יומנים > יומן - מלא 26/06/1948

[Saturday,] June 26, 1948 [Jerusalem]

All the material on manpower in Jerusalem is in the hands of Lehrer [Zadok]. In terms of heavy weapons, [Jerusalem] has: 8 3" mortars (one of them at the university[)], 4 6" mortars (local production) - there's no crew for them, nor has an instructor been sent. In Abu Ghosh there are 4 65 mm cannons, 2 120 mm mortars; there's a crew there. The Moriah Battalion (250-400) is still mutinying. The commanders have been influenced by the Palmach. David [Shaltiel] suggests that the commanders be dispersed [dismissed].

         David opposes the appointment of Moshe Dayan [as his replacement]. Proposes [Mordechai] Makleff.

[Tel Aviv]

At 8:45 I took off from the airfield in Jerusalem and forty minutes later we landed in Tel Aviv. In Jerusalem we flew 4,500 feet, in the Shfela [central plain] 4,000 feet above sea level. After the incidents in the south yesterday we were concerned about enemy airplanes, but we didn't see any airplane in the sky, and everything went smoothly.

         Nehemiah [Argov] wonders why they sent a small airplane. He issued instructions for - and was promised - an airplane with 4 seats. He believes that it was not Kefar Bilu but the village [kefar] of Birwa in the Acre district that we recaptured [the initial record indicated Kefar Bilu but this was later crossed out and amended to Birwa].

         I found a telegram from Shaul [Avigur] [saying] that he would leave for here by plane on June 26. On the 24th of the month a Halifax [airplane] with the men set out (did they arrive?). Van Leer's Dakota also set out from Amsterdam on the 24th and was supposed to reach Tel Aviv on the 25th. Did it arrive?

         - Epstein [Eliahu Elath] telegraphs (June 23, 1948) that as per his request [Eddie] Jacobson [Jewish American businessman, close friend and former business partner of Truman] of Kansas City spoke with Truman. The president said:

         The president is bitter about Bevin, and he criticized the British grumblings over his efforts to sort out the Eretz-Israel problem. He'll send [Loy] Henderson [a pro-Arab senior State Department official] as an ambassador to some country. [Truman told Jacobson that] he'd heard good things about Epstein [Eliahu Elath] from [Secretary of State George] Marshall, [Under Secretary of State Robert] Lovett, and Weizmann, and will soon meet with him.

         SD [the State Department] believes that Bernadotte is a weak man who adopts the last opinion voiced to him. SD and the British are waiting to see what the minimum requirements of the Jews and Arabs are - and then they'll adopt their stances. SD is afraid of adopting a stance - in case the White House opposes it.

         - A cable from [Eliezer] Kaplan (June 23, 1948): Today (i.e., 3 days ago) 900 tons were delivered [to Jerusalem]. In total 2,500 have been delivered. In total it will be possible to deliver 5,000 tons of food (in Jerusalem they informed me that as of the morning of June 24 they'd received 2,200 tons of food, and on the 24th another 600 tons).

         - Yehuda Yaari telegraphs from NY that Doubleday is proposing I write a book about the war for the State of Israel over the course of a generation (beginning with Herzl's Der Judenstaat [The Jewish State]) - on the basis of my personal experience. Yaari ascribes much importance to this in terms of propaganda and suggests

Daphne Trevor [Dafna Allon, author and Palestine / Jerusalem Post reporter] as assistant.

         - Two days ago [Bechor] Sheetrit met with Daoud El-Issa, editor of Filastin, who came from Ramallah to have a look at his home in Jaffa. Also present were Sasson, [Gad] Meknes, Ezra Danin, and [Jaffa Governor Yitzhak] Chechick. According to Issa, about 150,000 Arabs have left the country for neighboring countries. The rest have left for places within the country: Nablus, Ramallah, and elsewhere. There is an inclination to meet with Jews, but this is not the view held by [Secretary-General of the Arab League] Azzam Pasha. Many Arabs will want to close their businesses, and won't remain within the territory of the Jewish state. The Mufti has fallen from grace. They believe the truce will continue. All sorts of anti-Jewish slander is being spread among the Arabs. The Arabs have looted Old Jerusalem [the Jewish Quarter] and destroyed most of its homes. The standard of living for an Arab worker in Egypt is 2½ grush per day, and this is why communism is spreading. From Issa's remarks it was clear that they, the Arabs, are receiving detailed information about what's happening among us.

         - Montag [Moshe Mann] believes that the Egyptian issue [the attacks on the 25th] is not serious, and that we should not succumb to this provocation. We're not ready in Jerusalem and the Galilee, and it's best to hold back.

         Zvi [Ayalon] and Lehrer [Zadok]: The department heads and commanders of the brigades, the Air Force, the Navy, and the Artillery Corps have been summoned for tomorrow afternoon [to take the IDF oath of allegiance]. They suggest that I prepare an order of the day for the army. Ya'akov [Dori] is also preparing an order of the day.

         Shaul [Avigur] wrote (on June 21, 1948): He has 15 Norseman aircraft in his possession. They need additional fuel tanks in order to reach the country. He bought 5 million 303 bullets. At the end of the month they'll leave for "Yoram" [Yugoslavia] and from there by sea.

         Yesterday Ehud's seminar (?) opened [code for: the ship with Avriel's delivery departed], including 10,000 rifles, 3,400 MG-34, 30 million bullets. There are political obstacles to realizing the Yael [Gazelle] Plan (?) [procurement from Finland].

         [They're] about to sign contracts: in Switzerland for 50 75 mm field cannons, 50,000 shells, 150,000 rounds for 20 mm cannons in our possession. In France: 50,000 shells for 65 mm cannons, 12 120 mm mortars, 4,000 shells for them. He hopes to receive the additional allotment of "Knives" [Messerschmitt planes] (15) this week. To date (June 21, 1948) he's received $ 6,825,000 from Golda. Yesterday he requested another 5 million.

         Zvi [Ayalon] proposes resuming the morning meetings from 9 to 10, [and] clearly defining each person's responsibilities, finishing the business of the appointments, [and] holding a meeting of the department heads every evening (not necessarily with my participation).

         I'll consult with Ya'akov [Dori] on these matters, and on Tuesday things will be decided. I sent Nehemiah [Argov] to Ya'akov with the proposals and queries and problems for his opinion.

         - Warlinski: From the 18th through today, 5,000 tons of food have been sent to Jerusalem, including close to 3,000 tons of flour (this doesn't line up with what I heard in Jerusalem). Yesterday and today 1,500 tons of food were sent. 3,000 tons of flour will suffice for 4½ months for Jerusalem, 350 grams of bread per person per day. There's no yellow cheese in the country aside from 360 tons (in Haifa and Tel Aviv this cheese is not being consumed). Of this they want to send 140 tons to Jerusalem, 220 to the army. And as for eggs - Warlinski says it's impossible to assemble two billion eggs for Jerusalem. With Warlinski's consent I telegraphed Teddy [Kollek] and Rose Halperin [in the United States] to immediately send 100 tons of milk powder and 50 tons of egg powder for Jerusalem by cargo plane.

         So far [Eliezer] Kaplan has bought P£ 170,000 worth of goods that have already been sent to Jerusalem. Kaplan also approved P£ 30,000 for fuel for Jerusalem. Transporting the merchandise will cost P£ 40,000 (P£ 6 per ton). Another P£ 180,000 has to be spent for jam (120 tons), sardines (72 tons), condensed milk (360,000 cans), legumes (300 tons), groats (150 tons), canned vegetables (72 tons), dehydrated potatoes (10 tons), infant formula (5 tons), liver paste (6½ tons). [We] can send another 1,000 tons of flour (P£ 55,000). [We] also need to send another 150 tons of sugar (P£ 11,000). The addition of flour and sugar is only a question of money - the goods exist in the country. Yellow cheese - this question is between Jerusalem and the army.

         I asked about the fuel for the Electric Company. Warlinski promises that beginning tomorrow they'll start transporting fuel - 250 tons per day. Of this, 800 tons goes to the Electric Company; by the end of the truce they'll have transferred 2,800 tons of fuel.

         Shkolnik [Eshkol] proposes not listening to the Jerusalem people and sending many tomatoes (they've been sun-dried), apples, grapes - to be sold freely in shops.

         - [Eliezer] Kaplan reports: The fuel issue involving Rutenberg [the Electric Company] has been resolved. He got a loan and Kaplan promised him dollars. The matter of the loan and KKL is been resolved - by releasing some of the [South] African funds to KKL. He promised P£ 50,000 for fortifications. Granovski [Granot] transferred 1½ million. All in all it appears that KKL has 10.5 million in America.

         - [Marcus] Sieff has complaints regarding G [General Staff Branch - i.e., Operations Department], Q [Quartermaster Branch - i.e., Logistics Department], and the administration. Manpower is not being properly exploited - Ben Dunkelman, Ben-Moshe, [Leo] Heaps want to go back [to Canada and the US]. Heaps wasn't a Zionist. He's a major, had an important military career. He met Lehrer [Zadok] or one of his men - they sent him to the Negev. Nahum [Sarig] said he's not authorized to give him a position. He returned to Tel Aviv. He's sitting in a hotel and wants to go back. Dunkelman has a man - Colonel Weiner (Norman), an artilleryman. He was placed in Artillery [Corps] at the request of [the] Training [Department] when Dunkelman fell ill - Weiner was transferred to Armored [Corps], and [Eliyahu] Temkin accused Dunkelman of "stealing" a man.

         Gershon [Zak] assigned Samek [Shmuel Yanai] to a naval posting. Sieff asked Samek if they have an expert in naval gunnery. He answered: No. But [in fact] there is an expert, namely, [Yerahmiel] Yerhovsky [sp.]. In Jerusalem, in the Moriah Battalion, there's a naval expert, Binyamin Shugar [sp.].

         There's no discipline in the army because the families aren't receiving a salary. He advises appointing [Chaim] Herzog as an intelligence officer.

         Eli Kirschner is complaining: Solel Boneh received large storage sheds [that were intended] for Transjordan. The army is demanding this material, and isn't getting it.

         - At 8 p.m. Leon Simon and [Norman] Bentwich came to see me. In England, according to them, they're beginning to recognize the facts of the state's existence (almost as even they [Simon and Bentwich] are beginning to recognize them, albeit without enthusiasm); they want the university to remain neutral.

         - Today Lehrer [Moshe Zadok] gave me a list of brigade commanders, when appointed and by whom: Golani - Mishal Shechter [Shacham], May 23, 1948, Zvi [Ayalon], under order of B. G. [Ben-Gurion]; Oded - Uri Yafeh, February 26, 1948, Yadin; Carmeli - Mordechai Makleff, May 22, 1948, Zvi [Ayalon] with B.G.'s approval; Alexandroni - Dan Epstein [Even], December 1, 1947, Ya'akov [Dori] and Y. G. [Yisrael Galili]; Kiriati - Michael Rabinowitz [Ben-Gal], December 1, 1947, Ya'akov [Dori] and Yisrael [Galili]; Givati - Shimon Koch [Avidan], December 17, 1947, Y. D., Y. G.; Etsiyyoni - D. Shaltiel, 15 [no date give; he was actually appointed on February 14, 1948], Y. D., Y. G.; 7th Brigade - Shlomo Rabinovitz [Shamir], May 15, 1948, Defense Minister; 8th Brigade - Yitzhak Sadeh, May 31, 1948, Defense Minister; [Negev Brigade] Sarig Nahum - Y. D., Y. G.; Harel - Rabin Yitzhak -- Yiftah --.

         Battalions: 12 -   Yitzhak Bornstein [Broshi]; 11A - [Aviezer] Friedmanx  [as noted below, "X" indicates a temporary appointment]; 21 - Horensteinx [should be Ben-Tzion Bernstein-Inbar]; 42 - Bekensteinx Shemaiah [sp.]; 51 - Kadoorie [Kempinski] Ephraim [sp.]; 61 - Mart Zalman; 71 - Yehuda Werber; 81 [actually - Battalion 89] - Moshe Dayan; 2 - Moshe Nusovitzky (Netzer) ; 4 - Uzi Narkissx; 1 - Itiel Amichaix; 13 - Avraham Yoffe; 11 - Ephraim Berzonx [should be Berenzon] [sp.]; 33 - Ben-Zion Friedman [should be Frieden-Ziv] [sp.]; 43 - [blank]; 52 - Ya'akov Prulov [Peri] [sp.]; 72 - [blank]; 82 - Felix Beatusx ("Herman"); 7 - Yohanan Zarizx; 5 - Issachar Shadmix; 3 - Moshe Kelmanx; 14 - Kribant [should be Kroband-Dror] Ya'akov [sp.]; [11]C [Ya'akov] - Bieberx Gali [should be Biebergal] [sp.]; 24 - Avia Hashimshonix; 34 - Dov [should be David] Herschkowitz [Ofer]; 44 - Moshe Wajmanx; 53 - Yitzhak Pundak; 15 - Moshe Green [should be Gornitsky-Goren] [sp.]; 23 - Maxie Kahan; 35 - [blank]; 54 - Dov [should be Tzvi] Tsertenkox [Tzur]; 31 - Ya'akov Lichtensteinx [Nur-Sela]; 55 - Raphael Vardi; 10 - Israeli Carmix. (X indicates that he's temporary). In total 34 battalions.

         - The Air Force reported on the arrival of a C-49 (Constellation) with [heavy] machine guns and spare parts; on the night of the 25th two planes arrived, DC-4 [Skymaster] and C-46 [Commando] with equipment; on the night of the 24th - C-46 plane with [heavy] machine guns; on the night of the 22nd - C-46 plane with [heavy] machine guns; on the night of the 20th two C-46 planes with an engine for a "Knife" [Messerschmitt plane]. DC-4 with [heavy] machine guns and equipment. On the night of the 19th two C-46 planes with [heavy] machine guns; DC-4 with [heavy] machine guns and two experts. On the night of the 17th two C-46 planes; DC-4 with [heavy] machine guns.