יומנים > יומן - מלא 08/08/1948
Sunday, August 8, 1948
Spoke with Ya'akov [Dori] about the Staff, assistants, appointments, etc.
- Torczyner [Prof. Naftali Tur-Sinai], Eisenstadt [Prof. Shmuel Eisenstadt], and someone else - they're requesting a budget for a language academy - P£ 20,000 per year. This should be supported. Incidentally, I asked them to give me a Hebrew term for private [military rank]. The word tura'i [private] doesn't appeal to me.
- Rabbi Fishman [Maimon] came to see me. The kashrut supervisor will be someone from the Aguda [Agudas Israel], Rabbi Grodzinski (?). He's requesting a release [from military service] for Yisrael Sobol, 32 years old, knows law, manages the rabbinical judicial department (wasn't summoned to appear before the Committee of Three [for releases]), and Shmuel Zucker [sp.], the only tefillin maker in Tel Aviv. I promised a release for the second, and as to the first - the Committee of Three will decide.
- Elimelech Avner [commander of the Military Government] - visited all the sites and spoke with the [military] staff. The objective in my letter to him was defined precisely. Avner's staff needs twenty men (??) - a deputy, administrative officers (3-4), transcribers, adjutancy, a planning and operations unit, supervisory officer, legal advisor, purchasing department, police advisor to organize a police and oversee it, medical officer, economics and employment officer, security officer, propaganda and hasbara [explanation, public relations] officer, engineering advisor, and financial expert to oversee municipalities. I think this apparatus is inflated. Currently 2,400 soldiers are engaged. Avner wants them to be permanent rather than have turnover, as currently practiced. This corps will be trained, will enter with the combat forces, and the latter will leave immediately [rather than remain engaged in the occupied settlement]. He met with [Bechor] Sheetrit [minister of police and minorities] and his advisors ([Israel] Shochat, [Yehuda] Burla, [Gad] Meknes). Met with [Dov] Shafrir and they formulated principles for the preservation of property.
How will you enlist the military force? From the garrison force. This is right. He complains that [his] appointment has not yet been announced, he doesn't have an office.
- Meeting with [Eliezer] Kaplan, [Moshe] Shapira, and Michael [Michael] from the Personnel Department - about immigrants and their enlistment. The difficulty lies with heads of families. They cannot be enlisted until after they have been housed outside of a bet ''olim [temporary immigrant accommodation]. Housing requires means. There are 10,000 persons in batei ''olim [plural of bet ''olim], just one month costs P£ 100,000 for food and clothing. Getting 10,000 [people] out of batei ''olim requires about half a million: P£ 20-30 for the temporary housing of a family, initial arrangements (clothing, bed, and the like) P£ 24. Minimum per person P£ 50, but the average is P£ 120 per person.
After the truce [began] 3 ships arrived: Kedma (July 28, 1948) 441 persons, Kaf Tammuz - 2,105, Cazerta (August 3, 1948) 360, in total 2,906. Those among them subject to conscription: 799 bachelors, 490 married men, in total 1,289 (44%). Women subject to conscription 325 (11%); not subject to conscription 1,292 (45%). Entered Intake 302, under UN supervision 460.
We decided to prioritize removal from batei ''olim - for conscripts; housing requires raising funds for income for the soldier's family - Kaplan, Shapira, and Shkolnik [Levi Eshkol] will work out the details. We agreed to send a military delegation, with a representative from the Ministry of Aliya, to bring immigrant recruits from Western Europe. According to [Yehuda] Ben-David we can bring 8,000 young immigrant recruits, not necessarily heads of families.
- Government meeting in the afternoon.
- In the evening a farewell concert by [the conductor] Izler Solomon.