יומנים > יומן - מלא 17/01/1948

[Saturday,] January 17, 1948

This morning Nehemiah [Argov] brought bad news: A platoon that was sent by way of Hartuv to Kefar Etsiyyon in the evening two days ago - has gone missing. They went by way of the hills.

         - At ten a meeting of the Beit Berl board. The entire program is P£ 250,000. Program A - P£ 92,500 is about to end. Program B will require P£ 25,500, Program C P£ 132,000; [we're] short about P£ 20,000 to complete Program A. We decided to expedite the opening of the institution - by the end of March at the latest. We'll enroll a group of students, but if they're called up to the flag [for military service] - they'll go. We'll set aside one building for army needs, organize courses for those who came from Anglo-Saxon [English-speaking] countries and instructors for North African countries, a course for youth instructors. [Haim] Ben-Asher, Gershon Zak, Zalman [Shazar] will determine the institution's subject matter. There are four dormitories for 70 students, two classroom buildings, a cafeteria and a kitchen, a road, electrical arrangements, water, equipment for the kitchen, furniture, a garden, fencing, and security.

         - Yitzhak [Sadeh], Yiga[e]ls [Yigael Yadin and Yigal Allon], Zvi [Ayalon], Yosef R. [Avidar], regarding the Negev.

         - At six the radio announced that 35 Jewish bodies were found near Jaba'. The mayor of Hebron is boasting that he has 43 Jewish identity cards in his possession and one female hostage (?). (This is the platoon that was sent from Hartuv to Kefar Etsiyyon in the evening two days ago).

         - Yigal P. [Allon]: The forces currently in the Negev are barely enough for routine work: eight armored vehicles, aside from an ambulance. One bullet penetrated the armor. Three armored vehicles are in disrepair.

         A brigade [Palmach unit] set out from Gvulot and Be'eri to search Bedouin [tents] - didn't find the pipes [that had been disassembled and stolen], but did [find] two pistols.

         The manpower in the Negev is 1,200. There's a mobile force of 500. Reports from Jerusalem say that the English are leaving ''Ein Husub. In the Negev there are about 600 rifles and 200 Stens. Six settlements are fenced. The excavations are good, but there's a lack of barbed wire. Large settlements are lacking weapons. In Yitzhak [Sadeh]'s view 50 armored vehicles are needed for the Negev.

         What the Negev is primarily missing, in my view, is more Jews, and I called for the enlistment of 1,500 men - even if they're not trained. They'll be trained there. They just need to be accompanied by a trained and disciplined group. When we get weapons - they'll be sent to them. For now we'll keep them at more-or-less fortified settlements. The settlements need to be fortified - by excavations [trenches]. After the [British] withdrawal - we'll increase settlements along the pipeline - including on land that is not ours.

         It's also necessary to send another 300 men at least to Sdom, in order to go from there to ''Ein Husub.

         - I summoned Shkolnik [Levi Eshkol] and proposed that he work alongside me as supervisor of the civilian economic side [in the Ministry of Defense, i.e., he would handle conscription, supplies, and procurement], and I proposed appointing Fritz [Shalom Eshet] as supervisor of the military economy [military finances and logistics]. If I find someone suitable from ba'albati [bourgeois] circles - I'll invite him to oversee the organizational side.