 In 1948 , Latrun comprised a detention camp and a fortified police station occupied by the British , a Trappist monastery , and several Arab villages : Latrun , Imwas , Dayr Ayyub and Bayt Nuba . During the civil war , after the death of Abd al @-@ Qadir al @-@ Husayni , the forces of the Arab Liberation Army positioned themselves around the police fort and the surrounding villages , to the indifference of the British . They regularly attacked supply convoys heading for Jerusalem . At that time , neither the Israeli nor Jordanian military staffs had prepared for the strategic importance of the place . 
