Sha’ar HaGai (Bab el-Wad in Arabic) is the narrow mountain pass through which the road from Tel Aviv climbs to Jerusalem. In 1948, during the War of Independence, this pass became a death trap. Arab forces held the heights on both sides and ambushed the convoys trying to bring food, water, and ammunition to the besieged Jewish population of Jerusalem. Dozens of armored trucks were destroyed, their drivers and passengers killed, and Jerusalem came close to starvation.
Convoys
The convoys to Jerusalem were among the most desperate operations of the 1948 war. Trucks were improvised with steel plates for armor, drivers volunteered knowing they might not return, and the loads they carried, flour, fuel, weapons, were the difference between survival and surrender for 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem. Many convoys were ambushed in the narrow defile of Sha’ar HaGai, where the road runs through a steep valley with no room to maneuver.
Memorials
Today, the rusted hulks of armored trucks from the 1948 convoys line the side of the highway as you ascend toward Jerusalem. Each truck is painted and preserved where it was hit, a memorial to the drivers and fighters who died trying to keep Jerusalem alive. The sight of these ruined vehicles, passed by thousands of cars every day on the modern highway, is one of the most powerful roadside memorials in the world.
Song
The Hebrew song “Bab el-Wad” by Haim Gouri, written in 1948, is one of the most famous songs of the War of Independence: “Here I will not tell you of the gardens and the spring / I will only tell you about them, who paved this road.” The song is taught in every Israeli school and is still sung at memorial ceremonies.
National Park
In recent years, a national park has been developed at Sha’ar HaGai, with interactive exhibits and installations that bring the story of the 1948 convoys to life. The park uses audio recordings, personal testimonies, and physical recreations to immerse visitors in the experience of the drivers and fighters who ran the gauntlet of the pass. The combination of the original landscape, the preserved trucks along the highway, and the new interactive experiences makes Sha’ar HaGai one of the most powerful War of Independence sites in the country.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Sha’ar HaGai is passed on every drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Hoshen Tours tells the story of the convoys and stops at the memorial trucks alongside Latrun and the Burma Road.