יומנים > יומן - מלא 09/08/1948

Monday, August 9, 1948

Shlomo [Shamir], Elhanan [Yishai], Elik [Shomroni], [Shimon] Peres: In all the halutzi [pioneering, i.e., settlement-oriented] youth movements (Bnei Akiva, Maccabi Tza'ir, HaShomer HaTza'ir, Mahanot Olim, HaTnua'a, HaMeuhedet, HaNo'ar Ha''Oved, HaTzofim) there is agitation to have military training in a single framework (settlement-oriented training), starting at age 17, along with girls [female movement members]. I suggested continuous military training for three weeks, followed by training on the settlements, with maneuvers for 2-3 days in a row every month.

         As to the youth camp for 17-year-olds [those born in 1931] - they include 350 who want to settle. 150 will go to the Air Force, per the request by Zadok [Personnel Department], 400 to the Navy, 400 to Artillery Corps, 150 to tanks and armored (Brigades 7 and 8), 200 to squad commanders course. According to Elhanan's calculations this is not possible. If we deduct 350 for the settlement core groups, and another 250 for the staff [training instructors] who need to stay for the 1,500 new youths [in the second round of trainees], then only 990 remain for assignment, and if 150 are sent to the Air Force, 200 to the squad commanders [course], then only 640 remain for the Navy, Artillery Corps, and Armored Corps.

         Peres proposes that the 350 designated for settlement continue training for another month, but this is only possible if a draft order is issued for 17-year-olds, otherwise they cannot be sent to the Air Force and Artillery Corps and the like, and this requires that the new wave of 17-year-olds be enlisted from the outset not for two months, but for the entire duration of the state of emergency. And if the NAHAL [No'ar Halutzi Lohem - Pioneer Fighting Youth, a combined military service and agricultural settlement program] program is adopted, then it should be applied to all youths: 3 months of military training, 9 months of agricultural training or vocational training.

         - Gerz [director of the Central Bureau of Statistics] and [Ze'ev] Sherf: How much time is needed for a census? A law, 30 days to prepare the census. On the day of the census, in Gerz's view, each person can be given a voter registration card. Arranging ID cards with a photo will require another 6 weeks (following the day of the census). The identity certificate will serve as a voter registration card. The census will require 500 officials for five weeks, the day of the census 12,000, arranging ID cards 500 officials for three weeks. The required budget: for registering residents [including non-citizens] (800,000) P£ 22,000, ID cards - 17,000, miscellaneous expenses 20,500, preparing voter registration lists 11,000, unanticipated expenses 4,500; in total P£ 75,000. Income from ID cards (10 grush per card) P£ 40,000. If the right to vote is granted to 18-year-olds and older - per the UN resolution - then there will be 500,000 eligible voters (the assumption is that there are 750,000 Jews in the country).

         - I dined with Asaf Simhoni from the Palmach, Battalion Aleph (Yiftah). He's just been appointed battalion commander; the [Yiftah] Brigade commander is Mulah Cohen. He's been in the Palmach seven years - that is, from the beginning. I asked him how it happened that he was appointed commander - whether it's a coincidence or a turning point. [It was widely presumed within Mapai that Asaf Simhoni's affiliation with the party had prevented his promotion to battalion commander.] He replied - neither coincidence nor turning point. There's an ongoing dispute in the Palmach. Gradually some of the commanders recognized that they - Palmach men - were lagging behind the army [which is systematically taking shape as a regular military], even though initially they were better trained. The training was incomplete: individual training, not battalion training. They didn't know military exercises, didn't know military arrangements, didn't know military administration. He was among the critics who demanded that lessons be learned from the army, and because many now realize this - his prominence increased. Also most of the men in his battalion are party members. Today Palmach commanders convened to discuss the question of whether the Palmach needs a countrywide staff, and to what end. It's a sign of the times that they recognize the need for ranks, and governance and discipline.

         - [David] Rabsky [Reshef], Isser [Ben-Zvi], Ya'akov Dori: Gadna [Youth Battalions] (ages 14-17, up to military conscription). Oversight was the purview of the Staff, handled by a special officer subordinate to the chief of staff. The Gadna units [in the Haganah] were subordinate to the area commanders (city and subdistrict commanders). The Gadna units included training; [the Gadna members] were used for signal, observation. It was arranged with the school that they have a day off [from classes] for services and training.

         - Extended Physical Training (HAGAM [Hinuch Gufani Murhav - Extended Physical Education - implemented in the 1940s in high schools, among other reasons as a cover for Gadna activities]): from sixteen they did weapons training and individual field training. At age 17½ they were privates. The command was also from Gadna [members who received training in squad commander courses] aside from Staff members - who were soldiers [Haganah apparatus and later - IDF recruits]. What are the problems now? Ya'akov [Dori]: need to differentiate student youth [from] working youth. In school there's a framework - there's mandatory training (HAGAM) as part of the education system. There was cooperation between the Haganah and the education authorities led by [Dr. Arthur] Biram from Haifa. In two days there's a Higher Committee meeting, at which Biram wants to resign.

         In the past year there were efforts to introduce HAGAM into the 8th grade of elementary schools.

         Regarding working youths there was no supreme authority, but there was contact with the youth movements.

         The budget this year was - P£ 50,000 for training, readying of commanders [from among the trainees], and services. The program encompassed about 20,000 boys and girls.

         There's a dispute between the educational administration and the army. [Dr. Baruch] Ben-Yehuda (security director [should be: education director]) insists the youth should go to school - I agree with him in principle. In times of peace the military education at school should be part of the general-human education, and not a military matter. But in these times of emergency we won't change the system or replace the military governance.

         - Rabbi [Shlomo] Goronczik [Goren] came to see me - [he's] the representative [candidate on behalf] of Rabbi Fishman [Maimon, minister of religious affairs] and Rabbi [Yitzhak] Herzog to become head of the military rabbis. I told him that, with regard to this institution - a military rabbi - despite the Staff's positive view, I have doubts about its utility because it seems like a custom of the Amorites [i.e., having a military chaplain is a gentile practice] - after all, the candidates should be people who inspire respect from the free [secular] as well, and who will influence the mixed multitudes of which the Yishuv is composed. Jews are quick to discover faults, and if the rabbis don't inspire trust and respect - they'll destroy more than they repair.

         Goronczik acknowledged this. He himself was in the Haganah, finished university (philosophy, classical studies). I sent him to Ya'akov [Dori].

         - [Shalom] Levin and Aviezer Yellin [of the Teachers Association] came to see me. [If we] want to introduce schools in the state, from nursery schools through university, then [we] mustn't forget the Teachers Association in the arrangements. They object to dividing education: the Ministry of Agriculture has taken the [agricultural] Kadoorie School upon itself, the Ministry of Industry - the vocational schools. They demand that teachers be included in the [IDF] Cultural Department. Aviezer took special pleasure in saying that he joined the Histadrut [federation of trade unions].

         - Gezig [sp.] (Gezig's son) and Gluxman [sp.] from Argentina came to see me. There are 400-500 people in Latin America (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile) who want to make ''aliya. 25 have already arrived, most of them are in the army (apparently in Brigade Zayin) [the 7th Brigade]. [Gidon] Baratz knows where they are. They're currently raising funds in the amount of 60 million pesos (P£ 6 million) in Argentina for the country. [Both of them] have already been in the country two weeks; they'll be here about another three weeks.

         - [Dr. Aryeh] Altman came to see me. He saw [Hillel] Kook [Peter Bergson, one of the five ETZEL detainees] on Friday. Complains that they're being held in prison, rather than detention. The atmosphere in Bet She'an is bad. They're going to announce a hunger strike on Thursday - this will turn them into martyrs and stir up feelings abroad; [Altman] is requesting a confidential conversation with me regarding fundamental questions - not on behalf of the party - and he asks to be summoned. I summoned him to come see me on Tisha B'Av.

         - [Adv.] Ya'akov [Shimshon] Shapira came from the trial of Kook and others. [The defense attorney] Gluzman [should be: Max Seligman] interrogated Zvi Ayalon for 2½ hours - with trivial questions. Tomorrow the trial will conclude.

         - [Akiva] Bendov, deputy to Almogi in Haifa [in the Workers' Council], requests the conclusions regarding the MLB [Military Labor Brigade]. In Haifa there are 2,200 in the MLB - in the railway 350, in the postal service 250, in workshops in the docks 150; 800 are not assigned to a workplace (stationed in strongholds, in the Western Galilee), 100 of them in Kefar Tira, in the port 450, in administration and the [military] staff. 200 are sick.