יומנים > יומן - מלא 05/11/1948

Friday, November 5, 1948

I edited my remarks to the commanders [from the previous day, at the platoon commanders' course graduation ceremony] for publication, under the title "To the Army's Commanders."

       - In the evening Staff meeting. Earlier the three of us had conferred - Ya'akov [Dori], Yigael [Yadin], and I regarding the next military moves. The Security Council position and [the way] America [is] following after the London Foreign Office caused me to doubt the plan for the operation against the Triangle. From a military perspective, clearly the best way to liberate Jerusalem and the corridor is a large-scale attack on the Triangle specifically in its northern portion - Tubas from the east, Jenin and Umm al-Fahm from the north, Tulkarm from the west.

       However, for such action to succeed and bring the desired results in Jerusalem - the Legion fleeing - we need to have no limits on time. This is in doubt, and it's possible that we'd have to suspend the operation before long, while the Legion may have received Iraqi assistance in increasing the pressure on Jerusalem. Therefore it seems to me that we should check whether it might not be possible to operate in the Jerusalem surroundings in a shorter amount of time - in the direction of Ramallah on one side, and in the direction of Bethlehem on the other. In Yigael's opinion this requires 4-5 brigades. Towards this end there's the Harel Brigade, Tel Aviv [Kiriati] Brigade, Moshe [Dayan]'s brigade in Jerusalem [Etsiyyoni]. It's also possible to bring Brigade Seven and Brigade Eight - if the "pocket" in the Negev is cleared.

       Under this plan our north would be in a strictly defensive position, and Alexandroni would handle the western front [of Samaria].

       The fall of the "pocket" - if it comes - would also free up forces in the south. I therefore issued instructions to the Air Force to bomb Faluja, and this was carried out successfully shortly before the evening.

       [We] need to wait for a reaction from Washington - [to see] how much Truman stands behind the delegation in Paris and the actual significance of the Security Council resolution.

       We also discussed a sabotage action against weapons procurement by the enemy in Europe. For now the person who can head such an action is not apparent.

       At a full meeting of the Staff we discussed the report by [Ephraim] Ben-Artzi, [Levi] Eshkol, and [Yosef] Shapira.