יומנים > יומן - מלא 28/12/1948

Tuesday, December 28, 1948

It's reported that Iraq-Manshiyya is in our hands, but the Faluja Egyptians are applying pressure (?!). The entire ''Isluj - ''Auja road is in our hands. West [of the Gaza Strip] there's nothing new.

       At 10:20 I was informed that our planes had attacked Faluja an hour earlier, there were 4 Egyptian planes there, one was downed, two were hit, one escaped. Our planes were unhurt. Artillery reinforcement was sent to Faluja. The Faluja commander complained yesterday that the bombings are wreaking havoc. He was instructed to breach Hebron and replied that he couldn't. [They] told [him] to head out in groups.

       Another battery was sent to Faluja and [Naval Commander] Shmulik [Admon] is heading there.

       - Shlomo Shamir [Eastern Front commander] came: - There's a lot of insecurity at the front. Tira [in the Sharon Plain, north of Ramat HaKovesh] and Qalansawe are the attackers. I told him that by the end of the action in the south, they must subdue the turmoil. We will not be dragged into hostilities in the Triangle that we have not decided on. The fall of Faluja - when it comes - could, possibly, determine Gaza's fate. After the end of the action in the south, we'll assess the situation - whether to attack or not to attack the Triangle. This will be the final phase, and also the riskiest - given the possibility that England could get involved.

       - At a meeting with Rosenblüth [Pinchas Rosen] and [Yitzhak] Gruenbaum we approved Rosenblüth's proposal for the transition from States Council to Constituent Assembly [the first Knesset].

       - Ziama [Aran] raises objections to the ID card system that Gruenbaum has taken, which will destroy the elections, because 150,000 will not receive ID cards, even though Gruenbaum has promised to distribute the cards during the final two weeks before the elections, if people do not come to collect them first. Gruenbaum's clerk, who's handling the ID cards - Hertz - is apparently a member of Mapam, which is interested in chaos (?).

       Ziama requests one page from me that includes: past achievements; foreign policy; army, rehabilitation of the army and [the army] in general, ''aliya and [immigrant] absorption, settlement, economic policy, education, the woman in the state [the status of women in Israel]. He insists on Aharon [Becker] immediately - and not just for two hours as he's doing now - because there are rifts in the trade union. He also insists on [Levi] Eshkol - especially for the elections to the Histadrut, for at least three weeks. Ziama listed the problems in formulating the election ticket - need to take into account ethnic communities, soldiers, immigrants, women, settlement [labor-settlement movements?], trade union, etc. It was agreed that [Jewish] Agency members could not be candidates. The candidacy of [Yitzhak] Ben-Zvi was agreed upon. The women members demand 12, it was agreed to have 7, including Golda, 6 for settlement [labor-settlement movements?] (the moshavim [cooperative settlements] demand Zvi Yehuda and [Shmuel] Dayan. [Both of them] together is not possible; there has to be a young [candidate]): the candidates: Ben-Gurion, M. Sharett, E. Kaplan, D. Remez, Golda, Sprintzak, Dov Yosef, B.Z. [Ben-Zvi], Herzfeld, Zalman [Shazar], [Peretz] Naftali, a Sephardic, a Yemenite, Aliya Hadasha (not [Georg] Landauer).

       - [Chaim] Herzog complains that the state of security (caution [i.e., field security, secrecy]) is out of control. Spies are entering the country, roaming around, infiltrating the army. There's no law and no institution [in charge].

       What needs to be done immediately? The army, FLS [field security unit], Ministry of Aliya, Foreign [Ministry], and [Ministry of] Police must seize the means [take charge and rectify the situation]. In any event there isn't enough evidence for a trial. There are no people suitable for counter-espionage, there's no authority. The jails are awful and cannot be used. [We] need a special camp that will treat the detainees well. There are people who acted against the Jews in the time of the Nazis, against the Yishuv in the time of the English (Leibowitz, arrived six months ago with GAHAL [foreign enlistment], admitted that he worked for British "Intelligence" at the camps in Italy. It's not possible to get an order to arrest him). Devlock [sp.], a Gentile, a British agent according to a report of the French "Intelligence"; an Arab in Jerusalem is roaming around the American consulate. Teddy Eitan, whose French name is Dupre [sp.], a Gentile, spy, volunteer, serving in the jeeps unit in the Negev, is providing information to the French consul. Without a doubt there were communist agents in the Czech Brigade. Among the Bulgarians there are communist agents.

       Herzog proposes a that committee of five (representatives of the police, defense minister, Foreign [Ministry], I.S. [intelligence service], Justice [Ministry]) decide what to do with the suspects. [We] need a camp for suspected soldiers - it's dangerous to hold them in police stations or Sarafand. The Personnel Department must establish such a camp.

       Herzog complains that he isn't receiving suitable people for I.S. Throughout the world this service is given the best forces. It depends on the Personnel Department. He's also complaining about the budget. He requested 46,000 per month, received only 25,000. He needs this budget for January and February.

       Relations with attachés: The [American] military attaché - van der Walde [sp.], has become a friend. His favorable reports sparked suspicion in Washington and they sent someone (a major) to check on him. The Air Force attaché is Archibald, a friend. For the Navy - Frothingham [sp.], an old chatterbox.

       They'll accept candidates for schools in America, including the Staff College [military staff and command training school]. The War Department in Washington relayed the question to the State Department. [We] should already be selecting candidates [who are] talented, know English, up to age 35 ([Mordechai] Maklef, [Yitzhak] Rabin).

       - I summoned Yosef Baratz - to handle the immigrants. He's completely tied up now with the committee for the soldier. Demands a release from Palmach (which?) of the group of "Yogevs" [immigrant youth from Romania and Serbia] so that they can join the Romanian group that went to ancient Gezer (Abu Shusha) - otherwise the group will fall apart. [To serves as his secretary,] he's requesting [Haim] Berkowitz [sp.] (his daughter [Yehudit] was killed at Degania), who's in the Golani Brigade (Gavriel Berkowitz) - from the Negev. This is not possible now. [Baratz] is inviting me to a Kibbutz Galuyot ["ingathering of the exiles"] day for GAHAL [foreign enlistment] members next week.

       - A delegation of the elections committee came to see me, [Judge Menachem] Dunkelblum, [Aryeh] Bahir, Max [Mordechai] Nimtza-Bi. They're complaining about the delay with ID cards. So far 50,000 have been distributed among civilians; in the army - nothing. For the army, distribution will be by the army. The cards are being prepared by the Statistical Bureau. There's a strike in the registry office in Haifa, which could spread throughout the country - because they're not paying wages. It was suggested in the elections committee that the cards be delivered to homes; the minister of the interior objects to this. [Aharon] Gerz (of the Statistics Bureau) is opposed to distributing the cards home [delivering the cards to people's homes], because [it's necessary to record] "physical build" (!), height, eye color, hair color, other marks. The elections committee decided to send the cards home. [Minister Yitzhak] Gruenbaum refuses to do this. Nimtza-Bi insists that all the cards for the army be delivered to him. Bahir proposes on his behalf that a curfew be announced for January 5 in order to distribute the cards - over the course of 10 days; anyone who didn't receive the card at home would come to pick it up. On January 19 there would be a second curfew, to distribute the remaining cards.

       Dunkelblum raises the question of a budget for elections. P£ 117,000 was required; Hertz from the Ministry of the Interior, [Attorney David] Bar-Rav-Hai, and Dunkelblum worked on the budget. There will be 743 polling stations outside of the army. At each polling station, the list of voters at that station needs to be displayed 12 [hours] a day over the course of seven days. The district heads are refusing to work if they don't receive a budget. Nothing has been approved yet; the finance minister proposes P£ 60,000. It is not only the scope of the budget - but also the manner of its allocation. [Eliezer "Lazar"] Bavly is fabricating all sorts of edicts that encumber the work.

       - [James] McDonald came to see me. He has 3 attachés - for the navy, air [force], army. Our men regard them very well - like friends. The attachés are serious men who were sent to check whether the information coming from Arab countries is correct. An apartment with 12 additional rooms is needed. I tasked [David] Mushin with handling this.

       [Samuel] Klaus [from the US State Department] spoke with Bergman [Dr. Avraham Biran] (Dov Yosef's clerk in Jerusalem), and he has the impression that Jewish Jerusalem is going to be annexed. Golda told him that this [claim] is completely unfounded. I confirmed Golda's remarks and added that of course we would oppose any foreign rule over Jerusalem.

       - [Aharon] Gerz [of the Central Bureau of Statistics]: There are half a million eligible voters, 33,400 of them Arabs. In Tel Aviv there are 132,000 eligible voters. In Haifa 60,000. I asked Gerz why he's refusing to send the [ID] card[s] [to people's] home[s]. He replied: It requires manpower, curfew, there's no confidence in the distributors.

       - [Berl] Locker came to see me and tried to explain his position [regarding the UJA dispute and the need to appease Abba Hillel Silver and Emanuel Neumann] - without much persuasive power and without any success. In his view both sides are guilty, and [Henry] Montor is not much better than Silver and Neumann, but they're at least Zionists, whereas Rosenberg [should be: Rosenwald], to whom Montor wrote the renowned letter, is not a Zionist, and said that he's prepared to help the Jews, but didn't say the Jewish people. (And Silver - [would help] the [Jewish] people, on the condition that he remain in Cleveland [with his congregation]).

       Locker brought [Ya'akov] Haft's election forecast: the party [Mapai] 35%, the religious bloc 20%, Mapam 18, ETZEL [Herut] 13, Progressives 5, Tzioni Bet [the General Zionists] 4, others 5.