יומנים > יומן - מלא 08/06/1948

Tuesday, June 8, 1948

At 6 a.m. Renana [Ben-Gurion's daughter, who was studying in Jerusalem] phoned me - from Tel Aviv. Yesterday she sent out by car [from Jerusalem] as far as Sha'ar HaGai, and from there by jeep [via the Burma Road]. Ziama [Zalman Aran] also came. Jerusalem was shelled heavily yesterday. She didn't see a food convoy on the way.

       - Yesterday they unloaded a ship that brought 13 Hotchkiss [tanks]. Tonight they unloaded a third of the explosives brought on another ship.

       Yesterday "Black" [operation codename for the procurement flights] 25 was supposed to bring 30 [Besa] ZB-37 machine [gun]s - they arrived. Three airplanes also arrived yesterday.

       I called on Shkolnik [Eshkol], Yosef R. [Rochel-Avidar] to recruit porters to carry food to Jerusalem. They believe that it would be good to recruit youth for this task.

       Nitzanim was apparently captured by the enemy, but tonight we successfully attacked the Egyptian column. We invaded Ashdod and, according to plan, left in the morning.

       This morning we downed an Egyptian Spitfire in Tel Aviv with our cannons.

       Last night we unloaded 2/3 of the explosives that arrived.

       In the Galilee - at the moment - it's quiet.

       I gave Pinek [Pinchas Waze] (procurement) a letter for Abba [Khoushy] [telling him] first to unload the equipment that reached us from America [at the Haifa port]. There are 12 jeeps there.

       After consultation with Shkolnik and [Marcus] Sieff - I appointed Sieff as Defense Ministry advisor for transportation and supplies.

       - Ziama [Aran] came. Jerusalem is having an extremely hard time. There's only enough food until Friday, except maybe for those who have a small stockpile. There's still a bit of electricity a few times a week. It's hard to transport water for lack of gasoline. The bombings in the past three days are of a new sort - many wounded and killed. Over the past 18 days there've been 300 killed and about 1,000 wounded. Arab cannons are positioned near Damascus Gate, and they're bombing the city with lethal intensity. It's impossible to walk along King George [Street]. It's depressing, especially knowing that the Jews don't have cannons. No cannons have reached Jerusalem. Fritz [Eshet] doesn't know how many garrison and Hayish [field corps] [troops] there are in Jerusalem. This defense won't be able to stand up to an Arab assault. According to Fritz, there are no people in Jerusalem with an offensive capability and spirit. When they broke through to the Old City, they brought in a garrison force. There's no group with an attack capability. Ziama admires the Jerusalemites' fortitude. Food - a day-to-day question. Cannons are imperative for the city of Jerusalem. People - a few hundred - are needed for offensive warfighting. Ziama has complaints about social corruption in Jerusalem - theft and robbery these days - and from everybody, from Arabs and from Jews, and also from poor Jews.

       The two people carrying the burden [in Jerusalem] are B. Joseph [Dov Yosef] and [Eliahu] Dobkin.

       - Avraham Rutenberg [of the electric company] came to see me about a few matters:

He wants to help with production - I told him: Help with 3", 6", 120 mm mortars. He's ready for anything. The situation in his company is serious. They reached [a production capacity of] up to 75,000 kW and he wanted to increase it by another 72,000. He bought two turbines. One is already here in Tel Aviv - almost assembled. In 6 weeks they'll finish installing it. The second - for 35,000 kW - is ready in England, but he doesn't have the money to pay for it. The third - he just delayed the order. They're working day and night at his [company]. The company is enlisted but he has a monthly deficit of P£ 75,000. London [the company's management] was applying pressure to raise the price of electricity.

He requests:

Protection for the stations. He's asking to have someone in Tel Aviv and someone in Haifa to consult with on these matters. A "commissioner" on behalf of the Histadrut [federation of trade unions] for work relations in Haifa, because right now relations are tense. I said that I wish to consult with Abba [Khoushy] on the matter. [The staff of] the Youth House who were captured by the [British] army - was transferred to Cyprus and did important work [among clandestine immigrants]. Rubenstein, manager of the operation, has just returned. [A. Rutenberg] wants to establish a military factory in the House as soon as the British army release it; some are suggesting a vacation resort. I suggested - a place for [activities] for culture officers [entertainment and cultural event coordinators], or something of that sort. We'll have to cover the expenses, because the company's resources and Pinhas [Rutenberg]'s fund have diminished. The electric company has equipment parts and machines and material worth about a million pounds [sterling]. They'll have to be "distributed." He's asking for help finding places for them. I promised to provide it. I asked whether he knows the fate of the people from Naharayim [which the Iraqis captured]. He knows. Two women who remained there were returned yesterday along with the [women] prisoners from Gush Etsiyyon. The rest remain with the other prisoners in Mafraq [the Legion's prisoners-of-war camp]. Limited food. Treatment not bad.

       He approached Kirkbride and the Transjordanian authorities by way of Pollock and London, demanding the return of the people [captured in Naharayim] - since the other side had breached the agreement. Kirkbride promised to make efforts to return the people. The state of the property in Naharayim is okay.

       - I summoned Eliezer Shoshani - regarding the composition of the [Palmach] national headquarters and its staff organization. At one time the staff was appointed by [Moshe] Sneh. Since Eliezer [Shoshani] joined (3½ years ago) there've been [more] appointments to the staff. When he joined, the staff included Yigal [Allon], Yitzhak Sadeh, and himself. Since then appointments have been made by Yigal P. (when was Yigal appointed commander? - Don't know). Yigal appointed Yitzhak Rabin to the staff [as his deputy and operations officer]. The staff's composition is now: Yigal, Rabin, E. Shoshani, Shalom Havlin (about to be given command [in place of] Moshe Nosovitzky [Netzer], battalion commander in the Negev). The staff has its own signal, supplies, etc.

       - At the fronts: Golani reports (071830): Enemy cannons shelled Degania Bet. There were no losses. A patrol unit of ours "combed" the villages of Tamra, Na'ura, and Kafr Misr [in the Issachar Plateau] and took 8 rifles from local Arabs. An enemy truck transporting soldiers from Tel Dweir to Tel al-Qasr [near the exit from the Yarmouk Valley], was hit by a shell and burned up.

       Negev: Yesterday two warships docked near Gaza.

       Givati reports (080930): The Palmach didn't arrive for the battle with Egypt [the Isdud operation]. Battalion 52 carried out its mission. We captured Hill 69 and fortified ourselves there. Nitzanim was attacked yesterday by planes, tanks, and infantry, and cannons. The [Egyptian] infantry captured the place. 3 refugees reached the Givati staff. There were 66 locals and about 80 Hayish troops at Nitzanim.

       An Egyptian airplane fell, in flames, near [the neighborhood of] Moledet (Tel Aviv [east of Holon]).

       The forces that captured Malkiyya are, according to Arab sources, about to turn towards the Western Galilee. We heard there are additional forces at Bint Jbeil [in southern Lebanon]. Attacks against Mishmar HaYarden were repulsed and the enemy retreated across the Jordan. Nebi Yusha, Dan and She'ar Yashuv, and Kedesh Naftali were shelled by cannons and armored vehicles. There were no losses.

       A patrol through Jenin found the city empty.

       - Bernadotte's letter states that the truce will start on Friday, June 11, at 6 a.m. GMT [Greenwich Mean Time] - that is, at 10 our time - and he requires an answer on Wednesday [June 9] afternoon GMT, and then he'll give each side a final notice on Wednesday at 6 p.m. GMT.

       Regarding the key question - immigration - he reserves two rights to himself:

To prohibit any immigration, and establish oversight, for seven days. To restrict or completely prohibit army-age immigration (as he specified earlier, from age 18 to age 45).

       Government meeting regarding the truce. At nine I returned to my office [at the General Staff] in Ramat Gan. A telegram arrived from Yigal P. [Allon] saying not to let a civilian convoy set out [to Jerusalem]. I spoke by phone with Stone [and said] he must ensure that the convoy sets out, and he promised me that he would.

       - At ten [Israel] Rokach [mayor of Tel Aviv] came to discuss the air-raid and all-clear sirens, which are not working well - they go off too late, sometimes after the bombs have [already landed] and caused devastation. A Civil Defense member made suggestions for fixing it, and all those involved should be summoned to clarify the source of the problems and their main cause.