יומנים > יומן - מלא 12/05/1948

Wednesday May 12, 1948 Yosef [Avidar] was released at 1:00 last night. [His LEHI captors] treated him courteously. He found zoological hatred of the British in them: "There's no need to fight the Arabs." "We bought Haifa with money from the Brits." They led him back blindfolded as far as Tel Binyamin [in Ramat Gan]. He thought they'd keep him in Zikhron [Ya'akov] or in that vicinity. They passed the checkpoints without being stopped. They tried to approach with a flashlight-they yelled at them to turn it off-and the guards at the checkpoint turned it off. Some of the LEHI people used to be in the Palmach. - [General] Staff meeting. Yigael [Yadin]: The Legion's attack [on the Etsiyyon Bloc] began at dawn this morning with 1,500 [men], tanks, and artillery. There are two PIATs [and] 30 shells there. The Canaan police [station] is in our hands. There are no Arabs in Safed. Lots of medical materials were found. Bet Dharras [west of Be'er Tuvia] in the south was bombarded. 50 Arabs killed. Bashshit and [Al-] Sawafir [the Shafir area today] were occupied. Masses are fleeing from the vicinity (of Majdal [Ashkelon]). We have 5 dead, 15 wounded. Yigael Yadin is concerned that the convoy [from Jerusalem] will not head out. Harry Yaffe was injured in a serious accident in Jerusalem and will be off his feet for 2-3 months. There are enemy forces between Latrun and Bab-el-Wad. [The main] difficulty is from Bab-el-Wad to Qubab. From Jerusalem, a military armored convoy will descend first and a civilian convoy only afterwards. The brigades must be given an order about the expected invasion from Transjordan. Lehrer [Zadok] objects to the mobilization of soldiers [men liable to induction] for labor, too-there are hundreds of them, he says. - A tripartite meeting: Yisrael [Galili], Shkolnik [Eshkol], and me about a temporary modus operandi. Yisrael will deal with personnel mobilization affairs, soldiers, skilled workers, etc. Shkolnik will take care of procurements, port, transport, supply (with [Yosef] Yaakovson and Civil Defense. In this matter, he should meet with [Yohanan] Ratner and [Mordechai] Nimtsa-Bi to work out the matter of shelters and put the Tel Aviv Municipality and other municipalities to work. - Tonight we're awaiting an air shipment of 100 (Vickers) machine [gun]s with ammunition, and tomorrow, by sea, 200 Chauchat [machine guns], 6 cannon, and rounds. A ship will set sail a few days from now and is expected to arrive on [May] 25 with 10,000 rifles, 1,200 machine [gun]s, and ammunition. - Defense Committee at eleven. Berl Raptor began with an attack on the way something was written in [the newspaper] Al Hamishmar concerning the Chief of National Headquarters. I explained that the [Jewish] Agency did not surrender its special authority to the Defense Committee, the authority to appoint or not appoint a Chief of National Headquarters belongs solely to the Agency, and it must report its activity only to the Zionist General Council. I stated that I haven't yet received the defense portfolio from the yod-gimmel and I won't accept it unless I am sure: (1) that our army will be subordinate to the people and to the people only; (2) that every member of the defense forces will act in accordance with his defined authority and authorized appointment; (3) that the defense consideration is the decisive one in all defense-related affairs. I stated [in my remarks] that there is incitement [to extortion, threat] and falsehoods in certain matters. I won't deny it and I won't enter into polemics-because the defense needs force me to remain silent. - Afternoon: a meeting of the People's Administration. It was resolved to declare statehood and [the formation of] a provisional government-on Friday at four in the afternoon. Only [Peretz] Bernstein proposed that we declare the government only. Rosenblüth [Pinchas Rosen] and Sheetrit demanded that [the borders of the state] be noted-we rejected that.