יומנים > יומן - מלא 03/05/1948

May 3, 1948 In late April, an 850-ton vessel set sail for us: 28,000 helmets, fully equipped belts for 15 thousand, partially equipped belts for 10 thousand, 2,500 tents and miscellaneous. A second ship will set out in 4-5 days' time. - I sent the Staff and National Headquarters an order doing away with the role of Chief of National Headquarters. I spoke with Yisrael [Galili] about his work going forward. He says he hasn't managed to produce a written description of his job. He's willing to deal with procurement. I ruled that out because he's not a procurement person. He asked what I propose. I answered: like Berl [Katznelson] in editing the newspaper [Davar], there was an editorial board but he was the editor. The manager [minister] of defense will have direct contact with the Chief of General Staff and only he will give him orders. There will be a defense administration; apart from the manager there will be three members (if needs change, their number would fall or rise), one for personnel, one for equipment and supplies, and one for operations. The last-mentioned will be a [military] expert. The other two-not necessarily. They'll act like a board and we'll discuss matters together. I envision its operation as roughly the way we did it when the work began: a meeting of the Chief of General Staff, Yisrael, Yohanan [Ratner], and me, in which we worked out and determined everything, but instead of a weekly meeting we'll have to have a daily meeting now. If a decision is needed-the manager of defense will decide within the framework of the decisions of the yod-gimmel. Yisrael said that he'd like to consult with Yitzhak [Tabenkin] and will give me an answer promptly. I said I've got a meeting with the yod-gimmel this afternoon and I'll have to know his answer before. - Liuba Gukovsky of Yagour came from Cyprus a few days ago. There's agitation among the young, those aged 17-35. There are 5,000 men. About two thousand received initial training. The older ones are willing to wait a little longer. They proposed that hundreds of men set out in tunnels and disperse in Cyprus, go to the port and the ships, and also make an attempt to immigrate there, maybe in one of the "Pans" [sister ships: the SS Kibbutz Galuyot, originally the Pan York, and the SS Independence, originally the Pan Crescent]. In all, there are 26,550 people in Cyprus. No babies, 1,500 children up to age 15. According to Yehoshua Liebner (Hashomer Hatzair, a representative of the Joint Distribution Committee), there are 20,532 people: 1,015 Hashomer Hatzair, 1,115 Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 1,024 Hever Hakevutsot, 2,721 Hanoar Hazioni, 327 Mizrachi, 351 moshavim, 137 Aguda, 452 Tsahar [Revisionists]. [They join relatives 2,116, for induction 2,239. Childless families 5,210, families with children 4,303, bachelors 642, unmarried women 1,285. The people in the winter camp only (5287 individuals) are divided as follows: up to age four 91 m[ales] 106 f[emales], age 5-14: 443 m, 452 f. 15-18-829 m, 858 f., 19-35: 4775 m., 3301 f., 36 and up-2325 m., 2107 f., total 8463 m., 6824 f. Party affiliation: Mapai 1348 f. [m.?], 1571 f., Hashomer Hatzair 1292 m, 1043 f., Dror 1078 m. 782 f., G[eneral] Z[ionists] 1306 m., 1136 f. Tsahar 1063 m. 665 f., Mizrachi 925, , 921 f. Aguda 629 m. 564 f., P[artisans] S[oldiers] P[ioneers] 167 m., 97f. Nonpartisan 56 m., 35 f.-total 8463 m., 6824 f. By countries of origin: Poland 3922, Romania 9201, Czechoslovakia 831, the rest are from Hungary (400), Bulgaria 296, etc. - Cable from Shaul [Avigur]: by Pozner's reckoning, Alon [Yehuda Arazi] received 5.6 million (and not 8) from Hammer, and therefore he asks to make up 2.4 million. (Who decided that he'd get 8 million?) - A mission of [General Staff] department managers visited me: Eliahu Cohen (Ben-Hur), Zvi [Ayalon], Yigael [Yadin], Lehrer [Zadok]. Zvi presented two questions: (1) Who will give the departments orders in the meantime? There's no Chief of General Staff (Ya'akov won't return to work for another ten days). He serves as Deputy and not as stain-in Chief of General Staff and hasn't the authority to stand in for the Chief of General Staff; Yisrael [Galili] was the de facto Chief of General Staff, too. So who will give orders? (2) What structure will there be after the post of Chief of National Headquarters is abolished? In regard to the second question, I related what I told Yisrael. I proposed to Yigael that he act as Chief of General Staff for [several] days-and he refused. I suggested to Zvi-and after lots of discussion and a talk with Ya'akov [Dori], Zvi agreed-without it being an appointment-to "serve as an address" for a few days. At four I received a note from Yisrael [Galili]: "I studied your proposal again and in the format that was offered to me I see for myself neither a role nor a reason to act and participate." - Cable from Pozner: he received 30½ million French francs from the defense appeal; he transferred 3.8 million = P£ 7,000 of it to [Mordechai] Kikayon; 4.5 was transferred to Geneva, 17 million was spent on the needs of the office in Paris, there's 5.2 million. The administration of the appeal spent 4 million (0.4?) by itself.