Preparations
In preparation for the total evacuation of all British forces from the mandate, the British began an evacuation of troops through the port of Haifa in early April. A volunteer police force had been established in preparation of handing over to the United Nations Palestine Commission as the provisional Government of Palestine.
On 17 March 1948 Mohammad bin Hammad Al Huneiti, commander of the town's Arab militia, was killed in an ambush of a convoy bringing 15 tons of arms and explosives. His death left his followers demoralised. According to Jon Kimche the Haganah had a highly placed informer and were able intercept nine of eleven convoys into Haifa.
The Arab garrison for the Palestinian Arab areas of the city was commanded by Captain Amin Izz al-Din who had been appointed by the Arab Liberation Army's (ALA) military committee on the 27 March in Damascus. Through the next month his original force of 450 was depleted by desertion until it was no longer a fighting force.
The British had previously controlled the city and maintained a buffer between the Jewish and Arab populations. On the same day as the fall of Tiberias 18 April 1948, Major-General Hugh Stockwell, British Commanding Officer, Northern sector, Haifa, summoned Harry Beilin, the Jewish Agency liaison officer to the British Army, to his headquarters. Stockwell informed Beilin of his intention to immediately start to evacuate the British forces from the borders and no-man's-land zones in Haifa and that the evacuation would be completed by the 20 April. The original British Government intentions had been to evacuate Palestine gradually using Haifa as the embarkation port from south to north of Palestine, to be completed by mid May. The Haganah saw this as an opportunity and quickly prepared a plan for a 3-pronged attack on the Arab neighborhoods of Wadi Nisnas, Wadi Salib and Khalisa.
The German Colony at Waldheim and Bethlehem had been confined until 18 April 1948 when Haganah forces attacked the area killing two un-armed internees and wounding four others and occupying the German Colony, the internees then requested evacuation to Australia. The 270–300 internees were evacuated to Egypt on 20 April for transit to Australia as a matter of urgency. The remaining 50 Templers emigrated after the establishment of the State of Israel.
On 20 April Captain Amin Bey Izz al-Din and Beilin were summoned to the British HQ and were advised of the British intention to withdraw as per the previous meeting where only Beilin and Stockwell had attended on the 18 April. Izz al-Din promptly left for Damascus to report to the Military Committee of the ALA and handed over command to Yunnis Naffa, a Palestinian sanitary engineer. The departure of Izz al-Din led to demoralisation and on 21 April prominent members of the Haifa NC (Hakim Khalil and Ahmad Bay Khalil) evacuated.
The sudden British deployment caused the Carmeli commanders to re-work the details of the operation (previously a plan called Operation Misparayim or Operation Scissors) and the re-worked plan was named Mivtza Bi'ur Hametz (Operation Passover Cleaning).
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Haifa (1948)
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