יומנים > יומן - מלא 29/05/1948

Saturday, May 29, 1948

They didn't finish unloading the ship tonight either, and at 6 a.m. it set sail.

       The Messerschmitts didn't take off. The bombs, the gasoline, and the brakes weren't okay. At eleven they'll be ready. Bombers bombed Tulkarm (fires were seen 30 km away). Instead of Jenin they accidentally bombed Bet She'an, which is in our hands, bombed Nablus, bombed Ramallah with a Dakota, dropped two tons, and from there headed to Haifa. In the morning they bombed Radar [Hill] in the hills [north of Ma'ale HaHamisha].

       - At 10:30 I attended a party central committee meeting - the first since the establishment of the state. I gave an overview of internal arrangements in the Ministry of Defense and of the security situation. I suggested opposing the formation of the Committee of Five [a People's Administration proposal to appoint a committee of five defense ministers] - and to immediately halt negotiations with parties about the [state] apparatus - an apparatus is not a matter for an inter-party arrangement.

       - Yitzhak Rabin came [from Jerusalem]: 700 Jews were released by Arabs [with the fall of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City] and left for the new city. There are still prisoners. Anyone who looks like a fighter to Prince Nayef, Abdallah's son, will be taken to Amman, and the rest will be released. The Jewish Quarter was on fire this morning. The Legion was treating the Haganah and the prisoners courteously.

       There's tremendous pressure on Kiryat ''Anavim and Ma'ale HaHamisha. The settlements have evacuated the children and the women and the cows. The city is coming under fierce shelling. They're firing 4.2 [inch] mortars, and tossing incendiary bombs. Tonight we'll bring a cannon and 4.2" mortar. 150 trained [troops] transferred to Harel tonight. The bombardment in Ramallah was successful.

       Rabin thinks there are 1,200 Legion troops around Jerusalem. In terms of infantry, our force is larger than the Legion's. As to both the Harel battalions, in one battalion 75% are completely out of action, in the second battalion 50%. Rabin is left with 300 infantry fighters, not counting those in the strongholds.

       Stone's plan - to flank Latrun from the east and take Yalu. According to Yitzhak Rabin, the Arab forces are concentrated in Beit Nuba, Imwas, Yalu, Latrun. Deir Ayyub is nearly empty.

       - Gershon Zak [of the naval service]: Two additional Corvettes are ready to go, except that they have no ammunition. The suggestion of 4 Spandau [machine guns] is not enough. Each ship needs 2 anti-air cannons, 2 Besas, two 3" mortars, and personal weapons. Besides this - the ship South Africa needs 2 Besas (they already received 2 [light] machine guns and personal weapons) - in total he requires 4 anti-air cannons, 6 Besas, four 3" mortars.

       Moshele Cherbinsky [Carmil] informed the navy 3 days ago that a ship with 700 immigrants had departed (from where? He doesn't know, maybe France) [the Fabian]. It will reach Caesarea tonight at 2 a.m., and the Eilat has set out to meet it.

       Ezra Helmer [Omer], intelligence officer. He's gathering information collected by Tene [codename for the intelligence service] from eavesdropping (there's a listening station in Tel Aviv) on the Arab command centers in the country and on the various armies; news from [our] brigades (wireless, telephone, written report, oral messenger). Ezra is preparing two reports: a report on our activities, currently once daily, sometimes twice, depending on the material; this report is sent in writing to all the brigades. A second report goes out every morning, internally, to only three people: Yigael, Mondak [Bar-Tikva], and [Yisrael] Beer. This is prepared in the morning and includes a summary regarding both fronts, in the south and the north, not only our actions and those of the enemy, but all the intercepted communications and other information about the enemy's intentions, plans, etc.

       Relations with the newspapers: The "spokesman" (Katriel [Katz]) receives the material from Ezra, Katriel relays it to domestic newspapers and our radio, and for foreign newspapers he relays it to Alex Moskovich [Doron], who works with Fay Doron. The journalists gather twice daily in the Scopus Club [formerly a club for Allied soldiers in Tel Aviv] at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. In addition, journalists [reporters] have been sent to the brigades: to Alexandroni, Givati, Kiriati, Yiftah, Golani, and Carmeli.

       We still need uniform censorship for newspapers and cables. Right now there's a censor for newspapers and radio [for Kol Israel - Mordechai "Motek"] Brown, for radio [for foreign journalists' cables - Aryeh] (Ziv). We need one censor, subordinate to Reuven [Shiloah] and Ezra.

       - Spoke with Yehuda [Ben-Horin] Briger before he returned to Europe tonight [for the procurement mission]. The negotiation with Czechoslovakia is bordering on 12 million, of which: 2 in cash, 10 in deferred payment; this ratio applies to each individual purchase. 15 "Knives" have already been purchased. The rest are under negotiation. I told him that they can now commit to 5 million - if they secure heavy weaponry and airplanes, although the money isn't in our hands yet.

       - Consultation with associates on appointing legates for various capitals.

       - Towards evening we received troubling news about an Egyptian column, seemingly 1000 (?) vehicles, moving northward near Ashdod. The Messerschmitts were sent to shell it, and the relevant orders were issued to Givati, Kiriati, and Alexandroni.