יומנים > יומן - מלא 10/05/1948

May 10, 1948 Shkolnik [Eshkol] asks about Shapira's friends' cargo in Haifa. Yigael [Yadin] and Eliahu [Ben-Hur] and Yitzhak [Sadeh] are in favor of handing it over, Lehrer [Zadok] abstains, Zvi [Ayalon] have doubts. Last night, LEHI operatives abducted [Yosef] Avidar, Zvi Friedman [Zohar] (Intelligence Service), Ziga Yavetz. There were 16 people in Yosef [Avidar]'s house. According to a later report, they are being held in Petah Tikva. Yigael: The strongholds around Bet Mahsir have been captured. Our aircraft encountered difficulties but they managed at 7:00 p.m. to drop their cargo and made hits. At 2:00 our men began to operate- counterattacks were launched from Bet Mahsir and they were repelled with losses. The battle is continuing. No reports from Safed. In Qanir [east of Giv'at ''Ada] 45 houses were destroyed. No reports from the Valley. There should have been an operation against Bet She'an. Tomorrow and the day after: operations in Ijzim [Kerem Maharal] and western Carmel. Etsiyyoni [Jerusalem commander] just reported (9:00 a.m.) that [the British] have just evacuated the Atarot field. He demands reinforcements and weapons to capture the field. Aerial bombs are needed. Lehrer [Zadok] wants a camp to be set up for Arab prisoners. Djelil [west of Herzliya] was decided upon, but the camp will be ready only two weeks from now. It is proposed to establish two companies for the Staff guard (Zvi [Ayalon], Yosef [Avidar] (in absence, [Ephraim] Ben-Artzi's) and Lehrer [Zadok] will draw up the plan for it. Yigael wants to move up the explosives to [May] 15. Twenty-five-ton [bombs] are needed. There's also going to be a moratorium on manufacturing flamethrowers. [Simcha] Blass found a defect of some kind. Valenchuk, Blass, and Ben-Artzi should be called in in order to step up production. They want to make all Staff workers take an oath. - Lunch with Stone [Col. David Marcus, nom de guerre Mickey/Michael Stone,] and Captain Martin (a non-Jew, an expert in military training). [General John H.] Hilldring saw Stone before he came back [from the U.S.] and told him: You have to hold the borders of the state ahead of May 15. Be ready for anything. If you're threatened or attacked from the outside-move ahead and cross the border. Otherwise-stay within the confines of your state. - An airplane of ours with six workers aboard has gone missing in the Jerusalem hills-it may have crashed in the hills … [during the operation at Bet Mahsir]. - A delegation from the Dead Sea visited me. They demand that we send an induction officer to organize the personnel there and place them within a military framework; bring in additional personnel-at least a battalion, ten instructors-[and] more heavy machine [gun]s, heavy anti-armor gear, anti-tank mines, armor-piercing ammunition, a radio set for direct contact and communication with Tel Aviv. 18 field telephones for area communication. Fuel for electricity (they have an 18-day supply), and kerosene [?] to power a gasoline generator. - Meeting of the [Histadrut] Executive Committee about defense. I reviewed the situation-afterwards, [Yitzhak] Ben-Aharon went on the offensive-against me. In a more moderate style than in [the Mapam newspaper] Al Hamishmar, he also attacked Tabenkin and, of course, [Aharon] Zisling.