יומנים > יומן - מלא 24/12/1948

Friday, December 24, 1948

[Abba] Eban came. His summary: The Bernadotte plan was demolished at the [UN General] Assembly; England's leadership at the Assembly regarding the Eretz Israel question ["The Question of Palestine" on the UN agenda] has been undermined. The November 29 plan hasn't been canceled, and May 14 [Israel's Declaration of Independence] didn't cancel November [the UN partition plan] either. The postponement of Israel's admission [in the UN] is only temporary; both France and Canada voted to postpone admission until the next session, [which is] still before the elections in Israel. The English haven't changed - but they're assessing the new reality. Only Bevin is still operating out of anti-Jewish emotion, but there's strong public opinion pressure on the government to change its attitude. Eban, like me, disagrees with Moshe [Sharett] regarding granting [recognizing the credentials of] the British consul without de facto recognition. Australia and New Zealand support us out of loyalty to the UN (concerns about world peace) and a desire to be independent [vis-à-vis Britain]. In South America we've acquired new friends - Venezuela, Argentina, Costa Rica.

       Reuven [Shiloah] informs me that the news from the front is not at all worrying.

       - Shaul [Avigur] and Hai [Issachar] came. They want authorization for an order for the Air Force totaling $1,952,000: 12 Mustangs (P.51) $15,000 each [?], 20 - P-47 (5,000 each), 35 AJ-6 training planes ($ 5,000 each), 42 PJ-17 for training ($3,500 each), 5 P-25 [?] bombers ($25,000 each), 4 - C47 (25,000 each), 1 - DC4 ($175,000), 6 - P.Py5 (5,000 each) - all together $1,032,000. Spare parts 150,000, signal equipment [radios] $200,000, armament and ammunition - half a million (100 Browning machine [gun]s $1,000 each, ammunition 0.5, two million 0.2 each), equipment for 500 pilots $60 each, equipment for research $45,000, payments and recruits and families 75,000 per month, bringing 100 recruits to the country ($1,000 each).

       - I went to the Operations Department to clarify the situation at the front, and was told that Yigael [Yadin] had just left for Beersheva. I telephoned Gedera [the Southern Front headquarters] to have them delay him, and immediately left for Gedera. I found him and Mundak [Moshe Bar-Tikva] there. I said that this is an opportunity [in the course of Operation Horev] to bring about the surrender of Faluja [the Faluja "pocket"], and all the available cannons should be assembled and also taken from Front C [Merkaz (Center)] - where there is currently no concern about hostilities - to shell Faluja mercilessly until they surrender. The necessary orders were immediately issued to Mundak, and the two of us [Ben-Gurion and Yadin] left for Beersheva. We were told that Sa'ad is almost impassable, and we were advised to go by way of Muharraqa, and Yigael said that he knows the way. Before [reaching] Muharraqa we were delayed by water streams. We managed to get through two of them, but the village was blocked, and at the third wadi our jeeps sank, and despite all the efforts we weren't able to extract them, though Nehemiah [Argov] found a way through the village and we ripped doors from houses to make a bridge. We decided to go by foot up to the road, and we left a few MP [military policemen] with the jeeps. We passed by a village that wasn't recorded on the map and we were sure that we'd made a mistake, but we finally reached the road. We stopped a jeep that was passing by and we reached Beersheva.

       Here we clarified the state of affairs. Battalion 13 was attacked yesterday morning and afternoon in four waves, access to help was cut off, and when it retreated the battalion suffered heavy losses. There were about 25 killed and missing and about forty wounded. Among those killed were the battalion deputy commander, a company commander, and a company deputy commander. The men had fought very courageously.

       Because of the rain, the shipment to the Negev front was delayed, and the action that was supposed to start today [in the ''Isluj - ''Auja sector] will only start tomorrow. We saw Battalion 9 [of the Negev Brigade] heading to battle at dusk - in high spirits. Further instructions regarding Faluja were issued.

       After dark I returned home - by way of Sa'ad. I saw that those who'd advised me not to go this way were right. Tractors were barely able to drag cars. How important it is to have a road - even - or especially - for war!