יומנים > יומן - מלא 11/03/1948

Thursday, March 11, 1948

Yigael [Yadin] reports that the information that started spreading yesterday and appeared in the newspapers today - that an [Arab] gang escorted by the British army was brought into Sheikh Munis - is untrue. An aerial survey was carried out and SHAI agents checked with their contacts - and there's no sign of a gang.

       - Solel Boneh evacuated the Migdal Tzedek [quarries] - safely. But they're refusing to pay what they pledged to those they're supposed to pay.

       - Kolodny [Moshe Kol] reports that the Mossad [le-''Aliya Bet] has the ships to bring 11,450 people by May 15, and for the 15th - there's a plan for 16,000 trained [fighters] (?). To do this they still need 1½ million dollars, after receiving the million from the Joint. I asked to set up a special meeting with them to clarify this serious and critical issue - which at this time cannot be handled the way they handled it a year ago. Now we need to bring - except for Cyprus - only trained men and strictly in accordance with defense needs.

       - I telegraphed Moshe [Sharett] [telling him] what I'd told the Commissioner on Monday: Their policy is to allow neighboring countries, as long is England is in control, to bring (camouflaged) forces into the country in sufficient numbers to destroy the Yishuv and capture the country after the Mandate is terminated. [British Ambassador to the UN] Cadogan's reply to the [UN Palestine] Commission about the possibility of not releasing the Tel Aviv port even after May 15 and Creech Jones's remarks in Parliament yesterday prove the accuracy of this view.

       After May 15 the British army will remain in the Jewish territory, binding our hands, won't allow us to set up a government, and will interfere with our defense. In practice the termination of the Mandate will only mean the termination of England's commitments - but not the termination of its control in the country; rather, the reverse. After May 15 governance will be arbitrary and devoid of any legal framework, a state of affairs with no justice and no judge [an uncontrollable situation].

       If the United States does not ensure timely food deliveries by way of the UN - then it is actively participating, knowingly or unknowingly, in a joint plot of the Foreign Office and the Arab League for the destruction of the Yishuv. I proposed that they demand via the UN that after May 15 the British army be restricted to a specified territory and not interfere in internal affairs, and that they obtain equipment for us. Otherwise the Yishuv will be annihilated.

       - At 11 I went to the bankers' meeting at the Anglo-Palestine Bank. I explained the severity of the situation to them and our urgent needs, and I insisted that they set aside peacetime routine and attend to resolution of the financial problem.

       Dr. ]Aron] Barth [director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank] is opposed to a loan in dollars or a forced loan, as proposed by [Eliezer] Kaplan, because this could lead to money smuggling and loss of confidence in the pound [P£].

       He doesn't understand that failing to remedy the security situation in time will undermine the financial regime more than anything else, and that without security for the Yishuv - there will be no security for property. Because in any event the danger is all-encompassing.

       - In the afternoon Weiner [sp.] from Brazil, representative of the Brazilian press, came to see me. He left Brazil 17 days ago. The Arab (there are many Arabs in Brazil - and they're rich) and British propaganda have created the impression that the Jewish cause is lost, and he wants to know whether there's still any hope…. The Christian Brazilian author Carlos Lacerdo, who's pro-Arab and was in Beirut earlier, has also come to the country now.

       - Gorochowsky [Shraga Goren] and Kozlowski [Pinchas Sapir] bought 1,000 tons of steel and sheet metal from Belgium, and agreed to pay, before [Palestine's] exclusion from the Sterling bloc, for 468 tons. They're seeking to arrange payment for the rest (P£ 22,000). I issued instructions for Pozner to give them as much as necessary in Belgian francs and in dollars.

       - Another author came to see me, [Francis-Amir] Ofner, representative of the Christian Science Monitor: - What will be the state's domestic and foreign policy, etc.

       - This morning there was an explosion in the [Jewish] Agency's courtyard. Nine killed and three wounded - seven of them severely. Two of the dead have not yet been identified. Among those killed - Leib Jaffe [director of Keren HaYesod]. The American consul's car flying the American flag, driven by his regular driver, Anton Daoud, an Arab Christian, entered [the courtyard]. The bomb was hidden underneath the car. The driver vanished before the explosion. According to the consul, the car and the driver disappeared at 9 a.m. The explosion occurred at 9:40.

       - The Yishuv's committee for police affairs presented me with its annual report. At the end of 1946 there were 752 Jewish policemen serving at various ranks; at the start of 1948 there were 885 policemen (207 unmarried, 678 married).

       In Metulla - 0, in Rosh Pinna 1, in Tiberias 13, in Safed 6, in Afula 9, in Bet HaShita 1, in Nahalal 2, Jalame (?) 13, Kiryat Haim 15, Haifa 85, Zikhron [Ya'akov] 10, Hadera 13, Netanya 1, Bet Lid 10, Tel Mond 10, PT [Petah Tikva] 32, Ramat Gan 14, Ra'anana 19, Tel Aviv and Jaffa 341, Rishon [LeZion] 9, Rehovot 18, Be'er Tuvia 1, Jerusalem 177, Jerusalem officers 16, Haifa officers 3, Tel Aviv officers 13, policewomen in the country 11, Haifa customs 9, Tel Aviv customs 19, (various) customs officers 4, instructors for [British-appointed Jewish] police 4, police secretaries 6.

       The government salary: For unmarried [policeman]: base P£ 8, cost of living supplement 9.5, in total 17.5 to 18. For married [policeman]: base P£ 8, wife 2.4, cost of living supplement 9.5, in total P£ 19.9. For first child 1.4, second 1.1, third 1, fourth 0.4. No additional supplements for more than four children.