10041 Yehuda Division 720 1978-2004

The Judah Division (Division 720) was a reserve and regular security division in the IDF, which operated from 1978 to 2004.

History

The division was established in 1978. In 1983, it moved to the Anatot camp northeast of Jerusalem. During its years of existence, several brigades were subordinated to the division: regional brigades – the Baka Brigade and the Hamakim Brigade, reserve infantry brigades – the Jerusalem Brigade, the 408th Brigade and the 576th Reserve Armored Brigade, the 218th Artillery Division, and the division also had a combat engineering battalion and a target intelligence unit.

In Operation ” Homat Magen ” (Defensive Shield) in 2002, the division was tasked with mobilizing reserve forces, taking control of the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Yatta, Dura, Dahariya and the rural areas in the Judea and Etzion sector, and assuming responsibility for the sector. The division’s forces participated in the prolonged siege of the Church of the Nativity, where Palestinian militants had barricaded themselves.

Following the operation, the division became the second BATASH  division (current security) in the West Bank, along with the Judea and Samaria Division, and subordinated to it were regular forces, including forces from the Paratroopers Brigade, the Nahal Brigade, and the Golani Brigade, as well as regional brigades: the Yehuda Brigade and the Etzion Brigade. Notable events during its years of operation as a BATASH  division were the attack on the ” Zir Hamitpalelim” (Prayer Route),(Hebron) in which 12 Israelis were killed, including the Yehuda Brigade Commander Dror Weinberg, the killing of two Israeli security guards in a two-sided shooting incident, and the shooting attack at the “Zomet Hakvasim” (Lamb Janction)

in which 3 soldiers were killed. In May 2003, the division ceased to function as a BATASH division and returned to being a reserve division until its disbandment in 2004. As of 2013, the formation became a command center (control center) under the ” Ogdat Haplada” (Steel Formation) (Division 162).