Articles - The Battle of Karameh (Dignity) | The first Arab victory over the enemy

The battle took place on 21/3/1968 when forces from the Zionist occupation army, consisting of four brigades, artillery units, and four squadrons of fighter planes and helicopters, with 15,000 soldiers, launched a wide-ranging attack on the East Bank of the Jordan River.

The Zionist forces began their attack at half past five on four axes:

Al-Ardiyyah axis.

Wadi Shuaib axis.

Suweima axis.

Al-Safi axis.

However, the main battles actually took place on the first three axes.

The Israeli forces encountered fierce resistance from Palestinian fedayeen and Jordanian army units, reaching its peak at ten o'clock.

At eleven thirty, due to their losses, the Zionist forces requested a ceasefire from General Odd Bull (the chief of the international observers), and the last occupying soldiers withdrew at half past eight in the evening.

The battle lasted for 15 hours, during which the Zionist army lost 250 soldiers and had 450 wounded, while the Palestinian and Jordanian side suffered around 150 martyrs and 200 wounded. The Zionist army also left behind large numbers of destroyed vehicles and military equipment, failing to achieve its objectives.

This battle served as a catalyst for the Palestinian people to continue their resistance, as thousands of Palestinian and Arab youths volunteered to join the ranks of the Palestinian resistance and the Fatah movement.

The late President Yasser Arafat said of the battle: "The Battle of Karameh constituted a turning point between despair and hope, and a turning point in the Arab struggle history, and a visa for the Palestinian issue to its Arab and international depth."

The resistance is ongoing.

Martyrs of the Battle of Karameh.

One of the most beautiful poems about The Battle of Karameh (Dignity):

Oh, those standing on the edge of the massacre,

Brandish your weapons,

Death fell, and the heart broke like prayer beads,

And blood flowed above the scarf,

Houses became tombs,

Prisons became tombs,

And the horizon became a tomb,

So raise your weapons,

And follow me,

I am the regret of tomorrow and yesterday,

I saw two bones and a skull,

So rise today, O Jordan,

The story of our mighty gathering

Above your northern mountains,

In the valleys,

Breaking the tank's thorn,

Overpowering the cunning of the pilot,

Striking the soldiers of "Israel,"

Announcing it to the universe,

All the universe,

Here we are, the fedayeen.

We came from Palestine that was usurped,

We remained in Palestine that was usurped,

We carried the torch of revolution,

And we will not turn back,

We will not turn back,

Except when our land becomes free...

Abdul Rahman Ghaneim, 1968