Operation Matateh

Operation Broom) was a Haganah offensive launched ten days before the end of the British Mandate in Palestine.

The 1942 edition of Steimatzky's "Palestine Guide" describes Hula district as follows: "The road passes through several small Arab settlements.

"[1]In a report to Haganah General Staff, dated 22 April 1948, Allon recommended: "an attempt to clear the beduins encamped between the Jordan, and Jubb Yusuf and the Sea of Galilee".

"[6] A cable to the British Foreign Office, dated 4 May, quoted Syrian sources that 2,000 refugees had crossed the border.

According to Yigal Allon, Operation Broom had a "tremendous psychological impact" on the population of Safed and of the Hula Valley to the north.

1944 map showing three of the Bedouin areas cleared during Operation Matateh (Samakiya, Shananlina and Zanghariyya).