יומנים > יומן - מלא 21/04/1948

Wednesday, April 21, 1948 [Dr.] Leo [Cohen] spoke with Novomeysky. According to Novo, he asked the Prime Minister [of Transjordan]: "If you enter Sdom, will you take care of the plant?" but did not offer to let [them] enter. Leo claims that N. is a known liar. The Prime Minister replied that he had to ask his associates. In Sdom, N. says, there are only 20 rifles (?). Novo complained about the Field Corps people. They killed an Arab for no reason, they're undisciplined, . . . no convoy to the Dead Sea. There's a new [American] Consul in Jerusalem: Wasson. He came here from Athens. A young man. He complains about not receiving all the reports from Washington (?). [Robert Macatee], too, who left here disillusioned, griped about this and gave vigorous assurance that he wasn't behind it. Things at the Political Department cannot go on this way. A member of the Executive is needed. In Leo [Cohen's] opinion, Moshe [Sharett] ought to come back. There's no one on the Community Committee. Haim Salomon [chair of the Community Committee] is a weak man. There's hunger in the poor neighborhoods. Lots of food went to waste in the Schneller [camp]-because good preparations weren't made. Fish spoiled; distribution was slow. Of the food that was sent here, only cabbage and dried fruit appeared in the shops. Stocks are being pilfered because there's no one to guard the warehouses. There's the water problem. They say there's enough water for three months-but Zvi Leibowitz [the city engineer] said they're stealing water from the cisterns and top-notch guarding is needed. - Yitzhak [Sadeh] and Fritz [Eshet]: 620 armed and about eighty service [people] have arrived. There's a battalion of roughly that size nearby (at Kiryat Ye'arim). Yitzhak urged Tel Aviv [the Chief of General Staff] to have [the] Givati [Brigade] attack Deir Ayoub. In Yitzhak's opinion, it'll be 4-5 days before the convoy can return [from Jerusalem] (in Fritz' opinion-more time than that will be needed). If Givati attacks Deir Ayoub-it'll take 3-4 days. Beit Sourik was occupied and destroyed. Only the mosque remained. The same at Bidu, but they say that Deir Ayoub has received 600 additional men. Can Givati attack Deir Ayoub? The Givati forces are weak; they will have to mobilize two additional companies to do it. At Hulda and Na'an-two Givati companies remained. Givati has to operate as far as Bab el-Wad [Sha'ar HaGai]. From there on-Yitzhak. The road from Bab el-Wad, the city, Neve Ya'akov, and ''Atarot (not the south and the east of the city) were handed to Yitzhak. The task-to liberate Jerusalem from gangs and free up the Bab el-Wad road. [He] has two Palmach battalions (1,500 men) (11 men were killed in the operation yesterday, including four commanders, [and] more than thirty were wounded), and the garrison force in Jerusalem. The operation here will begin in Jerusalem-Sheikh Jarrah and Shu'afat. The British have four battalions (with tanks) here, and the Legion-two companies. After Sheikh Jarrah, they'll move against Augusta Victoria. They'll try to liberate the road to Talpiot and other places in the city. I was asked: What will we do if the British help the Arabs?-[I answered]: In Sheikh Jarrah, we'll stand up against them and relate to them as though they were Arabs. But let's ask ourselves not a political question but a military question: To what limit should we stand up against this force? We'll decide about the rest after the Sheikh Jarrah operation, because here the British will be tested: How closely are they connected to the Arab gangs? - At ten, a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive. I tabled the situation in Jerusalem for debate. [The situation] is poor and dangerous, despite the relief efforts, materially and self-defensively. Dobkin explained the mood [in Jerusalem]: Most of the blows landed on Jerusalem (the Lamed-Heh, ''Atarot, Nebi Daniel, Sheikh Jarrah, the Palestine Post bombing, [the explosions] on Ben-Yehuda [Street] and at the Jewish Agency building, etc. Leadership is needed. [Dobkin] proposes a leadership: Dr. Joseph, Shraibman (Reuven Shari), [Haim] Salomon, Werfel [Yitzhak Rafael]. If [it will be] seven, [then] a Sephardi [representative] and [Charles] Passman. Apart from this, someone in charge of political affairs is needed, someone associated with defense. The mobilization situation is wild, and the leadership of five should watch over mobilization. Also needed is a financial arrangement for when Kaplan is away [as a member of the provisional government in Tel Aviv]. We decided on an executive [body composed of] Dr. [Dov] Joseph, Shraibman, Salomon, Auster, Werfel, [David] Abulafia, and Passman. Their authority to manage and arrange supply matters and distribution of food, water, fuel, raw materials, transport, prevent profiteering, labor and mobilization of manpower, housing refugees, treating casualties of the events, People's Guard, and internal police. The National Committee will continue to deal with education, healthcare, and social-aid services, as it did before. I announced [to the Jewish Agency Executive] that on the occasion of handing defense affairs to the yod-gimmel ["the 13," the provisional government or People's Administration]-there's no further room for a Chief of National Headquarters as the Executive's representative vis-à-vis the mem-alef [Haganah National Headquarters], because defense is going over from the Jewish Agency Executive to the yod-gimmel. Therefore, the personal appointment and the post itself [are being] cancelled and the yod-gimmel should be left to settle matters as it wishes. The Executive took note of this announcement. - Ziama [Aran] took part in the Jerusalem mobilization committee this morning. There is distrust in the possibility of mobilization. But another thousand people can be mobilized. A budget of P£ 2,000 is needed for the past, and five hundred per month for the future, to assure support for [inductees' families]. A Yishuv-level Jerusalem conference is devoted to mobilization, with my participation. [Ziama] is helping Tchernowitz [Jacob Tsur] with the mobilization. - A delegation from the Bloc Committee of Jerusalem Outposts: Menachem Katz of Ma'ale HaHamisha, Naftali Ushpiz (Kiriat Ye'arim), Herzl Morian-secretary of the Bloc (Ramat Rahel), Yisrael Kaufmann (Ramat Rahel). At Ramat Rahel there are no forces from the outside. There are 80 men there. [They] had a Palmach group for four years; it was removed. They have 22 official (Italian) rifles, 12 English, a Bren machine gun with a thousand rounds. They need and want a 1,500 cubic-meter pool [for drinking water]-they've budgeted P£ 12,000; the work is being held back because there's no way to haul the materials. In Ma'ale HaHamisha, too, there's a question of water. They have 400 cubic meters; they need 1,000 more. The job was handed over to Solel Boneh. They need a 100 kW generator. The settlements demanded reinforcements and operations. I asked them to wait a few days. Right now, we're dealing with Jerusalem as a bloc and if we succeed-the suburbs will be taken care of, too. - Afternoon: a meeting with the staff of the Political Department. They believe there's nothing for them to do here. In Jerusalem, a personal secretary for Golda should be left there, an official [to maintain contact] with the consuls, and someone for the Arabs (Lutzki and Bar-Haim ([the latter] of Iraqi origin). [Eliahu] Sasson, [Walter] Eytan, Berman [Haim Radai]-to organize the Department, [Arye] Levavi-an assistant to Eytan, and others will relocate to Tel Aviv. I expressed doubt about whether the time has come to move the department to Tel Aviv. No development in the next few weeks is known, the stance of the UN isn't known, what the British will do isn't known, whether a government will come into being and whether it will endure. Moshe [Sharett] is still away, Golda should move here, the Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv still has nothing to do, but Jerusalem is Jerusalem in Jewish and international terms, and perhaps it will also be the capital of the state, and we will not remove what's certain from what might be-not before May 16, at least. Only one person will move from here to Liaison (they proposed Levavi) and one from the Arab Department. Those who will travel-will leave their families here, although it will be distressing for them, too. Given Jerusalem's poor condition, employees of the [Jewish] Agency cannot remove their families from Jerusalem. - A delegation from the university-[Dr. Werner] Senator, [Prof. Michael] Fekete, Neumond [an aide to the university administration]-[there are] 900 people there, 150 university (teachers, students, workers), the rest at Hadassah (patients, nurses, and workers). Last Saturday [five days ago], the last convoy to Mt. Scopus set out, bringing food. All [they] lack is bread. They tasked Adv. Horowitz with investigating the disaster [the convoy at Sheikh Jarrah]. They're asking me for conclusions from the Haganah study. There are three things they want from me: 1) to share with them [the testimony] of Yosef Armak (of the Haganah), who brought people to Antonius' house, including David Shapira, the pharmacist of Hadassah. 2) to fix the security situation at the university at once. It became more dangerous after the Arabs seized Augusta Victoria [Hospital]. The army had promised to escort the convoys [for evacuation] (starting on Monday-twice a day, 15 trucks for five days, 150 trucks in all. The university also needs 50-60 trucks). But yesterday the army regretted that and demanded that either everyone leave or no one. 3) They're demanding P£ 100,000 to keep the university going. I promised to find Yosef Armak. I stated that I see no possibility of fixing security at once, but there is well-grounded hope of fixing it over some days. And as for the hundred thousand budget, I'll support it-if Senator finds a way to get the money such that we'll have to pay a year or two later, because there's no cash in the exchequer and no hope of there being any soon. Afterwards, I sat with some Hadassah people-[Mendel] Krupnik and Mrs. [Miriam] Granovski. - Yosef Armak was sent to me and he told me a story that made me even more perplexed about Sheikh Jarrah. - Evening: a meeting with Jerusalem headquarters.