Jerusalem thumb|300px|upright=1.8|Abdullah el-Tell and Moshe Dayan reach cease-fire agreement, Jerusalem, 30 November 1948 On 23 July 1948, on David Ben-Gurion's insistence over General Staff opposition, Dayan was appointed military commander of Jewish-controlled areas of Jerusalem.Story of my Life pp. 110, 106–111, 115–120, 122. In this post, he launched two military offensives. Both were night-time operations and both failed. On 17 August, he sent two companies to attempt to occupy the hillsides around Government House, but they retreated suffering casualties.Teveth. Pages 193,194. On the night of 20 October 1948, to coincide with the end of Operation Yoav further south, Operation Wine Press was launched. Its objective was to capture Bethlehem via Beit Jala. Six companies set out but were pinned down by machine-gun fire in the wadi below Beit Jala and were forced to withdraw.Teveth. pp. 197–199.
Jerusalem thumb|300px|upright=1.8|Abdullah el-Tell and Moshe Dayan reach cease-fire agreement, Jerusalem, 30 November 1948 On 23 July 1948, on David Ben-Gurion's insistence over General Staff opposition, Dayan was appointed military commander of Jewish-controlled areas of Jerusalem.Story of my Life pp 110, 106–111, 115–120, 122. In this post, he launched two military offensives. Both were night-time operations and both failed. On 17 August, he sent two companies to attempt to occupy the hillsides around Government House, but they retreated suffering casualties.Teveth. Pages 193,194. On the night of 20 October 1948, to coincide with the end of Operation Yoav further south, Operation Wine Press was launched. Its objective was to capture Bethlehem via Beit Jala. Six c.ompanies set out but were pinned down by machine-gun fire in the wadi below Beit Jala and were forced to withdraw.Teveth. pp. 197–199.