יומנים > יומן - מלא 31/01/1948
Saturday, 31 January 1948
David S. [Shaltiel, head of SHAI]: There's unruliness in the "Organization." Examples: Members of the Palmach's 4th Battalion in the center, while driving 3-4 days ago to Tiberias to steal a car for their battalion, reached Tiberias and approached Arab drivers. Most [of the drivers] refused to drive [give them a ride]. Eventually one of them agreed. They drove towards Kinneret and Yavne'el. On the way the driver apparently sensed [their intention]. He refused to drive [and] tried to jump out of the car. They killed him and dumped his body in a wadi. During this action one of the marauders was injured [and they] left him there. Hayish men found him, brought him to Kinneret, and he described the entire incident. Before that, the Palmach men had abandoned the car and fled. When they saw that there was no police - they came back and took the car and brought it to the center [?]. Earlier they claimed that they found documents [on the driver] proving that he's a gang member, but SHAI has the documents and there's nothing untoward in them. The driver was a Christian, one of the men [affiliated with]
Joseph Fein [SHAI member and procurement agent in the Lower Galilee and Jordan Valley].
Yesterday Yosef Krakovi was driving with David's wife in Tel Aviv. A car came towards them from Reines St. They flipped Krakovi's car over and fled. An hour and a half later a Palmach car [driver] approached SHAI and asked: Since a car was turned over an hour and a half ago - is this known to the police? The driver's name - Yossi Yeffet, a Yemenite.
Yesterday Shaul [Avigur] told David: A few days ago he was driving to Giv'at Brenner. He was given an escort, who didn't know who Shaul is. "Chaim'ke Fresser" [slang for "gluttonous"] told his friends that they caught an Arab and were about to bring him to SHAI to be interrogated - but who can be bothered with SHAI? They "messed him up" and killed him.
A few weeks ago an Arab was found sleeping near [Kibbutz] Shoval in the Negev. David Karon (from SHAI) interrogated him. The Arab claimed that he'd gone to look for work and hadn't heard about the riots. He was brought to Nir-Am and interrogated under intense and vicious torture. He claimed that he knew nothing. They dug a pit, lowered him into it, ordered him to lie down, pummeled five bullets into him.
In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Poles are being imprisoned - although most are criminals, many were killed without orders, without an investigation. At whose initiative? He doesn't know. Three weeks ago a 50-year-old Pole who sent packages to his mother in Berlin was killed. This was done by Jerusalem's deputy commander.
A week or two ago money disappeared from the "Organization" in the Negev - about 500 lira [P£] - either in the General Staff or one of the companies (Where? Who?). He'll look into it. There was an incident in which a platoon commander in the Negev gave in order to his men - and they beat him up.
David objects to the theft of machines belonging to Wagner [a long-standing machinery factory on the Jaffa-Tel Aviv border owned by a Christian German]. "Thefts" from Arabs are increasing: [People] enter Arab orchards and steal [fruit] and sell it. People get rich from this. Along Jabotinsky Road there are vineyards - hundreds of Jews come from Tel Aviv and steal [grapes]. Along the road to Nahalat Yitzhak there are Arab bananas - they come and break the banana plants and carry off bananas.
Rectification needs to begin with the "rank-and-file." Discipline has to be increased. To this end we must ensure that the soldiers receive their due - and then demand from them what they owe. David remarks that the image [the soldiers' appearance] in the Negev is not good - slovenly, not clean.
David asked: What will be the [operational] approach in Jerusalem?
I said: Two stages - 1. Until the English withdrawal. 2. After their withdrawal. It will differ depending on whether the UN takes their place [replaces the English] effectively or not.
At the first stage:
A. Not to permit the abandonment of any Jewish neighborhood. To demand that the Jewish residents remain. If someone leaves - bring others [in their place].
B. To have transport to disconnected neighborhoods - the university, Talpiot, Mekor Haim, etc.
C. To expand the Jewish territory and make it contiguous. To link back to the commercial center.
D. In the Old City - to prevent the departure of Jews at any price, to avoid bloodshed there as much as possible. If arrangement C [expansion of Jewish territory] is possible, to place Jewish residents in every home of an abandoned half-Arab neighborhood, such as Romema, so that neither Arabs nor Jews open fire - this arrangement to be carried out only in order to ensure our positions and freedom of entry.
E. To demolish Sheikh Jarrah (without clashing with the English army).
F. To plan to capture David's Citadel at the first opportunity (the English withdrawal) and hold onto it. If the Arabs leave willingly and the UN committee takes over - to accept UN authority.
As to the surroundings:
1. To maintain each and every settlement and enhance its security, but to develop a plan for the evacuation of women and children if necessary.
2. To plan to suspend [sever] Arab transport from the surroundings, if they disrupt Jewish transport.
3. To protect the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road.
After the English withdrawal - the fighting in Jerusalem might come to an end if a UN committee comes here, because first of all it will have to take control in Jerusalem. If it doesn't manage to establish order in Jerusalem - this will be a severe failure on the UN's part.
At 5 p.m. [Ze'ev] Sherf: The government seat will require 800 rooms. Sarona has 700 rooms. Netanya also has 700 rooms. Each of the two locations will require additional arrangements that will cost P£ 100,000.
Police training needs to begin - the other things (weapons, equipment) require about a third of a million, which we don't have. We need a committee to select initial candidates for training [for the police].
From the fundraising campaign of half a million, the committee received P£ 150,000 (the rest is for services, given to the Negev, Tel Aviv, etc.).
A transmitter is being built - it will be ready in mid-March. Three engineers resigned from the government [radio] service in Beit Jala and are working on it. They've been promised that they'll be employed by the state. We have all the necessary tools and plans for a transmitter. But we need a studio. Not all the tools for this are available in the country. For this we need another P£ 20,000.
In the evening Shkolnik and Zabrasky came: Solel Boneh is prepared to make 200 mortars and 30,000 shells (P£ 100,000) on the condition that they receive a sixth [of the payment] immediately. They promise 50 mortars in the third month, 6,000 shells every month beginning the second month, on the condition that Haim [Slavin] make the parts that only he can make.
Shkolnik reports that Solel Boneh personnel [are saying] that Shlomo Gur's objection to Fortuna rests on remarks by a Koor [Metals Ltd.] chemist.
A [military] "industry committee" has been established - [the engineer] Belkin [representative of the manufacturers], [Simcha] Blass [Histadrut representative],
[Yitzhak] Vilenchuk [Ta'as delegate].