 Despite assaulting Latrun on five separate occasions Israel was ultimately unable to capture Latrun , and it remained under Jordanian control until the Six @-@ Day War . The battles were so decisive that the Israelis decided to construct a bypass surrounding Latrun so as to allow vehicular movement between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem , thus avoiding the main road . Regardless , during the Battle for Jerusalem , the Jewish population of Jerusalem could still be supplied by a new road , named the " Burma Road " , that bypassed Latrun and was suitable for convoys . The Battle of Latrun left its imprint on the Israeli collective imagination and constitutes part of the " founding myth " of the Jewish State . The attacks cost the lives of 168 Israeli soldiers , but some accounts inflated this number to as many as 2 @,@ 000 . The combat at Latrun also carries a symbolic significance because of the participation of Holocaust survivors . 
