יומנים > יומן - מלא 22/03/1948

March 22, 1948 In today's Kol Ha'Am [the Palestine Communist Party daily newspaper], the PCP demands the establishment of a provisional Jewish government.… Good times. For some reason, Mapam is lagging behind this time…. The Executive couldn't come from Jerusalem yesterday-and the loss of one day of time is no simple matter. The postponement of convening the Assembly of Electees, which I proposed two days ago, is also saddening. The English Foreign Office is pretending not to smile upon the reversal of America['s stance], and it still claims that it will leave the country and "threatens" [to do so]. It evidently knows about the existence of dupes in England itself who believe in him. The Zionist General Council must be convened as soon as possible. Our comrades in America suggest April 4. The operation should not be waited for until then. Apart from stepping up the pace of mobilization-and the Executive lags all the time, especially the economics people-the following should be proclaimed: 1. The Jewish state exists. 2. A Jewish government has been formed. 3. On May 15, it will go into action the moment the Mandate expires, and only then will its members' names be made public. (Until then, in my opinion, its personal composition should not be announced.) 4. All preparations are being made to maintain services, either under the supervision of a UN committee-when a UN committee comes to carry out the Assembly's resolutions-or by ourselves, if the UN committee doesn't come. 5. To maintain the borders as resolved-but we will consider ourselves at liberty in this respect, if anyone tries to revise the borders by force or by succumbing to force. (6. Are we ready to reach an agreement with the Arabs on the basis of the UN resolution?) The crucial question, perhaps-apart from equipment-is whether the Yishuv will show enough maturity and unity in these times of trial. - Sasha Goldberg is returning to London. The flamethrowers were checked and tested again between the two experts-Goldberg and [Simcha] Blass and are ready for production. They also placed the order for 48,000 anti-tank rockets. Vilenchuk, about manufacturing explosives. The factory in Haifa is running. It will turn out seven tons in March [and] 20 the next month. They want to enlarge it by 60 percent. In Tel Aviv, work is progressing. In six weeks they'll reach as much as 15 tons per month. In Jerusalem, they're receiving the material from [Moses] Novomeysky [from the Palestine Potash Company]-and it has be converted into chlorate and then into cheddite. Now they're setting up the installation that's needed to make thane. Finishing the construction of a P.P. [pilot plant]. It will turn out 10-50 kilograms per day. It's needed as primers, also material for PIAT shells. There's raw material in Eretz-Israel for eight tons of thane. They're trying to buy more in Italy, Switzerland, and America. They're about to order 50 tons (P£ 500 per ton) from abroad. To make thane, nitric acid is needed. Progress is being made in this matter. Moving ahead on making firing pins (40,000 firing pins every day; they'll get to 60,000). They want to prepare stocks of three million. The urgent question is deto [detonators]: 30,000 were received from Italy; it saved the situation a little. There are also 30,000 holders for land-mine detonators. Half a million detonators are needed. Ta'as [home manufacture] landmines: 20,000 landmines have been finished from the technical standpoint and they have to be charged. They're charging a thousand a day. They test one per hundred-and they pass the test. In the new series, they'll make improvements. They're prepared to charge 30,000 personnel [antipersonnel] mines. Detonators are needed-they may be ready in a few days. (The detonators they brought from Italy are a little too long and have to be cut.) The first series-5,000-of vehicle mines will be completed in two weeks, if there are detonators. They're beginning to charge smoke grenades. Material for 3,000 has been obtained. They're about to obtain 3,000 more. Teargas bombs aren't being ordered for now. The PIAT launcher is being prepared full-steam. The tests have been successful. [The shells] pierced three 60 mm boards. There's an order for 48,000 PIAT shells, and for this thane is needed (60% thane, 40% TNT). They're about to order a PIAT Junior-which is fired by means of an English launcher. There are still difficulties with the flamethrowers. They're already getting the model ready. 30,000 bottles have already been made. Another 50,000, improved, are being prepared. The work [in the various production sectors] is taking place in seventy factories. - In Jerusalem, they found parcels of land for two airfields: near Rehavia-a 300-meter runway for small aircraft (three passengers or 150 kilograms of freight), in Bayit Vagan-for two-engine [craft] (6-7 passengers or 500 kilograms). The first-mentioned will cost P£ 900, the second P£ 6,000. The members of the Executive who intended to set out for Tel Aviv at 7:00 a.m. arrived at 5:00. They'll leave at 9:00. We held a brief meeting this evening.