Plan Dalet

Plan Dalet
	Part of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
Date	April–May 1948
Location	Mandatory Palestine

Plan Dalet (Hebrew: תוכנית ד', Tokhnit dalet "Plan D") was a Zionist military plan executed in the civil war phase of the 1948 Palestine war for the conquest of territory in Mandatory Palestine in preparation for the establishment of a Jewish state.^[1] The plan was requested by the Jewish Agency leader and later first prime minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion, and developed by the Haganah and finalized on March 10, 1948. Historians describe Plan Dalet, in which Zionist forces shifted to an offensive strategy, as the beginning of a new phase in the 1948 Palestine war.^[2]^[3]

The plan was a set of guidelines to take control of Mandatory Palestine, declare a Jewish state, and defend its borders and people, including the Jewish population outside of the borders, "before, and in anticipation of" the invasion by regular Arab armies.^[4]^[5]^{[qt 1]}^[6]^[7]^[8] Plan Dalet specifically included gaining control of areas wherever Yishuv populations existed, including those outside the borders of the Jewish state.^[9]

This strategy is subject to controversy, with some historians characterizing it as defensive, while others assert that it was an integral part of a planned strategy for the expulsion, sometimes called an ethnic cleansing, of the area's native inhabitants.^[10]

^ Khalidi, Walid (1 October 1988). "Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine". Journal of Palestine Studies. 18 (1): 4–19. doi:10.2307/2537591. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2537591. 'Plan Dalet' or 'Plan D' was the name given by the Zionist High Command to the general plan for military operations within the framework of which the Zionists launched successive offensives in April and early May 1948 in various parts of Palestine. These offensives, which entailed the destruction of the Palestinian Arab community and the expulsion and pauperization of the bulk of the Palestine Arabs, were calculated to achieve the military fait accompli upon which the state of Israel was to be based.
^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ David Tal (2004). War in Palestine, 1948: strategy and diplomacy. Psychology Press. pp. 165–. ISBN 9780203499542.
^ Benny Morris. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Benny Morris, Cambridge University Press, pg 155.
^ MidEast Web, Plan Daleth (Plan D)
^ Yoav Gelber (January 2006). Palestine, 1948: war, escape and the emergence of the Palestinian refugee problem. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-1-84519-075-0. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
^ Ten years of research into the 1947-49 war - The expulsion of the Palestinians re-examined. By Dominique Vidal. Le Monde diplomatique. December 1997.
^ Robbie Sabel, [’https://www.google.com/books/edition/International_Law_and_the_Arab_Israeli_C/f_xpEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbp International Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,] Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-1-108-80798-2 2022 p.131:'The objective of this plan is 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 Jewish state in the Partition Plan) against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.’ .'
^ Morris 2008 "The essence of the plan was the clearing of hostile and potentially hostile forces out of the interior of the territory of the prospective Jewish State, establishing territorial continuity between the major concentrations of Jewish population and securing the future State's borders before, and in anticipation of, the invasion [by Arab states]."

Cite error: There are <ref group=qt> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=qt}} template (see the help page).

[1] Khalidi, Walid (1 October 1988). "Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine". Journal of Palestine Studies. 18 (1): 4–19. doi:10.2307/2537591. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2537591. 'Plan Dalet' or 'Plan D' was the name given by the Zionist High Command to the general plan for military operations within the framework of which the Zionists launched successive offensives in April and early May 1948 in various parts of Palestine. These offensives, which entailed the destruction of the Palestinian Arab community and the expulsion and pauperization of the bulk of the Palestine Arabs, were calculated to achieve the military fait accompli upon which the state of Israel was to be based.

[:3-2] Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:1-3] Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Tal-4] David Tal (2004). War in Palestine, 1948: strategy and diplomacy. Psychology Press. pp. 165–. ISBN 9780203499542.

[Morris.The_Birth_of_the_Palestinian_Refugee_Problem_Revisited-5] Benny Morris. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Benny Morris, Cambridge University Press, pg 155.

[MEW-7] MidEast Web, Plan Daleth (Plan D)

[Gelber2006-8] Yoav Gelber (January 2006). Palestine, 1948: war, escape and the emergence of the Palestinian refugee problem. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-1-84519-075-0. Retrieved 14 April 2011.

[Diplo-9] Ten years of research into the 1947-49 war - The expulsion of the Palestinians re-examined. By Dominique Vidal. Le Monde diplomatique. December 1997.

[10] Robbie Sabel, [’https://www.google.com/books/edition/International_Law_and_the_Arab_Israeli_C/f_xpEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbp International Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,] Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-1-108-80798-2 2022 p.131:'The objective of this plan is 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 Jewish state in the Partition Plan) against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.’ .'

[11] Morris 2008 "The essence of the plan was the clearing of hostile and potentially hostile forces out of the interior of the territory of the prospective Jewish State, establishing territorial continuity between the major concentrations of Jewish population and securing the future State's borders before, and in anticipation of, the invasion [by Arab states]."

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