" vehicles because of the gunfire and mines. Because of the unbearable ease in sabotaging the pipes, it was difficult to prevent the water pressure in the pipes from dropping and often there was no water supply to the distant settlements.
In order to supply water to the settlements in the dry Negev region, two branches of the pipeline were laid from Nir-Am, where there was a plentiful supply of ground water, to the settlements in the northern Negev. The work of laying the pipeline was begun in 1946 and ended in the summer of 1947. Faucets were attached in different places along the pipeline for the use of the Bedouin population. A 4 cubic meter water container was placed on an elevated wooden stand in each Jewish settlement. In anticipation of the impending war, four containers, each with a 20 cubic meter water storage capacity, were buried in the ground, for emergency purposes.
Two branches of the pipeline, tens of kilometers in length, were laid in the vicinity of the Bedouin population for their use. The pipes were partially exposed in certain places and in others it was enough to dig only a little in order to expose them. One blow with a sharp instrument, or a bullet shot from a gun sufficed to sabotage the water supply. The more points that were damaged in the pipe, the lower the pressure. The end result was that the water did not reach the outlying settlements.
In the eastern branch of the pipeline from Nir-Am to Mishmar Hanegev, the pipe passed through an area of friendly Bedouins (from the El- Huzeil tribe) – the number of sabotage incidents were minimal in that area. However, in the section that ended in Hatzerim and approached Beer-Sheba on the way, there were numerous sabotage incidents and it was, in fact, abandoned.
Hatzerim, Bet Eshel and Nevatim were able to find local solutions to the problem.
The entire length of the western section of the pipeline was sabotaged.
The Imra police station (a mandatory police station where Arabs served as policemen) was situated in the middle section, about 25 kilometers between Be'eri and Tze'elim. In that area the pipeline was frequently sabotaged.
Before the Palmach units were sent to the Negev, the pipeline was guarded by a mobile security unit in a van, manned by guards from the Jewish settlement police. Because of the length of the two branches of the pipeline, the mobile security unit did not succeed in guarding the entire line as required. Several of the first group of Palmach members who were sent to the Negev, joined the Negev settlement police force and manned two additional mobile security vans, one of which was in the base at Gvulot and the other in the Bet Eshel base. The others spread out at different points in the region and sent out patrol squads in the area of the line.
On the 9.12.47, five men and women from the Palmach were killed in the village of Shuat.
On 11.12.47, three Palmach fighters were killed west of Beer Sheba;
On the 13.12.47, five more Palmach fighters were killed in the Tekuma area. The death of fourteen fighters in less than a week was a heavy blow to the defenders of the Negev. As a result, it was decided that the foot squads would not operate during daylight hours and they would only operate in vehicles and in larger forces.
A squad or a platoon that came from Tze'elim or Be'eri, patrolled in trucks or vans along the problematic area during the day. At night they secretly slipped in squads of fighters who laid ambushes and a few hours later they were taken back to the kibbutzim.
The Bedouins began to mine the unpaved roads next to the pipeline and then they proceeded to fire on the vehicles blown up by the mines.
The patrols then began to travel on the sides of the roads and as a result the dusty roads were widened considerably up to 50 meters in width. This decreased their chances of hitting a mine but nevertheless, the casualties mounted. On the 28.12.47, the "Parpar" armored vehicles arrived (these were trucks that were reinforced by a 2.5 c"m width wooden panel sandwiched between two 2-5 m"m width steel panels. (The nickname "Parpar" was given because of the appearance of the armored vehicle when both panels were open for observation purposes). After the 'Parparim' were introduced, there was an improvement in the security of the patrols. Fortunately, the low grade quality of the mines caused only minor injuries on the whole.
Repairing the sabotaged pipes was not an easy task. It was necessary to bring welders and welding apparatus as well as security squads, to the damaged areas.
On the 26.12.47, a group of welders who were repairing sabotage damage opposite the Imara police station were guarded by a Palmach company. The company was attacked from high ground and the battle was conducted on the level plain. A truck and a jeep with two wounded men, hurried to evacuate them to the clinic in kibbutz Gvulot and the company was left stranded without a vehicle in an unprotected area about 15 kilometers from Tze'elim. The men began to retreat in the direction of Tze'elim with the squads covering each other. Armed Bedouin began to stream into the battle area and began to surround them. There were casualties amongst the men and they began to deploy for territorial defense. British trucks arrived at the spot from the Imara police station. They loaded 3 dead bodies and two wounded men on the vehicle and took the fighters by foot to the Imara police station, where they were disarmed.
When the vehicle with the men who were wounded at the beginning of the incident, arrived at Gvulot, the rest of the Palmach company went out in two trucks and a jeep in order to rescue their men. The force was stopped by the British police and brought to Imara and, together with the men who were involved in the battle, were taken to the prison in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. The Western Negev Company of the Palmach was arrested together with all their arms. The following day, after intervention of the authorities, the company was released and returned to the Negev.
In the middle of January 1948, there was a flood in the Shala Wadi, preventing the security patrols of the pipeline from carrying out their patrols for three days, When they resumed their patrols they discovered that 1,700 meters of pipes had been dismantled. The tracks led to Hirbat el Pe'er where the pipes were found buried in the ground;
On the 17.1.48, at dawn, the Western Negev Company that had been reinforced by a force from Be'eri, carried out an attack on the village.
The village was conquered and, in response to the pipes that had been dismantled and stolen from the line, they blew up several houses and a well. The inhabitants of Hirbat-el Pe'er fled, never to return.
The unbearable ease with which the pipeline was sabotaged time and time again, turned the work of repairing the line into a Sisyphean task requiring endless and futile labor – the numerous sabotage acts outnumbered the number of repairs. The acts of sabotage lowered the pressure in the pipe, preventing the water from reaching the outlying settlements, Mivtachim and Nirim. They were compelled to enforce "water rationing' where the members each received a small allowance of water daily.
As a result of this situation the system was changed. The problematic 24 kilometer area between Be'eri and Tze'elim was maintained by the forces of the Palmach units and repair teams from many settlements in the Negev region, twenty four hours a day. The force remained in the area until all the repairs were done and the water tanks in all the settlements were refilled. Only then the force was dispersed and the regular patrols were resumed, until the next operation.
On the 2nd of May the British closed the Imara police station. The members of Tze'elim received information that the Arab policemen had an argument, took their arms and disappeared. The Western Negev Company, commanded by Bren, hurried to take possession of Imara. A problem arose whether to tie down an entire company of the sparse mobile Palmach forces, in the police station. The commander of the 8th Battalion, Haim Bar-Lev, ordered the settlements in his area, to assemble ad-hoc, a company for the specific purpose of holding Imara. A month later, he convinced the members of kibbutz Urim to evacuate their settlement and to settle in Imara. After the inhabitants of Hirbat-el-Pe'er had fled and the Imara police station was conquered, the number of sabotage attacks on the pipeline lessened during the following months.
Two branches of the pipeline, tens of kilometers in length, were laid in the vicinity of the Bedouin population for their use. The pipes were partially exposed in certain places and in others it was enough to dig only a little in order to expose them. One blow with a sharp instrument, or a bullet shot from a gun sufficed to sabotage the water supply. The more points that were damaged in the pipe, the lower the pressure. The end result was that the water did not reach the outlying settlements.
In the eastern branch of the pipeline from Nir-Am to Mishmar Hanegev, the pipe passed through an area of friendly Bedouins (from the El- Huzeil tribe) – the number of sabotage incidents were minimal in that area. However, in the section that ended in Hatzerim and approached Beer-Sheba on the way, there were numerous sabotage incidents and it was, in fact, abandoned.
Hatzerim, Bet Eshel and Nevatim were able to find local solutions to the problem.
The entire length of the western section of the pipeline was sabotaged.
The Imra police station (a mandatory police station where Arabs served as policemen) was situated in the middle section, about 25 kilometers between Be'eri and Tze'elim. In that area the pipeline was frequently sabotaged.
Before the Palmach units were sent to the Negev, the pipeline was guarded by a mobile security unit in a van, manned by guards from the Jewish settlement police. Because of the length of the two branches of the pipeline, the mobile security unit did not succeed in guarding the entire line as required. Several of the first group of Palmach members who were sent to the Negev, joined the Negev settlement police force and manned two additional mobile security vans, one of which was in the base at Gvulot and the other in the Bet Eshel base. The others spread out at different points in the region and sent out patrol squads in the area of the line.
On the 9.12.47, five men and women from the Palmach were killed in the village of Shuat.
On 11.12.47, three Palmach fighters were killed west of Beer Sheba;
On the 13.12.47, five more Palmach fighters were killed in the Tekuma area. The death of fourteen fighters in less than a week was a heavy blow to the defenders of the Negev. As a result, it was decided that the foot squads would not operate during daylight hours and they would only operate in vehicles and in larger forces.
A squad or a platoon that came from Tze'elim or Be'eri, patrolled in trucks or vans along the problematic area during the day. At night they secretly slipped in squads of fighters who laid ambushes and a few hours later they were taken back to the kibbutzim.
The Bedouins began to mine the unpaved roads next to the pipeline and then they proceeded to fire on the vehicles blown up by the mines.
The patrols then began to travel on the sides of the roads and as a result the dusty roads were widened considerably up to 50 meters in width. This decreased their chances of hitting a mine but nevertheless, the casualties mounted. On the 28.12.47, the "Parpar" armored vehicles arrived (these were trucks that were reinforced by a 2.5 c"m width wooden panel sandwiched between two 2-5 m"m width steel panels. (The nickname "Parpar" was given because of the appearance of the armored vehicle when both panels were open for observation purposes). After the 'Parparim' were introduced, there was an improvement in the security of the patrols. Fortunately, the low grade quality of the mines caused only minor injuries on the whole.
Repairing the sabotaged pipes was not an easy task. It was necessary to bring welders and welding apparatus as well as security squads, to the damaged areas.
On the 26.12.47, a group of welders who were repairing sabotage damage opposite the Imara police station were guarded by a Palmach company. The company was attacked from high ground and the battle was conducted on the level plain. A truck and a jeep with two wounded men, hurried to evacuate them to the clinic in kibbutz Gvulot and the company was left stranded without a vehicle in an unprotected area about 15 kilometers from Tze'elim. The men began to retreat in the direction of Tze'elim with the squads covering each other. Armed Bedouin began to stream into the battle area and began to surround them. There were casualties amongst the men and they began to deploy for territorial defense. British trucks arrived at the spot from the Imara police station. They loaded 3 dead bodies and two wounded men on the vehicle and took the fighters by foot to the Imara police station, where they were disarmed.
When the vehicle with the men who were wounded at the beginning of the incident, arrived at Gvulot, the rest of the Palmach company went out in two trucks and a jeep in order to rescue their men. The force was stopped by the British police and brought to Imara and, together with the men who were involved in the battle, were taken to the prison in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. The Western Negev Company of the Palmach was arrested together with all their arms. The following day, after intervention of the authorities, the company was released and returned to the Negev.
In the middle of January 1948, there was a flood in the Shala Wadi, preventing the security patrols of the pipeline from carrying out their patrols for three days, When they resumed their patrols they discovered that 1,700 meters of pipes had been dismantled. The tracks led to Hirbat el Pe'er where the pipes were found buried in the ground;
On the 17.1.48, at dawn, the Western Negev Company that had been reinforced by a force from Be'eri, carried out an attack on the village.
The village was conquered and, in response to the pipes that had been dismantled and stolen from the line, they blew up several houses and a well. The inhabitants of Hirbat-el Pe'er fled, never to return.
The unbearable ease with which the pipeline was sabotaged time and time again, turned the work of repairing the line into a Sisyphean task requiring endless and futile labor – the numerous sabotage acts outnumbered the number of repairs. The acts of sabotage lowered the pressure in the pipe, preventing the water from reaching the outlying settlements, Mivtachim and Nirim. They were compelled to enforce "water rationing' where the members each received a small allowance of water daily.
As a result of this situation the system was changed. The problematic 24 kilometer area between Be'eri and Tze'elim was maintained by the forces of the Palmach units and repair teams from many settlements in the Negev region, twenty four hours a day. The force remained in the area until all the repairs were done and the water tanks in all the settlements were refilled. Only then the force was dispersed and the regular patrols were resumed, until the next operation.
On the 2nd of May the British closed the Imara police station. The members of Tze'elim received information that the Arab policemen had an argument, took their arms and disappeared. The Western Negev Company, commanded by Bren, hurried to take possession of Imara. A problem arose whether to tie down an entire company of the sparse mobile Palmach forces, in the police station. The commander of the 8th Battalion, Haim Bar-Lev, ordered the settlements in his area, to assemble ad-hoc, a company for the specific purpose of holding Imara. A month later, he convinced the members of kibbutz Urim to evacuate their settlement and to settle in Imara. After the inhabitants of Hirbat-el-Pe'er had fled and the Imara police station was conquered, the number of sabotage attacks on the pipeline lessened during the following months.