In mid-October 1948, the Har’el Brigade published a combat ordinance, which read: "The enemy is planning to cut-off the well-springs of immigration and [Jewish] settlement, to build a nest of war conspiracies against us and against all those who love peace in the world, to cut-off from Israel the Negev; to inflict harm to the capital, the center of yearnings of the generations of Israel; to subjugate the Hebrew element of Jerusalem; to dismantle Jewish industry; to block-off the sea; to deny the independence of Haifa and its port.

[3] In a written dispatch, "Raanana" had informed Palmach-Harel headquarters responsible for the central front: "In all these last few days, the enemy has not ceased from his own operations in this sector [of the country].

Nevertheless, in spite of being denied, these positions were still taken by force when operations began, the Har’el Brigade continuously moving and extending the border of Jewish hegemony as far as Wādi Surar (Nahal Sorek), where it was also deemed necessary to establish a military outpost beyond its south bank.

[3] In the meantime, Palmach-Harel headquarters continued to make suggestions to the higher military echelon on ways in which the Jerusalem Corridor could be better secured by extending its control over other vital areas.

[5] The Brigade was initially supposed to take-up a position on a mountain in the vicinity of the Arab village, Ḥousan, and what was then known as "the Fork" (now, Tzur Hadassa),[5] and to be on stand-by for further movement, if called for, in the direction of Gush-Etzion, Hebron, Bayt Jala and Bethlehem.

[5] Hostilities began on 15 October 1948, when Israeli troops assigned to Operation Yoav took the offensive to the south, opposite Egyptian army positions in the northern Negev.

The Har’el Brigade, stationed further north, remained inactive for four days, a decision taken by the IDF's General Staff and which, for political reasons, wanted to see first whether or not the Jordanian Arab Legion would react.

[5] Among the considerations for permitting the Brigade to start its offensive was the fact that the Arab Legion had not intervened in Israeli military operations in the northern Negev, while there was also some concern that the United Nations Security Council might call for a cease-fire on 19 October.

[6] With the war raging in the south between Israeli soldiers assigned to Operation Yoav and Egyptian forces, the Har’el Brigade set out in its mission with two objectives in mind, namely, extension of Jewish control over the Jerusalem Corridor by cutting-off pockets of resistance, viz.

[8][10] From there, the Brigade proceeded to climb higher ground until it reached the crest of the mountain range where it received orders to arrange for the military occupation and capture of Dayr al-Hawa (site of the present-day Nes Harim), a village perched at an elevation of some 637 meters above sea-level.

"[11] The people of the neighboring Arab village, Allar (site of the present-day Moshav Mata), upon hearing the sound of gunfire from the direction of Dayr al-Hawa, were gripped with fear and trepidation.

When they were told that some of the residents in Dayr al-Hawa had been killed, out of concern for their own safety, the villagers took flight, taking with them provisions and bedding material for their needs, and the last of that summer's harvest from their fields (wheat and lentils), fleeing by lorry to al-Khader, whence they found temporary shelter in caves around Bayt Jala, before eventually settling in Dheisheh Camp.

[citation needed] Afterwards, on 20 October, a much smaller force from the Fifth Battalion broke-away and travelled with a battle corps of the 10th Armored Brigade on the Bayt Jibrin highway and captured Beit Jimal.

At night, a unit from the Fifth Battalion raided the village of Zakariyya (site of the present-day Zekharia), which action them opened the Elah Valley road to al-Khader (today, regional highway 375).

[11] OC Central Command, General Zvi Ayalon, passed these instructions to Joseph Tabenkin, demanding that all hostilities end immediately, and that they return to the "Forked Junction" (today, Tzur Hadassah), 4-6 kilometers from Bayt Jala and 6.2 miles (10 km) from Bethlehem.

[13] The result of the campaign to expand the Jerusalem Corridor as far as the western foothills of the Judean mountains, freeing it from pockets of resistance, helped, in the final analysis, to determine the border of Israel with Jordan during the 1949 Armistice Agreement.