יומנים > יומן - מלא 05/05/1948

May 5, 1948 Amos [Ben-Gurion] was summoned to [William V.] Fuller [Commissioner of Lydda District] yesterday. He wants to assure the wellbeing of Jaffa even after May 15 and proposes that Jaffa be declared a border town. In Amos's opinion, maybe 5,000 Arabs remain in Jaffa. I recommended answering that we'll honor our armistice with Jaffa even after May 15 if the Arabs don't attack, but we cannot make any commitment now about the period following the annulment of the Mandate. - Two days ago, Dr. Moussa spoke with Dr. Budrusian of Ramle [??] and reported that "the situation is worsening with each passing day. Thirty-eight wounded remain and I don't know what to do with them. The mayor and the municipal councilors have fled. 2,000-3,000 people remain in Jaffa. There's no food in the city; the shops are closed. We're getting by on the food that you're sending us." Muhammad Ali al-Nassur of Ramle phoned an Egyptian medical mission in Jaffa and said: we can't cook, wash our clothes, and obtain water. It pertains to 300 wounded and ill. I called the fuel companies in Tulkarm and Kalkilya-and got nothing. The Egyptian doctor in Jaffa said the hospital is closed and the municipality is about to be closed, too. Everyone's running away. Someone from Ramle answered: it's like that with us, too. Yesterday, ill and wounded people were brought in and we turned them away for lack of room. - The Mayor of Lod spoke with Dr. Heykal [the Mayor of] Jaffa: how are things with you?-very bad. Look, do you have forces?-What forces? There's nothing! But isn't there lots of army in Jaffa?-Yes, British army, and this army saved the day; it saved us from utter destruction. The situation is very bleak. The man from Lod: 350-400 Arabs, Yemenites and Egyptians, reached us from Jaffa. Heykal: They're dogs. Take their weapons from them. They fled after they got their salaries. The man from Lod: Things are very bad not just in Jaffa but in the entire area. With us, too, lots of people are fleeing and the situation is very grim. - [David] Remez, Bar-Kochba [Meirovitz], and [Dr. Naftali] Wydra. The British partners in the [SS] Kedma want to dissolve the partnership (their share in it is P£ 300,000; they agree to accept P£ 150,000 now and the rest over five years). The [Egyptian shipping company] Khedevial [Mail] Line is prepared to buy the ship for half a million Palestine pounds. [Emanuel] Tzur (of the Aviron company) delivered a (ten-seat) Rapid [aircraft] from Britain and two British merchantmen. The piece costs P£ 7,000. According to Tzur, additional [Rapids] and also Dakotas can be obtained. The manager of the railroad and the port in Haifa handed both facilities to the municipality. The municipality is willing to approve Amos Landman, [Harry] Stevens, and [Ya'akov] Caspi as managers of the civilian part of the port. [David] Remez ["Minister" of Posts in the provisional government] proposes carrying [flying] 150 kilograms of mail to Jerusalem over a one-week period. - Pozner cabled to Zagagi [Treasurer of the Jewish Agency], who gave Ehud $ 322,000 (April 29, 1948). There's more for B.G.'s [defense] needs, about a million, but he has a 4 million debt (?). - On May 3, 1948, this cable was intercepted from the commander of aviation in Palestine, O'Doc (?): "Tempest[s] [British warplanes] are ready. Things are calming down. I don't need naval air assistance. We have enough aircraft for any event. We agree with the pace of the army's intervention. He (who?) doesn't think we'll have to intervene in Jaffa unless there's a serious disruption of the peace." [Background-British intervention in Jaffa after the IZL operation.] - I invited [Giora] Josephtal [Head of the Immigration Department]. He has 2,000 able-bodied people from immigrant houses. I asked him to send to Haifa everyone who's needed for the port, the railroad, etc. He said he'd already sent 300. I asked: Why aren't they inducting everyone?-He said that people who are going to the kibbutzim aren't being inducted. - [General] Staff [meeting]. Yigael [Yadin] reported on the situation in the Etsiyyon Bloc. [There was] a clash with the Legion and with British forces. It's not clear who started it. Eleven were killed, more than twenty wounded. - Yigael [Yadin], Yitzhak [Sadeh], Eliahu Cohen [Ben-Hur], Yosef R. [Avidar], Lehrer [Moshe Zadok] came as a delegation. Yigael and Zvi [Ayalon] are griping about the dismissal of the commander and so on. When I looked into it, it turned out that the problem is the lack of a Chief of General Staff. Eliahu Cohen is leaning toward threatening to resign. I stated that it's his right and someone else will be appointed in his place. Yigael suggested that I invite Yisrael to serve as Chief of General Staff for a week-I agreed provided he serve as a stand-in for the Chief of General Staff and not as Chief of National Headquarters-not even temporarily. - Vilenchuk: We can deliver ten PIATs per week and 300 shells per day. Soon they'll be up to a thousand shells per day. On May 15 there will be 50 British-type flamethrowers (50-60 meters) and by May 20 there will be 100 of the local type (same range). The PIAT industry depends on the coils that S[asha] Goldberg is flying to England to obtain. I asked about the Davidka [mortar]. Vilenchuk doesn't know. Someone assigned [their manufacture] to Solel Boneh (?!). His budget for May is P£ 309,895, chemical production 118,640 (together 428,535). He demands 50,000 right now. I phoned Zabrasky-he doesn't have even 50,000 mils. A lovely situation at this time! - The Western Galilee delegation-they've been cut off for two years [sic-two months] and a half. The latest reports: oil and bread have run out. A convoy with enough food for three months was promised. It didn't come. They loaded the vehicles in Haifa-it was called off, and instead they were going to send food in aircraft. In their opinion, you can't keep an economy going that way, although maybe people you can. They want the children to be removed. How? Turn to the army or clear the way. Contact between [the kibbutzim] Eylon and Hanita has also been cut off. In Eylon, there are seven wounded, two of whom have died. There's a doctor-but a surgeon was needed. [They] proposed a convoy [that would set out] from Nahariya-the Staff rejected it. In their opinion, one battalion from Nahariya would have sufficed [to break through a path for the convoy]. Water pumps-far from the outpost, in the wadi. It might become Yehiam. (At Yehiam there are 130 people.) They're demanding evacuation of the children. They're asking what's going to be after May 15. Will a Lebanese force come? [Yosef] Baratz adds: at Hanita they've already slaughtered all the chickens due to lack of feed for them. Soap is needed. Yigael [Yadin] proposes: put pressure on Acre so they'll arrange [passage] of a convoy. In the meantime, an airlift. Instruct Carmeli [Moshe Zelicki-Carmel] to look into the possibility of a convoy. - A second delegation from the Jordan Valley. The Arab villages have emptied out. In Tsemah there isn't a single Arab-and Tanhum [Tanfilov, from Deganya] has become the governor of Tsemah. [Kibbutz] Ma'agan is a candidate for settling at Samara. They want to establish Deweir-next to a training group that used to be at Ramat Yohanan (graduates of the Mikve [Yisrael] and Kadoorie agriculture schools). They were inducted into Battalion 4 [of the Golani Brigade] in Upper Galilee and they need to be released for settlement activity. Come on! - Alon [Yehuda Arazi] tells Yisrael Galili that a vehicle is setting out today with five 65 mm. cannon, 50 thousand shells for them, 10,000 shells for the 75 mm, 200 [French] Chauchat machine guns, 3 million rounds for them, 1 million 8 mm [rounds] for Hotchkiss machine [guns], and some more. A few days ago, one 20 mm cannon with shells, 18 Bren guns 1½ million 9 mm rounds, 500 reserve barrels for MG [machine guns], [and] ¾ million miscellaneous rounds were received from Munya [Mardor]. - I demanded that Yisrael [Galili] carry on because the Staff people explained to me that he's been acting as Chief of General Staff, and he has to keep going a little longer until things fall into place. He presented a condition: I should name him Chief of National Headquarters for a while. I told him that this position has been eliminated and I'm not authorized to reinstate it. I proposed a joint working arrangement in all matters; again he presented a condition: that he be positioned between me and the Chief of General Staff. I said it was out of the question. Matters in the "Organization" aren't okay, and only with a suitable and normal constitution will I be able, perhaps, to fix the main [problems] or some of them. - Shkolnik [Eshkol] suggests that since Shevah Slavin is going to finish producing 12,000 Stens in another 2-3 weeks and we don't need so many, we should sell 3,000 to individuals, bring in P£ 120,000, and invest the money in industrial raw materials. I agreed to do it.