יומנים > יומן - מלא 23/05/1948
Sunday, May 23, 1948
Shaul [Avigur] sent a cable saying that Ehud [Avriel] has entered into negotiations with Czechoslovakia to purchase airplanes, tanks, and cannons on credit, with $1 million payable immediately and another 5 in 6 months. The Czech government agreed in principle. It will be done as a contract between two states.
Another Messerschmitt arrived tonight. We now have 3. Each one has 2 cannons, 2 heavy machines, and bombs. Tomorrow two Messerschmitts will be ready for action.
Tonight two of our planes bombed Napoleon Hill [the French Hill in Jerusalem] and Kefar ''Azariyya [northeast of Mount Scopus]. The pilots returned safely.
Tomorrow the English are leaving Ramat David. Our men will enter immediately. The engineers are already there. We're sending anti-air defenses (4 [light] machine guns).
Preparations were undertaken tonight for the Jerusalem expedition ["Operation Ben-Nun"]. Shlomo left for Jerusalem tonight. He'll receive two 65 mm cannons. Tomorrow the convoy will leave Jerusalem, and in two days - if there are no obstacles - a food convoy will be able to reach [Jerusalem].
Yisrael [Amir] is demanding 6 heavy machines for Ramat David, 6 vehicles of various sorts, priority to the air force in arranging for telephones.
We already have news from Alon [Arazi]'s ship. Ehud [Avriel]'s ship left on Thursday (May 20) and will be en route for 10 days.
[Chaim] Herzog arrived from Jerusalem. The Legion is in Sheikh Jarrah, at the police school, on Mount Scopus, and up to Damascus Gate (How many of them? Unknown! They didn't take pictures). Negotiations are underway for evacuation of the university and Hadassah [Hospital], with [UN official] Azcarate mediating.
The Legion and the Iraqis are also in the Old City. Yesterday at 3 p.m. Rabbis Mintzberg and Hazan sent a cable to Rabbi [Yitzhak] Herzog [Chief Rabbi of Israel] and [Izhak] Ben-Zvi:
The Yishuv is on the verge of being massacred. Desperate cry for help in the name of the people. Synagogues destroyed and all Torah books inside burned. Or Chaim, Sukkat Shalom, Bet Hillel, Tiferet Ysrael, Nisan Bak, Porat Yosef, the Brisker Yeshiva, Ohel Moshe, two Sephardi synagogues, and more. Misgav Ladach [Hospital and Synagogue] is under a barrage of gunfire and shells. Rattle the top institutions and the whole world and save us.
Yesterday two Hayish platoons reconquered Ramat Rahel. 12 of our men were killed, among the enemy - dozens of bodies. The enemy is at Mar Elias [on Bethlehem Road] and firing cannons. David's men [Etsiyyoni Brigade] are in positions (why aren't they heading out to face the enemy?). Six of the enemy's armored [vehicles] have been taken completely out of service.
The entire [Arab part] of the city outside of the Old City, Musrara, the American Colony, Sheikh Jarrah, Wadi Joz, Bab a-Zahara [the neighborhood opposite Herod's Gate and the Rockefeller Museum], Augusta Victoria [on Mount Scopus] - are in our hands. Malha is in enemy hands. Now they're trying to break into the Old City using flamethrowers and Davids [Davidka mortars]. Mount Zion is in our hands.
The enemy is bombarding day and night. The shells are hitting everywhere. Spirits are low. People aren't sleeping. There's very little food. There's bread for two more weeks, no more than that. Water is being distributed in the streets, half a tin per person for two days. There are many who seek peace, meaning surrender, and are pressuring Rabbi [Yitzhak] Herzog. The poor sectors fled northward of the city, for fear of bombardment. The airfield in Giv'at Shaul hasn't been completed yet. They need encouragement - by way of airplane banners and the like.
Two flamethrowers and PIATs have reached Jerusalem (David [Etsiyyoni Brigade] has 7 PIATs, Harel has 6).
Bet HaNatziv, King David [Hotel], and the YMCA are in the hands of the Red Cross. The Arab consulates are in our hands. Heard by phone [wiretap]: [Richard] Beaumont, English consul, telling Williams, BBC correspondent: "Amman isn't doing anything without orders from the [British] Foreign Office."
Joseph [Dov Yosef] is doing good work. If there's food - it's thanks to Joseph's arrangements. Our bombings have encouraged the public. They immediately knew it was our planes.
All the men of [Kefar] Etsiyyon were killed. The men at the 3 other settlements were taken prisoner. The Legion is treating them very courteously.
Yigael [Yadin] suggests removing Moshe Montag [Mann] and appointing Mishael [Shaham] in his place [for Golani Brigade]. I suggested that for the time being Mishael serve as interim brigade commander. Yigael is also calling for a coordinator or senior commander for all three forces in Jerusalem [Etsiyyoni Brigade, Harel Brigade, and the District - the garrison force]. I proposed Zvi [Ayalon] as a coordinator.
- Almogi from Haifa: On Friday 250 immigrants [Aliya Dalet] arrived, and disembarked at the port. The [British] army issued an order to return them to the ship (Col. Hooton). Abba [Khoushy] suspended work at the port, the workers surrounded the army and told them to shoot. An order came to rescind the decree, and on the following day [the ship] Providence arrived with 960 draft-age immigrants. The army didn't interfere.
A port can be set up in Acre. Up to P£ 2,000 are needed to widen the temporary pier. And an order to this effect is needed, and also a naval base for 30 men. There's no army in Acre and it's outside the [area of] occupation.
Boaz [Ayalon's codename], Yosef R. [Avidar], and Lehrer [Zadok] are helping establish the labor brigade.
- On May 19, 1948, Hammer [from the fundraising efforts in the US] transferred $800,000 to Pozner [Jewish Agency treasurer in Europe] for security needs.
- Government meeting from 4 to 9.
- Yisrael Bar gave me a bleak briefing on the situation in the Lower Galilee and Jerusalem. Tsemah wasn't immediately conquered by our forces, even though there was an opportunity to do so. Ramat Rahel keeps changing hands. The proactive attacks in the Eastern Galilee weren't carried out.
I went to bed "dead" after 48 hours of sleeplessness.