SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER OBITUARIES picked up at a comer in . gev until his jeep was blown up on a land He was then taken to a camp in upper New mine and his injuries forced him to return York State for training. home one week before the final truce. He returned with a personal letter nom Lou After the training, he sailed to Harris to Teddy Kollek commending him Marseilles and was put into a DP camp on his service. and told to pretend to be mute-since he spoke no language other than English. Back in Brooklyn Al worked While there he helped equip the Italian several jobs until he decided to move to fishing boat that was to take them to Is- Texas in 1953. Before going there he took rael. They left in the dead of night from Le time for a vacation in Miami Beach. This Havre with 150 DPs and a small crew. The latter decision was to determine the rest of passengers were carried on shelves, just his life. It was in Miami Beach that he met as we many years later saw reproduced in his wife--to-be, Betty. After a whirlwind the Museum of Clandestine Immigration courtship they were married and decided in Haifa. Al was the cook. On the way out to raise their family in Miami. He went the boat hit something that caused a hole into the uniform rental business, eventu- Al Wank, in the ship which necessitated bailing wa- ally owning his own business, BonMark Navy and ter the entire trip. We were told that the Uniform Rental Service. He and Betty name of the ship was the Merrieannic but raised two children, Bonnie and Marc, Al was born in 1926 and was we were never sure of that. both of whom are committed and raised in Greenpoint, a particularly rough are devoted to the state of Israel. Between neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. He had The ship passed the British Block- them, they gave Al and Betty six wonder- to fight every day because he was one of ade and arrived somewhere near Tel Aviv ful grandchildren. the very few Jews in the neighborhood. where it was sunk in the harbor. The pas- He left Greenpoint to fight in World War sengers were taken to various places within In 1998 we had a “Reunion” of II at the age of 17. After being rejected Israel and the crew were questioned about five of the “Machalniks” in North Caro- by the Paratroopers and the submarine their skills. Since Al had been a gunnerʼs lina. They had not been in touch with each service because he was too big for either, mate in the US Navy, he was assigned to other for 50 years but with internet and he joined the Navy and volunteered for a the Hail Hayam. He always liked to say other “sleuthing” methods they managed branch known as the Armed Guard-Navy that he was put in charge of all the guns of to find each other and arrange for the time gun crews on merchant ships. The Armed the -both of them. He stayed together. Guard had the highest rate of fatalities in ,in the Hail Hayam awhile and participat- the Navy. He served on Liberty Ships in ed in the raids on Tyre. His departure was They came from Canada, Kan- the South Pacific and was in on seven in- prompted by meeting Moshe Dayan in a sas, Florida, Pittsburgh and North Caro- vasions for which he received commen- bar. Dayan said all the action was down lina (until recently from South Africa). It dations for his service. in the and so Al and his buddy fol- was a wonderful time and many memories lowed him down to the desert where they were shared. The other men were Harvey Upon return to Brooklyn Al joined the Hayot HaNegev. They were (Sarolnikov) Sirlin (now deceased), Al worked several jobs including that of a sent into battle with only a hand grenade Twersky, Robert “Esky” Klaper, and Jack stevedore on the New York docks, his and told to get weapons from dead Arabs. Benatan. We have a wonderful video of fatherʼs business, etc. He boxed in the He served in the Armored Car and Jeep that reunion with two hoursʼ worth of re- PAL League and played Semi-Pro Foot- Company, 9th Battalion, Palmach Hane- membrances shared by all. ball. During this time he began to hear gev Brigade and is pictured on p. 34 in the about the struggle to establish the State book “Machal” . One of their duties was Al was always very proud of the of Israel and he was fascinated with the to take advantage of every truce declared part he played in the establishment of the fact that Jews were fighting for a Home- by the UN by driving all over unclaimed State of Israel. He died on Feb. 25, 2004 land. While at a meeting run by Barney territory in jeeps with Israeli flags. The after a long, valiant fight with pancreatic Ross, Al overheard some men who were UN would think that Israel was in con- cancer. His only request was for his coffin laughing at the procedures-saying that no trol of those areas and declare them to be to be draped with both the American and one there would ever go to fight. He con- part of Israel. Al always felt that they had Israeli flags. fronted these men and insisted he wanted secured much extra land for the State by to go. That encounter was the beginning utilizing those tactics. He was in on the Betty Wank of several meetings in which he was taken capture of Beersheva and delighted in Condolences to to unknown places (even blind-folded at showing his wife many years later what Betty Wank first), interrogated and investigated until had become of the tiny two-street town 2603 NW 103rd Ave. #310 he was approved and told to wait to be they had captured. He fought in the Ne- Sunrise, FL 33322d 8 Continued on page 10 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER OBITUARIES Letters to the More on Israel Editor Navy’s First To the Editor- Warship

During the Sar-el, volunteers for Isra- el, program, in which my wife and I participated recently, they provides some cultural activities. I was very pleased to learn that one program featured Zipporah Porath commenting on her Rochelle and Edward Chinsky book Letters from , 1947-1948.

Edward Chinsky: Radio Operator with LAPSA Zippy, a member of AVI, gave a mov- Northland, Eilat ing, funny and, for me, a poignant presenta- The former U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Edward Chinsky died on tion of her experiences. I was inducted into April 8, 2004. Ed had served as a ra- the at the same time as she, and we Northland. dio operator in, as it was known the were both members of the Hebrew University Lineas Areas de Panama, Israel’s Air Palmach unit and participated in the same or The photo with my article Transport command. He was a mem- similar missions. I later immensely enjoyed in the Fall 2003 edition of the News- ber of the C-46 crew that flew Yigal Zippy’s book, which had outstanding reviews. letter shows the Northland being Yadin to Paris on November 11, 1948. towed, on October 3rd 1947, with her for a meeting of the U.N. For information on the book: e-mail hapless passengers to a British ‘del- [email protected]. For information on the egation’ awaiting her at Haifa’s ‘pier Ed had served with the Roy- Sar-El program: e-mail [email protected] of tears.’ al Canadian Air Force during World or the website www.sar-el.org. Pamela is an War II. After the Israel-Arab war he American living in Tel Aviv. She is the coordina- This newly-acquired photo of returned to Canada, trained as an ac- tor of the Sar-El program. the Northland was taken in WW2 dur- countant eventually becoming con- ing her US Coast Guard service in the troller of Federal Department Stores Irv Fellner Greenland Patrol. She’s being towed in Highland Park, MI. His wife of fifty after her propeller was damaged by years, Rochelle, pre-deceased him. A To the Editor- ice while chasing a German vessel. son and daughter-in-law, David and The seaplane seen on her fantail was Eva Chinsky, a daughter and son-in- Recently I met Shlome Gazit and we were lowered onto the sea via a boom for law, Debi and Hartley Harris, survive _talking about Bet. He had not heard of take-off, and lifted aboard the same him. He leaves four grandchildren. our book The Jews Secret Fleet. I sent him one. I way after landing. have since received from him a book in Hebrew Condolences to by Reuben Aharoni Leaning Masts: Ships of the In this photo, taken during Mrs. Deborah Harris Illegal Immigration after World War II. Unfortu- the 1950s in Haifa Port, she’s in her 4800 Leonard Court nately, copies are no longer available. I am of- final career as the Israel Navy’s Eilat West Bloomfield, MI 48322 fering to photocopy a page on which anyone’s A-16. ship appears. Please remember that the page is Eddy Kaplansky all in Hebrew. Write me by mail, not e-mail. The book was actually published in 1997 and I am sorry that they did not see any reason to let us know or maybe some people do know and I am the one that is out in the cold.

Crew members of ATC C-46 that flew Yigal Murray Greenfield Yadin, Eddie Chinsky, Ben Sklar, Ray Kurtz, Sy 2 Shamir St. Cohen(sitting), Eli Cohen. Tel Aviv 69693 Northland, World WarII, Under Tow 9 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER OBITUARIES

his service in Great Britainʼs Royal Air Force in pendent Jewish State, Boris as the pilot and I as World War II. After the war, while studying in the navigator carried out the Israel Air Forceʼs London he joined Etzel. Ordered to bomb the first operational mission as a reconnaissance Altalena. He was enraged at the prospect and over enemy territory - over Transjordan, which - intended to drop his bombs elsewhere. Fortu was one of the five invading Arab States. nately the mission was cancelled. He is survived by his wife, Batya, Boris was indeed both a founder and who bore him Ayelet, Tal and Leon. He has two builder of the Israel Air Force, which man-to- children, Lana and Tamar, from his first wife, man, is considered to be the finest air force in Ruthi. Two sisters also survive him. the world. Boris was involved in almost every important facet of the nascent Air Force. He was

responsible for recruiting aircrews and acquir- Following is an obituary prepared for South Af- ing equipment. He was appointed as the first rican publication by “Smokey Simon”: commander of the Tel Aviv airfield (Sde Dov). He was a founding member of 101 Squadron David Ben-Gurion, Israelʼs first Prime Minister - the Air Forceʼs first combat squadron. He had and Minister of Defence, stated: “Machal (the the guts to test-fly the IAFʼs first Spitfire, which volunteers from overseas) were the Diasporaʼs was constructed out of scrap which had been most important single contribution to Israelʼs abandoned by the RAF. He was an excellent survival in the War of Independence”. At least Boris Senior, pilot, and one of the few veterans who never 90-95% of the 425 flying crews who served in crashed an ME-109 aircraft. These ME-109ʼs Machal Pilot Who Refused the Israel Air Force (IAF) and in Air Transport which were built in Czechoslovakia were far in- Command (ATC) were Machalniks, and Bo to Bomb Altalena - ferior to the German-built type. These aircraft ris undoubtedly ranked as one of the foremost were unreliable and extremely idiosyncratic. It is reported in the Jerusalem Machalniks. (Air Transport Command was a On an epic flight in a Spitfire from Yugoslavia Post, April 11, 2004 that Boris Senior, one of separate entity from the Air Force, and had the to Israel, Boris had to force-land in Rhodes as a the earliest Mahal volunteer pilots who helped function of flying-in to Israel vitally-needed result of a mechanical malfunction. He was ar- set up the fledgling Israel Air Force, died in his weapons and supplies for the Air Force, Army, rested by the Greeks and detained for 14 days. sleep Friday at the age of 82. Senior had been and Navy). an early Zionist in his native South Africa, but Boris carried out an attack on King Borisʼs Air Force career started in had joined the South African Air Force during Abdullahʼs Palace in Amman, in the Bonanza the South African Air Force, where he served World War II. He had been shot down over he had smuggled out of South Africa. He was as a fighter pilot in World War II. He was shot and was saved in a miraculous rescue by also involved in planning an attack on Cairo down in combat over the skies of Italy, and he an American Catalina crew. by one of the three B-17s on their epic mis- parachuted into the icy waters of the Adriatic The Johannesburg native later smuggled sion from Czechoslovakia to Israel. During Sea. Boris was saved in a most dramatic rescue a twin-engine Bonanza aircraft to Palestine in service in 101 Squadron, Boris shot down an by the crew of an American Air Force Catalina 1948. Together with fellow Mahalnick Smoky Egyptian aircraft, and his crowning success as flying boat. Simon, today chairman of World Machal, they a fighter pilot was when he shot down an RAF staged the first ever official flight of the IAF aircraft. This historic aerial battle with the RAF After World War II, Boris went to on Independence Day, May 15, 1948. That re- took place on 7th January 1949. The Royal Air study in London, where he met his life-long connaissance flight in the Bonanza took them Force had ordered a number of armed fighter friend, Weizmann. The United Nations over Transjordan, where they photographed aircraft to reconnoitre the battle-fields after Resolution of November 1947 was a turning thousands of Arab troops converging on the Yigal Alonʼs forces had penetrated into Sinai. point in Borisʼs life. Like many other Jews, new state. Even though the IAF was greatly out-numbered Boris felt outraged by the atrocities of the Ho- The swashbuckling Senior also vol- by the RAF, our fighters engaged the RAF and locaust, and by the despicable deportation by unteered to test fly a “Frankenstein” Spitfire, 5 of their aircraft were destroyed - 4 Spitfires which mechanics had assembled from various the British of Holocaust survivors back to Eu- and one Tempest. Four aircraft were destroyed rope, to , Madagascar, and Mauritius. scraps, abandoned by the RAF. Later in the by Machal pilots, and one aircraft was shot Following the U.N. Resolution, Boris realized War of Independence he flew Spitfires from down by a tank, which was also manned by that a war with the Arabs was inevitable. He Czechoslovakia and was a founding member Machalniks. Boris was one of the victorious of the famous 101 Squadron. Senior went on immediately became involved in recruiting vet- IAF pilots. to set up the IAFʼs Anti-aircraft Corps before eran airmen who had served in the South Afri- mustering out of the service. He remained in can Air Force (SAAF) in World War II. He also Following the victory of the Israeli Israel and became a businessman. He recently became actively involved in acquiring aircraft, Forces in the War of Independence, Boris was moved from his home in Kfar Shmaryahu to a and he actually purchased 50 Kittyhawks, but given the responsibility of setting-up Israelʼs retirement home near Tel Mond. unfortunately there was no way of getting these Air Defence Command. He was engaged in The English Edition of Haʼaretz also aircraft out of South Africa as there was a U.N. this assignment from 1949 to 1951. After a embargo on weapons of any type to the Middle reports that he flew Spitfire from Czechoslo- brilliant and adventurous career, he ceased op- East. However, he did acquire two Bonanza vakia. Forced to land in Rhodes, he was ar- erational flying in 1952. rested. He is credited with shooting down two civil airplanes, and he flew one of them across Egyptian aircraft as part of Israelʼs first fighter the length of Africa without navigational aids. squadron. In fact, on 14th May 1948, the very day on An obituary by Uri Dromi recounts which Ben-Gurion declared Israel as an inde- 10 Continued on page 11 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER OBITUARIES

ters. For ten years he was in charge of the source for holidays and the days that field crops and irrigation. When the kib- were sad, and of a veritable treasure for the butz high school was started, he became a student who one day will come to study teacher having completed studies at Ora- the customs of that marvelous being that nim Teachers College. He taught Agricul- turned youthful dreams into a society of ture. He also taught at the regional high dreamers. school. And everything quietly. In, quiet When he retired from teaching, he worked on his collections in the ar- he returned to the to work in ir- chives, quietly worked in his Studio and rigation after which he organized and ran sometimes arranged an exhibition of his the kibbutz archives. During all the years, work and in his modest smile greeted all Benny continued his creative art work. those who came to look at it. Benny died 7 October 2003, at the age of 83, of a heart attack.He is survived by his The way he was in everything. wife Ruchama and his two daughters, Ruth Ruchama and Benny were hurt when their and Rachel. daughters went far away, but quietly ac- cepted it, and quietly and lovingly wel- David Baum comed young families into home as ad- Benjamin (Benny) Kubersh: opted children, and every Sabbath evening Radio Operator on the their house was filled with light and the Paduka A Eulogy offered at Bennyʼs funeral laughter of children. I think I came to know Benny by He suffered in his body and was Benny was born in Tiffton, Geor- his painting that for many years has hung silent, and went up to the dining room ev- gia July 18 1920. He grew up in the Bos- on the wall opposite my bed. A beautiful ery evening, and after every meal sat for ton area where in addition to the standard picture, like all his paintings, a quiet pastel a few moments until he could get up. His schooling he studied Art and Hebrew. He with tranquil colors that was just pleasant back was bent but did not give up. In si- was active in Hashomer Hatzair Zionist to look at. Beautiful, quiet. Not demand- lence, too, he lived our kibbutz life, lived Youth Movement. Benny served in the ing attention but saying “I am here,” and I every moment of it, made it part of him the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII. think that was Benny. way he collected the light and the shad- ows, and if he had thoughts or complaints After discharge from service, he Benny was many things, studied or doubts, he saved them generally in the was ready for Aliya but there were no cer- Hebrew in Boston, a farmer in the train- chambers of his heart or shared them with tificates available. Like a number of other ing farm in Hightstown, a soldier in Com- Ruchama at home, but quietly and with ex-servicemen, he decided to attempt Ali- munications Corps in the American Army, faith. yah by accompanying the Jewish refugees radio man on the illegal immigration ship, in Europe. When in Paris he was contacted farmer and head of our grain crops in Hat- And so he left one, quietly, and by the Palyam. He completed its radio op- zor, teacher - perhaps I knew him first, I am sure that if that place where he has erator training course in Southern . before we acquired the painting, when he gone it were still possible to see, he could Benny sailed on the GEULA (PADUKA) headed our grain crop branch, and was ill continue to see the beauty of the dream from Bayonne France to Bulgaria and once, and as the only veteran in the branch and the beauty of the world he found. then to Haifa. He was deported to Cyprus took his job for a week or two. According with the passengers. Then he was returned to his example I went out to the fields and to Palestine as a refugee. His Aliyah trip walked the furrows, but unlike him I didnʼt Shmuel Bari started in September 1946 and ended in know what to see, and if I didnʼt cause November 1947 when he joined his gareen damage, I didnʼt do much good. Condolences may be sent to: in Kibbutz Hatzor. There he drove a cat- Ruchama Kulbersh erpillar tractor building shelter, trenches And all this time he was an artist, Kibbutz Hatzor and transporting supplies to Negev settle- and, in the course of time, Hatzorʼ archivist, 60970 ments. During the War of Independence dividing his time between them. In his art- Israel he operated the communications station at ist days he perpetuated and created beauty Kibbutz Hatzor. wherever he found, it around him. In his archives he collected, and gathered, and After the War, Benny married organized and catalogued and preserved his wife Ruchama. They had two daugh- every scrap of the Kibbutzʼs life, and was 11 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER New Funding for and Progress of Machal Archives and Machal Museum Archives maintenance. will be of use to Ralph should contact him at (352) 392-6525. Ralph Lowenstein, Director and Machal Museum Archivist of the and Machal Five-year pledges of $2,500 Archives at the University of Florida Li- For the first time in the United or more were contributed to the project braries, reported that he has received a to- States or Canada, Aliyah Bet and Machal by the Shepard Broad Foundation, Phil tal of $78,743 in pledges and cash in his will have its own permanent museum. and Barbara Emmer, Mort and Barbara campaign to raise $105,000 for archive Ralph Lowenstein, director of the Aliyah Levinson, Harold Livingston, Ralph and activities over the next five years. Major Bet and Machal Archives, has been asked Bronia Lowenstein, Norman and Helen pledges came from the Shepard Broad to construct a mini-museum honoring the Schutzman, Simon Spiegelman, Marvin Foundation ($20,000), the Braman Family veterans of these two groups that played Libow, Marvin Slott and the Vidal Sas- Foundation ($25,000), the Jack Chester such a significant role in the creation of soon Foundation. Foundation ($10,000), the Judith Baum- the state of Israel. gardner Gelbart Foundation ($10,000) Other significant gifts were con- and the B. Milford Gerson Trust ($5,000). The museum will be located in tributed by Arthur Bernstein, Ira Feinberg, Seven AVI members contributed $7,375, the main hallway of the new $8.5 million Bill Gelberg, Paul Kaye, Adrian Phillips, or about 10 percent of the money raised so University of Florida Hillel building in Gene Blum, Jack and June Medalie, Bai- far. Gainesville, Florida. It will include seven ley Nieder, Herbert Friedman, Harold museum display cases and one interactive Shugar and Fred Levinson. These funds will enable Ralph, console, linking museum viewers to other who receives no pay, and his two under- Zionist and veteran Internet sites, such as Ralph is still short of his goal graduate assistants to pursue the ongoing AVIʼs Virtual Museum and the Machal of $65,000, so any other AVI members work of the archives. These include col- West web site. who would like to contribute to the proj- lection of detailed questionnaires from ect should call Ralph at (352) 392-6525, veterans of Aliyah Bet and Machal (more Ralph has hired a professional or send checks made out to “University than 400 are now on file), collection and museum production director, Dorr Den- of Florida Hillel” at the Aliyah Bet and copying of photographs and official docu- nis, to help him with the project. The Machal Archives, PO Box 118400, Uni- ments, continued development of a data Hillel building will be dedicated in Janu- versity of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611- base and the Aliyah Bet and Machal Vir- ary, and the museum should be completed 8400. All gifts are tax-deductible. tual Museum on the Internet (http://www. by mid-2005. Cost to produce the mini- israelvets.com), and continued work on museum will be about $65,000, not count- The University of Florida has accurate rosters of the individual ships and ing the cost of the interactive console. To 6,000 Jewish students, one of the largest military units in which Aliyah Betniks and date, Ralph has already received $49,500 student Jewish populations in the nation. Machalniks served. in cash and pledges for this project. Enrollment at the university is 48,000. “The building of an Aliyah Bet and Mach- After two years of research, As planned, the seven display al museum at the University of Florida Ralph reports, the rosters of 12 American- cases will have the following themes: does not preclude another one being built owned ships have been completed. The I. The historical North Ameri- somewhere else, perhaps in New York or crew lists will be listed in Aliyah Bet and can support for Israel. Los Angeles,” Ralph said. “But we are not Machal Virtual Museum this fall. Ralph II. The purchase and routes of getting any younger, and the opportunity and his assistants are now working on the 12 American-owned ships. was presented to us here in Gainesville by more difficult task of compiling rosters of III. Spotlight on shipsʼcrews the Hillel organization.” the American and Canadian volunteers in and rescue of Holocaust survivors. each one of the Israeli army, navy and air IV. Smuggling of arms and re- Ralph said there are also plans to force units in which they served. cruitment for Machal. raise additional money to duplicate much V. The role of Army and Navy of the mini-museum for display in a na- The University of Florida Librar- volunteers. tional tour that will include other Hillels ies has agreed to be the permanent archive VI. The role of Air Force volun- and Jewish museums throughout the U.S. of all the material gathered by Ralph, and teers. and Canada. also to preserve and update the database VII. Memorial to the 42 North and Virtual Museum in perpetuity. (De- American volunteers killed during ser- tails of the agreements were published in vice. the last AVI Newsletter.) Ralph has already collected an endowment of $42,000 at the Anyone who has artifacts from Libraries to provide for this perpetual the War of Independence that they think 12 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members continued from Pg 1 Elhanan Oren jecting a mechanical image of the The War of 1948, Israeli Indepen- battlefield, stands at the heart of a dence and the Refugee Problem Israel was violently at- torrent of modern work. (1994) is an American political sci- tacked by its neighbors the day entist who brings together both Is- independence was declared. The The Israel War of Indepen- raeli and Arab materials. Avraham nation lost some 6,000 or her sons dence was initially described as a Selaʼs The Decline of the Arab-Is- and daughters in vicious battles complex of military and political raeli Conflict: Middle East Politics but bested all of her enemies and history in a penumbra of personal and the Quest for Regional Order opened her gates to refugees from memoirs and fictional accounts. A (1998) analyzes political sequalae Hell. few of the serious historical works, of the conflict. Dan Caspiʼs The written mostly from an Israeli per- In/Outsiders: The Media in Israel Yitzhaq Navon spective, available in English and (1999) reflects on the Israeli press arranged chronologically by date during the conflict. Benny Morrisʼ, The citation from Oren lists of publication, include: Netanel The Birth of the Palestine Refugee some immediate outcomes of the Lorch, Israelʼs War of Indepen- Problem Revisited (2004) intro- Arab-Israel conflict of 1947-49, dence: 1947-1949 (1968). Lorch duces new material modifying his or more precisely, the gains, since was a young historian in the his- earlier “revisionist” views. One is this paragraph does not report the torical branch of the Israel Defence struck by the twenty-year gap be- costs in blood and treasure, as does Forces who resigned frustrated by tween the war and the beginnings Navonʼs comment, of the conflict pressures to treat his work from a of serious military history. Time for Israel. In this sense it is the vic- public relations point of view; Ben- and distance are required to con- torʼs historical narrative. That does ny Morrisʼ The Birth of the Pales- struct a more veridical and objec- not make it inaccurate but it does tine Refugee Problem, 1947-1949; tive narrative. The New Historians make it incomplete as an account (1987) was an early criticism of the were the products of American and of a complex engagement between accepted version of events in 1948. British universities. They tried to the Yishuv, the regular armies of He was dubbed a revisionist “New introduce the scholarly criteria surrounding Arab states, irregular Historian”; Simha Flappan, The they had learned in interpreting foreign volunteers organized in Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities accounts of the war. As might be Syria and Egypt and the militias of (1987) is the work of a leader of expected, they generated a tradi- the local Palestinian population. the Israeli left, a progressive inter- tionalist reaction perceiving them pretation of events; Ilan Pappé, au- as lacking in patriotism. Military history has a long thor of Britain and the Arab Israeli tradition emerging from cave draw- Conflict, 1948-1951(1988) is one The collection under re- ings, biblical accounts and Roman of most severe iconoclasts among view concludes with an article on letters. Josephusʼ The Wars of the the New Historians. Issa Khalafʼs the development of Israeli military Jews, written in the first century Politics in Palestine: Arab Faction- historiography. (Bar-On, Morde- C.E. and culminating with a de- alism and Social Disintegration chai, “The Struggle Over Memo- scription of the Roman victory (1991) describes the disorganiza- ries of the War: The Beginning of over Judea, the fall of Jerusalem in tion in the Arab community, which Israeli Historiography of the War 70 C.E. and of in 73 C.E. contributed to their wartime catas- of Independence, 1948-1958,” Vol. with a good dose of Josephusʼ own trophe. Shmuel Dothanʼs A Land 2, 967-1003.) Bar-On is a scholar judgment on the wrong-headedness in the Balance: The Struggle for at the Yitzhak Ben Zvi Institute of the Judean resistance. Carl von Palestine, 1918-1948 (1993) is a and the Yisrael Galili Association Clausewitzʼ On War, published in political backgrounder; Ian Lustick for Research in Defensive Capa- the early nineteenth century, pro- (ed.), Triumph and Catastrophe: bility. He is one of the most expe- 13 Continued on page 14 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members rienced military historians among some journalists were learning how tendency was only mitigated when contributors to this work, having to report from the battleground. a new generation of young officers published on the Suez War, on the entered the field in the 1950s. Six Day War, military education in Eventually, some journal- the Israel Defence Forces and on ists collected their reports and pub- The historical branch of the Israel peace movement. lished them in book form, as a con- the General Staff was established tribution to future historiography. in 1952 under Netanel Lorch, a Bar-On describes how first Early ones were by Amos Elon and graduate of the Hebrew Univer- records of the war were in the form Yeshurun Keshet who were in Je- sity. On account of the emotion of diaries, memoirs and newspaper rusalem under siege. Members of and political pressures surround- reports. Ben Gurion wrote almost kibbutzim that were attacked wrote ing recent history he tried to limit daily in his diary and gave speech- memoirs to communicate the expe- his efforts to a Military operational es meant to mobilize the people. rience to their children and grand- history. Yigal Yadin, his superior Most of his diary entries covered children. Quasi-historical stud- cautioned him about writing about events and discussions in his office ies were published in the military abandoned property or conquests rather than direct reports from the journal maʼarakhot. These authors during a cease-fire. Shmuel Segev, field. They were, perhaps, notes for also kept in mind the need to sup- in 1954, translated publications by a future historian. Newspapers of port troop morale and so were not Arabs: on the war in Haifa, on the the period provided direct reports always objective. Some accounts Egyptian attack on of events in “real time,ʼ editorial- were examinations of reasons for and the battle at Shʼar Hagai. The ized interpretations of events, and failure when the enemy occupied Hebrew reader could explore the ran background essays and reports the kibbutz. Survivors of Gush enemy perspective. submitted by the fighters them- Etzion, and left selves from the field. Press reports such narratives. Memorial books Bar-On fails to discuss use tend to be incomplete since report- on the lives of individuals who fell of the archived bureaucratic ma- ers were ignorant of contextual in battle were published by their terials such as recruitment regis- events, and the reporting on events communities or by their families. tration records, logistical records was truncated to meet press time. of acquisition and allocation of Sequels on the following day were By the Spring of 1949 re- supplies, the minutes of planning rare. Also military and governmen- search tasks were more likely to be and administrative meetings of the tal censorship constrained them. assigned to professional historians, various services, correspondence Even more analytic writers were than to officers in IDF lacking that among the various commands, and conscious of a political task to en- academic perspective. Ben Gurion so forth. That is, he provides an courage the people in the battle and had integrated both the left wing, image of the historian composing assuage their fears. Thus, an article Palmach, and the right wing, at- narratives and the influences and in Maʼariv of March 14, 1948 re- sel and lehi, forces into the Haga- constraints under which he or she flected the public consternation nah and the IDF. Partisans of these works, a kind of history of the his- when Fawzi al-Kaukji entered the groups struggled to preserve their torical product. One misses the im- field of battle they commented narratives of the war, their special age of the historian in the data gath- that his forces lacked a nationalist contributions to the victory. The ering phase, the locations searched commitment, being mostly merce- narratives of the left, of Mapam, and the screening and interpretive naries, adventurers and subject to were embedded in a larger politi- criteria for drawing selected mate- inter-ethnic conflicts among them- cal canvas of sympathy with the rials together. selves. The journalists also con- Soviet Union. For the Revisionist structed events at which they were right, Menachem Begin and his A concluding sentence in not present. As battles multiplied, fighters defined the context. This the introduction by Alon Kadish

14 Continued on page 15 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members summarizes this problem of final- university professors. The cover- occupy the Old City. Thereupon, ity and completeness. age of these papers is quite exten- the occupied it. The The dynamism of histori- sive. The articles are divided be- battle at also was perceived cal research and of research meth- tween four sections: 1. Overview as defensive on the part of the Le- ods which contribute to it, with deals with the broad strategies as gion. perspectival additions, guarantee seen through the diaries and other that the last word on the War of records of Ben Gurion, the place of We have a variety of battle Independence (or any designated quantitative and qualitative mea- aperçus. Jaffa fell when the politi- event of similar importance) has sures of the comparative strengths cal and military leadership of the not yet been uttered and it is doubt- of forces and the institutional or- Arabs failed to achieve a united ful whether it will ever be uttered. ganization of the Jewish and Arab front. The Egyptian invasion of The effort to offer a final and de- societies in preparation for the the southern coast was stopped finitive summary is not a matter of struggle; 2. Military Perspectives by the Givati Brigade with the the research field but this does not opens with a contrast between the help of troops freed from other negate the value of intermediate inter-community strife preceding fronts while it was not clear that summaries based on data in hand the declaration of the state and the Egyptians intended a deeper (29). the military confrontations fol- incursion, Gahal, foreign recruits, lowing it, the Rescue Army from began training in the concentration After this much too lengthy Syria, the Holy Jihad of the Mufti and DP camps of Europe and in background comment on military of Jerusalem and local units of North Africa. They were brought history, in general, and Israeli mili- the , the or- in immediately after the state was tary history, in particular, let us re- ganization of the invading Arab declared and sent to battle units turn to this collection. The general forces and the fate of local agree- where their casualties were higher editor, Elon Kadish, is a Professor ments between Jewish and Arab than those of the more experienced of History at the Hebrew Univer- settlements to maintain the status recruits from the Yishuv. Machal, sity in Jerusalem. Kadish, born a quo. In Tiberias, for instance, the Overseas Volunteers, were recruit- couple of years after the War of Rescue Army took control of the ed for their military specialties and Independence, had written on the Arab community and precipitated made a vital contribution to the Air British historian, Arnold Toynbee, a strong reaction on the part of the Force, tanks and artillery. German the development of the discipline Haganah leading to the fleeing of and Bosnian volunteers, also mili- of economics in British universi- the Arab population. Another prob- tary specialists, served in the Arab ties and on the conquest of Lydda lem for the Arabs was the conflict forces. Early in the war neither side during the War of Independence. of political interests among the took captives but later there were This collection is a publication Arab states. Syria hoped to occupy both Jewish and Arab prisoners of of the Israel Ministry of Defence of the and absorb it in a war. The latter provided labor ser- with the cooperation of the Yisrael Greater Syria while the Jordanians vices in Jewish military camps. Galili Organization for Research and Lebanese opposed this plan. In into Defense Capability, the Na- this climate the local Arab defense 3. Civilian Perspectives re- tional Organization of Members of forces were ineffective. The editor, ports on the organization of gov- the “Haganah,” The Association of Kadish, points out that, especially ernment institutions in territories the Palmach Generation and The in the work on Jerusalem, there is opened by the war, especially for Tabenkin Institute. a need for a pluralistic view, not mobilization for the war as well as simply that of the victorious side, the dissolution of Arab organiza- Milhemet Haʼatsmaut, in Abdullahʼs initial tendency was tions as a factor in the Naqba, and two volumes, includes 30 papers not to fight for Jerusalem until it the extension of civilian political by 24 authors most of whom are appeared the Jewish forces would authority over the various units of

15 Continued on page 16 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members the Haganah. Part of the success and some later secondary works are the Historical Department of the of the Yishuv in war was due to its also neglected. As a military history Israel Defence Forces, opens the greater economic productivity rel- one might expect more histories of collection with a political sketch ative to the Arab sector and to the the evolution of the various armed beginning with the preparations financial support from Jews in the services. This AVI Newsletter has for war in mid-1947, well-before United States, which circumvented published reviews of an excellent the UN partition resolution, and the embargo. This section reports and well-documented history of the ending with the Rhodes cease fire that the political leadership exces- Air Transport Command (Gesher agreement in mid-1949. He is well- sively influenced the newspapers Aviri LʼAtsmaut 1947-1949 by Avi known to Israeli readers as the au- and, since they served narrow pub- Cohen appeared in the Summer thor of a work on Operation ʻDaniʼ lics, fail to provide an overall pic- 2002 AVI Newsletter, pages 11-13) (1976), which cleared Arab villag- ture of the situation. 4.Aftermath An Egyptian work, by Jaber Ali es west of Tel Aviv including the of War is an attempt to analyze Jaber, an officer of the Egyptian Lydda Airport, Ramle and opening the problem of Arab and Jewish Air Force, Air Power in the Midst the road to Jerusalem in July 1948, refugees in neutral academic terms of Egyptian and Israeli Politics and another on Operation ʻUvda without attention to current ideolo- (Arabic) was reviewed in the same (2002), which opened the Negev gies. Newsletter issue. to Israeli forces south of Beer- sheva to Eilat. He has also written Even this wide net fails There is also a matter of on military politics internal to the to snare a number of issues. Al- academic format. David Macarov, Yishuv from the mid-thirties to the though, the archives of the Israeli one of our reviewers, points out, “I post-WWII period. In Settlements Ministry of Defense for the war pe- am incredulous to find that there is in the Years of Struggle--Settle- riod were opened in the 1980s, lit- no subject index. If I want to read ment Strategy in the Years Prior tle original research based on their about Deir Yassin, or the Altalena, to the State, 1936-1947 (1978), he contents appears here. This is the or the Etzel, or the attack on San describes the Hebrew Revolution- material on which the controversial Simeon, there is no way I can find ary Movement (tenuat hameri) es- New Historians relied. With none them without paging though the en- tablished in 1945, which brought of the principal New Historians tire book. I think this is a serious together the forces of the Palmach, represented in this collection, it is lack in such a book.” I agree. the Irgun Zvai Leumi and Loha- notable that this archival material mei Erets Yisrael. The movement is little exploited in these papers. Samuel Z. Klausner fell apart following the attack on Most of the articles are state of the the King David Hotel in 1946. Of art collections based on second- Reviews of Selected Chapters course the full history of Jewish de- ary sources. This is a good a sum- fense would go back to the forma- mary work for the general reader. Following are reviews of tion of the Shomer during the First Also limited, though not absent, chapters in the book by AVI veter- World War but it certainly crystal- are studies dependent on British, ans Samuel Klausner, David Ha- lized after the Mufti of Jerusalem, American and UN archives. While novice, Mordechai Chertoff, Simon Haj Amin El-Husseini sparked the it is not to be expected that Israeli Spiegelman and David Macarov. Arab Rebellion of 1936-1939. In historians would have access to June of 1947 Ben Gurion called Arab archives, scholars of other na- Elhanan Oren, “The War of upon the Haganah to prepare for tionalities could have access. The Independence: Aims, Stages, En- war with Palestinian Arabs and for wealth of Arab publications on the gagements and Results,” Volume I, attacks from Arab states. By Octo- war, the flurry of writings to inter- 33-76. ber, Ben Gurion and appointed the pret the Naqba, which appeared in principal officers of the Haganah the years immediately after the war Elhanan Oren, a member of and ordered organizational prepa- 16 Continued on page 17 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members rations for a regular army. Pro- was gradual as they continued to so bogged down. grams acquired arms from abroad try to control conflict in Jerusalem for introduction when the British and Tel Aviv/Yaffo. The Haganah The UN mediator, Count left. The foundation was laid for a was able to occupy abandoned Bernadotte, who arrived a few naval and air arm. points in such a way as to be able days after the state was declared, to block invading forces. At the proposed a cease-fire. He proposed The UN partition resolu- declaration of the state only about that the Arabs (i.e. Abdullah) be tion of Nov. 29, 1947, calling for a third of the land allocated by the given the Negev, Israel would re- a partition of Palestine with an UN to the Jewish state was held by ceive the Galilee and would economic union, had the support the Israel government. American have rights to Jerusalem. In this of the US and the USSR and two support for a Jewish state had be- he was abandoning the UN plan thirds of the nation-members of gun to crumble in early May when for the internationalization of Je- the General Assembly. The Arabs the US offered a proposal to place rusalem. The Israel government took up arms the morning after Palestine under a UN trusteeship interpreted this as a danger to the and from there the situation dete- until a resolution between Arabs new state. Since Kaukji held the riorated from civil disturbances to and Jews was negotiated. The gov- mid-Galilee and the Egyptians had war. The Arab League, founded erning officials of the Yishuv de- cut off he Negev the Arabs were with British encouragement, was, bated this proposal. On 12 May it also unhappy with Bernadotteʼs at first, reluctant to include the was decided to go ahead, by a vote proposal. Lehi members assassi- Palestinian Arabs since they were of 6:4, with the declaration of the nated Bernadotte in Jerusalem and still under a British mandate. The state. Those favoring a declaration his plan became, in the eyes of the British had refused re-entry of the anticipated political support from UN, his Last Will and Testament. Mufti after he had spent some war the USSR, arms shipments from That is, his plan came front and years in Axis countries. Czechoslovakia and evidence that center as UN policy. the Jews could hold their own de- The Arab League appoint- spite the disadvantage in the bal- Jerusalem had been under ed the Iraqi General Ismael Safwat ance of forces at that time (Gush siege throughout the spring. Ben over the Arab forces. He declared Etzion fell on May 14), the wide Gurion wanted to commit forces his war aims as (1) absolute de- response to calls for recruitment to open the road to Jerusalem but struction of the Jews of Palestine, even without governmental au- his military staff objected. Sub- (2) through battle to force the Jews thority, the positive response of the sequently Jewish forces lost the to accept Arab terms and (3) in- diaspora and Machal volunteers battles of Latrun and supplies to flaming riots against the partition and expectation of the arrival of besieged Jerusalem awaited the plan. They made no effort to form a Gahal recruits and the expectation opening of the Burma Road. Ben government for a Palestinian State. of the arrival of heavy arms from Gurion disputed with his general In the late winter of 1947 and the overseas that the Haganah had col- staff over appointments and there spring of 1948 there were attacks lected. was conflict between Ben Gurion on the Hatikva quarter in Tel Aviv, and the parties of the right around and destruction of a The various invading the firing on the Altalena, the ship group attempting to relieve them. armies were ill coordinated. Abdul- that had arrived during the first The local Arabs were aided by the lah shifted his forces from the cen- cease-fire with arms for the Irgun Rescue army from Syria, formed ter to Jerusalem in order to resist Zvai Leumi. and financed by the Arab League the Muftiʼs Holy Jihad forces. and led by Fawzi al-Kaukji. Oren documents how, in many cas- es, the Arab armies failed to follow A second cease-fire came The British withdrawal through on initial advantages and into effect in mid-July. Ben Gu- 17 Continued on page 18 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members rion feared this would be the end of for the Rhodes negotiations, con- (hamaarakha hatsvait bʼmilhemet hostilities with some aims not yet ducted from January to July 1949, haatsmaut, november 1947-april achieved. During this period both after having lost battles. Israel 1948), pp. 341-388. sides received arms. The Israe- wanted economic relief from the lis received Messerschmitts from burden of a large standing army This is a most disturbing Czechoslovakia, the army received and looked forward to a peace trea- chapter, for a variety of reasons: it tanks and heavy artillery and some ty. We know now that that peace reminds us of bitter memories time naval equipment became available. treaty was not forthcoming. was kind enough to soften, and it By the fall Israel had an advantage includes numbers we only guessed in arms. The strength of forces also What is notable about the at back then. began to tilt in Israelʼs favor. The Oren account is its interweaving of Israel forces at the time of the inva- military and political history. Most First, some numbers. In sion numbered 36,000 and reached historical offices of the worldʼs de- November, 1947, Jerusalem had a 100,000 by the fall. while Arab partments of defense or war, attend total population of between 160- forces numbering 65,000 by the to military, regimental histories, 165 thousand residents. Of these, end of 1948. analyses of field operations and about 100 thousand were Jews and strategic planning. In the Israeli 65 thousand were Arabs (about Hostilities continued. After case, the line between civilian and 33,000 Moslems and 31,000 Chris- the second cease-fire, the several military functions is not clearly tians). There are no figures avail- Arab nations took possession of drawn. With a continuing nation- able on Arab losses, but we know various areas they had occupied, al service program for the entire how many Jews died in Jerusalem: not in the name of an independent population and with easy move- 4,544 fighters, and about 1,500 Arab state but as Arab areas un- ment between military and politi- civilians. Those of us who lived der the influence of the established cal leadership roles, one would ex- through that period knew the ca- Arab states. The Mufti and Egypt pect nothing else. The chapter does sualties were heavy, but we never declared a government in Gaza and suffer from the same limitation as dreamt the percentage was so high: Jordan and the Iraqis in the west most of this work. The roles of all roughly 6%! bank and Jerusalem. Kaukji, under non-Israeli actors are underplayed. the Syrian influence, tried to estab- We learn little of the military and More numbers. While ca- lish control in the central Galilee. political conflict from the Arab sualty figures were high, weapons The Arabs of Palestine had little in- side and precious little of the dip- figures were pathetical1y low. In fluence in any of the areas. lomatic histories of relations with Jerusalem itself we had 1,011 rifles, other states around the war and 502 sub-machine guns, 28 machine Beer Sheva had been oc- state formation. Yet, given this, the guns, 6 large caliber machine guns, cupied by the Egyptians and now work serves an important purpose 24 2” mortars, 43” mortars, and 2 fell to Israel. Ben Gurion pressed as a summary sketch of where we Davidkas. This tally does not in- for to occupy all of are in the formation of better narra- clude my Austrian pistol, complete the Negev, Beersheva and beyond. tive of Israelʼs formative years. with 6 non-replaceable bullets. Sharet, the Israel Foreign Minister, defended Israelʼs need to hold the Samuel Z. Klausner To complete the numbers, Negev The Soviet Union supported it must be noted that there are also the Israel position as did Truman in 160 footnotes. the UN debate. The American Sec- Moshe Ehrenwald, “Mili- retary of State was not supportive. tary Engagements in Jerusalem The point is made that there During the War of Independence, were thousands of young people The Arab states were ready November 1947-April 1948” who had not been recruited and 18 Continued on page 19 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members were wandering around freely, and war and State is very revealing. Es- instances are not given. However, there were occasional “sweeps” timates as to what and how much it is clear that the planners were to find them. True, but contrary would be needed were detailed: aware that temporary measures to another «report,” there was no food, fuel, trucks, trains, water, and were necessary, but they knew that panic in Jerusalem; none that I was more as well as the method(s) by nothing may be more permanent aware of. which this was to be distributed to than a temporary structure. the populace. Perhaps it would be With all of the footnotes asking too much of a government- The second problem is dis- and the long-winded reports, some published document to indicate cussed in the context of the makeup very important events are not even how near the mark these estimates of the World Zionist Organization, mentioned. There is no reference were, and which goals were not and this was the existence of the to the ambush of “the thirty-five” met (or perhaps this appears else- “party key” in which each politi- who went to re-enforce Gush Etzi- where in the book), but it would cal party in the Zionist movement on; no mention of the attacks in the be instructive to know. Similarly, was entitled to representation in Commercial Center, nothing about there is no mention in this chapter every office, committee, planning the Ben Yehudah street bombing, of planning for the mass of refu- body, etc., in accordance with nothing about the bombing of the gees from Europe and North Africa their strength in the World Zion- Jewish Agency building or of the who came to Israel as soon as the ist Movement. Thus, members of Palestine Post. But Ben Gurion State was declared. It is not clear such bodies were not necessarily does not mention them in his Per- whether this was not anticipated, or appointed for their knowledge or sonal History, either. just could not be planned for under experience concerning the work of the circumstances, or whether there the organization, but as guardians Itʼs a11 “On the battle,” were plans not detailed here. Nei- of their partiesʼ interests. but not about the actual fighting. ther of these caveats should be seen One hopes that Tal has more to say as detracting from the magnificent The existence of the party about the actual battles for Jerusa- job of planning that took place. key must have been a more se- lem than Ehrenwald does in this vere problem than described in the chapter. Three major problems be- book, given the plethora of local Mordecai Chertoff set the planning process. One was and national bodies and layers of the uncertainty of the future. Were responsibility. For example, the Yonatan Fein, “Organization of the plans to be made for a short or long body given overall responsibility Jewish Homefront Prior to the War period? Or, more directly, would for planning acquisition and distri- of Independence: Basic Problems the British actually move out as bution of needed items consisted of Governance and Logistics” (ir- they promised, and if so, what of representatives of twenty-six (!) gun haʼoref hayehudi lʼqrat mil- situation would they leave behind; organizations. The smaller com- hemet haatsmaut: baʼayot yesod would the Arabs attack, and if so, mittee charged only with planning bʼmemshal uʼvʼlogistika), pp. 679- what would they capture and/or for food and feed included repre- 710. destroy? Consequently, one ba- sentative from sixteen organiza- sic factor running throughout this tions. Given the administrative As one who grew up to ad- chapter was the need to plan for rubric that nobody wants to be mire the tushiya (improvisation) the immediate -- probably critical - coordinated unless they can be the with which Israel faced all prob- - future, while at the same time lay- coordinator, it is indeed surprising lems, this account of how much de- ing the foundations for the perma- that any plans were made at all. tailed planning went into preparing nent institutions of the State. This the home front for the anticipated tension is referred to many times The third major problem in this chapter, although individual was the lack of skilled, experi- Continued on page 20 19 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members enced experts in various fields -- ers of war during the Israeli war of vember1947 while the British railroads, telephones, electricity, Independence has not been studied were still in Palestine. The Haga- water and more: In January 1948 systematically nor discussed wide- nah, Palmach, along with the Irgun the committee charged with plan- ly by the public in the years since Tzvai Leumi, and Lochamei Herut ning for the use of railroads was the war. Aharon Klein, currently Yisrael, Jewish underground de- unable to submit a report because, a researcher on the 1948 Israeli fense forces, took prisoners of war “There was no expert in this field War of Independence at the Galili as they encountered Palestinian in Israel.” Such shortages are not- Center for the Historical Study of armed militias and Jordanian com- ed frequently as one of the factors Israeli Defense in Tel Aviv. Klein batants who attacked Jewish com- making planning difficult. holds a B.A. in Middle East Stud- munities. These prisoners were ies and an M.A. in History from interrogated for information about Several interesting, if not the Hebrew University in Jerusa- enemy troop size and movements. important, nuggets are in this lem. He is also, currently, the mili- Prisoners of war, at that time, were chapter. For example, in hiring tary/political affairs correspondent mostly kept in safe houses in Je- people who had worked for the at the Jerusalem Bureau of Time rusalem and other locations. Some Mandatory Power, first choice was Magazine. were interrogated at the command for those about whom there was no centers of the units that had ap- suspicion of corruption. Second Aharon Klein researched prehended them. While the British choice, however, was from those this article using Misrad Habita- were still there, it was not possible whose corruption was minor. As chon and IDF archives, the reposi- to establish internment facilities. explained, given the Israeli atti- tories of the official historical re- tude toward the mandatory offi- cord of the newly proclaimed State After May 15th 1948, new cials, and toward Arab superiors, of Israel and its government. Mate- waves of Arab POWs were de- some methods of cheating them rial was also gleaned from David tained. The problem of how to was expected and accepted. Sim- Ben Gurionʼs war diary, newspa- manage them had not been fully ilarly, many people do not know per reports and editorials about the explored. By order of Israel Galili that the Tel Aviv port, the building ongoing war. The whole story may in mid April 1948 and by orders of which was the focus of national never be known. Aharon Klein from IDF General Command in pride, songs, and films, was never based this article, a twenty-three- June 1948 rules were established used, since the Hagana captured page article with 53 references, on as to who were to be considered Haifa and its shipyard. his masterʼs thesis at the Hebrew prisoners of war, how and where In summary, the foresight University in Jerusalem in 2001. they were to be kept and proce- shown by the planners for the War dures for interrogating them in the of Independence and for the State As the State of Israel was light of their rights. Internment fa- was remarkable, and is well docu- proclaimed on May 14th.1948, af- cilities were not available at that mented in this chapter. ter the termination of the British time, nor were personnel trained Mandate over Palestine, regular for that task. Initially Arab POWs David Macarov armies of the surrounding Arab were housed in tents or in usable States invaded. Fighting was inter- houses abandoned in Palestin- Klein, Aharon, “Arab Pris- rupted at various times, seemingly ian Arab Villages. The latter also oners of War during the Israeli when the IDF was gaining ground, served as administrative command War of Independence of 1948/49” by the UN mediated a truce (hafu- posts, internment camps were sur- (hashvuim haaraviim bʼmilhemet gah). At times, the truce was short- rounded by barbed wire fences and haatsmaut), pp. 568 to 586). lived before fighting resumed. guarded by IDF soldiers.

The subject of Arab prison- Fighting erupted in No- The 1st Arab POW camp Continued on page 21 20 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members was established near Herzlia at an five POW facilities while the other mained in detention for periods of abandoned Arab village to facili- commanders held the rank of seren. seven to twelve months. Some were tate the internment for about 100 Many of the lower echelon of 70 kept up to two years. After the cease to 200 prisoners, mostly of Pales- officers and 108 with sergeantsʼ rat- fire with Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and tinian Armed Militia bands in May ings were former Lechi and Atsel Jordan in March and April of 1949, 26th, 1948. As the battles raged members who were integrated into many POWs were gradually re- and more prisoners of war were the IDF early in the War of Inde- turned to their home countries fol- taken, a second Arab Prisoners of pendence. In all about 973 enlisted lowing the Rhodes cease fire agree- war camp was established in Athlit soldiers guarded and administered ments. The Palestinian Arabs too south of Haifa in July 1948. These the detention camps. The enlisted were released and by the early part POW internment facilities were soldiers were mostly those reject- of 1950 all five POW camps were placed as far as possible from the ed for regular service for medical closed. The Sarafand detention battle zones and mostly utilized reasons or had been lightly combat center was the last to be closed. abandoned Palestinian Arab vil- wounded and assigned temporar- lages near Jewish townships. As ily to the POW guard duty till they Concluding statements: the prisoner of war population in- were able to return to their former creased, a total of five camps were units. 1. In my opinion, the author, constructed: a third near Nahariya, Aharon Klein gave a very good ac- a fourth in Tel-Litvinski and a fifth As the POW population in- count of the Arab POWs with the camp in Sarafand. At its peak in creased they were given incentives available reference material he had Feb.1949, the total number of Arab to join work groups. The POWs at hand. POWs was 6376. All five detention were offered an increase of food camps were operated following the rations, a daily pay allowance, as 2. The Government of the British model and in accord with well as cigarettes and other selec- State of Israel went above and be- the Geneva Convention of 1929 tive items from the shekem. POW yond its obligation to gain favor- to which Israel signed on formally officers and sheikhs were given due able world public opinion in regard only in August 1949. Red Cross recognition and status accommoda- to the Arab POWs. Also itʼs aimed representatives visited and inspect- tions. not to give the Arabs holding IDF- ed all five POW detention facilities POWs reason for harsher treatment about every 2 weeks. POWs could In Feb.1948 out of 6376 of the IDF prisoners that they were lodge complaint and be represented about 4762 POWs participated in keeping. to their Israeli captors by the Red work groups. Some 1400 of these Cross. The Arab POWs prepared had professional skills, which were 3. The author does mention their own food, preferring it to the selectively utilized. Their work in- grouping according to the POWs food issued them by the IDF. Also cluded sanitary and camp mainte- nationalities. There were about 900 they were allowed self-governance, nance in their own camps and later Egyptian officers and enlisted men electing their own representatives on as out-side work groups at 131 and about 200 from to communicate with the IDF cap- IDF bases, hospitals and camps. armed militias. In April 1948 or- tors. They were engaged as kitchen ders from Haganah HQ were issued cleaning help, warehouse labor, and to all units to detain Palestinian Former British Officers, construction and in other mechani- Arabs who were in the age group who defected their ranks when the cal repair facilities, always under of military conscription, and who British departed, operated the five guard, guidance and supervision of could become potential enemies of detention camps. One of these was IDF soldiers. the State of Israel. Great effort was Major Bron who was appointed rav made not to separate family mem- seren and who took charge of all Most of the POWʼs re- bers or prisoners from the same vil- Continued on page 22 21 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members lage. the Arab Armies. that the management and personnel who participated in the five POW 4. In my opinion the Arab 8. Even though when the detention facilities deserved a lot of POWs were treated more fairly hostilities began and the IDF Com- credit and gratitude. than they deserved, compared to mand at that time was not prepared the way IDF POWs were treated to handle a great influx of thousands David Hanovice by the Arab captors. of Arab Prisoners of War, the prob- lem was shortly brought under rea- Khalaf, Issa. The Break- 5. The firing on the Altal- sonable control and management. down of Arab Palestine--A New ena in the Tel-Aviv harbor area as This provided the POW population Assessment: Internal Factors in the she arrived with a supply of arms ample and reasonable living con- 1948 Social Crumbling of the So- for the Irgun Tzvai Leumi dur- ditions in the internment camps, ciety (Qrisat falastine haʼaravit-- ing the first cease fire, by order of which improved as time went on. ʼiyun mehudash: bhinat hagormim David Ben Gurion, caused casu- Also, the management of POWs hapnemiim l;hitporrut hahevratit alties to its crew members. When evaluated, on their own initiative, 1948), pp 661-678. This article is merged with the Haganah and the and presented to Misrad Habita- also available in English under the Palmach to form the IDF, mistrust chon and IDF HQ Command plans title, “The Effect of Socio-eco- persisted on both sides, which kept for the utilization of this potential nomic Chnage on Arab Societal the members and leaders of these available manpower. The utiliza- Collapse in Mandate Palestine,” In- groups from being integrated into tion of the skills of this manpower ternational Journal of Middle East IDF battle units or command po- enabled the IDF to divert and use Studies, 29:1, 93-112. sitions. As a result many of these the IDF manpower for more essen- group members were assigned tial duties as the POWs relived the Issa Khalaf wrote this essay or preferred to serve in the Arab IDF members from their work po- when he was Assistant Professor POW camp duties. sitions. at Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa. 6. It seems that they managed these His thesis is that widespread socio- camps fairly well and utilized the 9. In Jan.1949, before the economic dislocation among Arab available POW manpower to help Rhodes Cease Fire agreement had peasants and workers eroded the alleviate the shortage of manpow- progressed, when it seemed that the foundation of Palestinian Arab so- er in the IDF at that time, by of- Arab POWs would be detained by ciety and “severely weakened this fering incentives for the POWs to Israel for a long time, plans were lower stratumʼs defense against Zi- voluntarily join the work groups submitted by the POW administer- onist settlement, colonial state poli- and making plans for proper uti- ing command to Misrad Habita- cies and military pressures”. He lization of that potential source of chon and IDF HQ Command plans suggests that this factor needs to be manpower and their skills. to further utilize the available POW recognized as one of the causes of manpower for national infrastruc- the Arab collapse and the exodus in 7. The lessons learned from ture, road construction, railroad 1947-48. Other factors he mentions the IDF Arab POW experience was maintenance, and harbor expansion are characterized as political, mili- that by capturing and interrogating works as well as two new cement tary or diplomatic. Among these them, as ordered by Yigal Yadin product factories, and reopening he cites Zionist expansion through on Jan.1948, vital information was the old Athlit quarries which had military action and terrorism; the obtained which reduced Israeli ca- been idle for a long time. These incompetence, corruption and po- sualties and saved lives. Also it be- plans were shelved due to the start litical ambitions of the Arab states; came a tool for exchange, during of the POWs releases in March and Arab collaboration with the British; cease-fire negotiations, of Arab April 1949. Arab determination to destroy the POWs for Jewish POWs held by 10. Having said all of this, I believe new State of Israel; and Hashemite- Continued on page 23 22 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER Major New Work on The War of Independence Reviewed by AVI Members

British-Zionist complicity in deny- burdens on the fellahin. As to the with a central, recognized political ing the Palestinian Arabs a state of impact of Jewish land purchases authority. The Palestinian Jews, on their own. on the Arab social structure, it is the other hand, functioned as an inconceivable that it had the wide- autonomous, quasi-national entity; Among the socioeconomic spread deleterious effect suggested the ʻYishuvʼ that in due course led causes of the Arab collapse, Khalaf by Khalaf. Citing some of the sta- to the creation of the State of Isra- highlights the displacement of tistics put forward by Khalaf him- el, defended by a unified, dedicated Arab tenant farmers and the small self in his essay: army. The notion of an “Arab Pal- holders as a result land purchases estine” as a national entity that ex- by Zionist organizations from Arab 1. By 1945, land in Jewish isted during and before the British landowners. The displaced, he sug- possession was 1.4 million dunam mandate is a contemporary inven- gests now joined the “ranks of the (including land that heretofore was tion and a political ploy exploited landless and urban poor”. Other uncultivable). The total land surface by Arab leaders and their support- factors he mentions as causes of so- of Palestine was 26 million dunam ers. Khalafʼs notion of a “Hashem- cietal dislocation are the peasantsʼ of which 8 million dunam was con- ite-British-Zionist” conspiracy to perennial indebtedness caused by sidered cultivable. The modest ra- deny the Palestinian Arabs a state usury, dispossession and burden- tio of Jewish owned land to the to- is baseless and runs against all his- some taxation; enforcement of Is- tal cultivable land in Palestine does torical evidence. It is more fitting lamic inheritance laws (i.e., equal not support Khalafʼs inference. to have come from the streets of shares for the sons) at a time the Ramalla then from a U.S. college Arab families were multiplying 2. Khalaf cites statistics professor. rapidly, failing crops and rising indicating that between 1933 and prices. The result was the transfor- 1942, 92 per cent of the Palestine mation of the now landless fellahin land transactions involved sales of Si Spiegelman into migrant workers dependent on less than 100 dunams (25 acres). the Arab Labor Unions who in turn The owners receiving payment were unable to absorb them and “at inflated prices” were certainly compete effectively with Jewish not forced to live in the cities un- workers organized by the Histadrut. der squalid conditions as he claims This “weakened the Palestinian and the money paid for the land by Arab social structure at the very Jewish buyers filtered into the Arab moment, in 1947, when it faced its economy. In addition, jobs were first military challenge from an or- created in the Jewish economy that ganized, determined foe”. benefited the Arab population.

Comments: In the view of many observ- ers, the major cause of the Arab The dislocations in Pal- collapse in 1948 was the lack of a estinian Arab society would have national consciousness. The Pales- happened even if there was no Jew- tinian Arabʼs allegiance was to the ish presence in Palestine if we con- extended family, clan, village head sider the socioeconomic conditions and religious authority. Other than prevailing in Arab villages. Even their desire to be “rid” of the Jews, before large-scale Jewish immigra- no common aspiration or expressed tion, Arab landowners, merchants “national” vision bound the Pales- and urban notables placed heavy tinian Arabs into a cohesive mass

23 SUMMER 2004 - THE AVI NEWSLETTER “CLANDESTINE IMMIGRATION” MEDAL

were sent on their way to the sail to the , legal- 70 years have gone by Land of Israel, each with thou- ly. since the start of the “clandes- sands of “illegal” immigrants tine immigration” to Israel, one on board. In April 1946, in the The designs of each side of the most important and he- small Italian Port of La Spezia, of the medal chosen by Yehuda roic endeavors of the Jewish 1014 survivors from the Con- Arazi consist of biblical phrases people just before the establish- centration Camps prepared to and images - on the medal face, ment of the State of Israel. Be- sail to the Land of Israel. When “Your Children will return to tween 1934 and the founding of this was discovered by the Brit- their Land (Jeremiah), over a the State of Israel in 1948, over ish, the boat was detained and ship on a stormy sea and the 120,000 immigrants managed efforts were made to force the Hebrew dates 5705-5706, and on to arrive in the Land of Israel on “illegal immigrants” to a Refu- the reverse, the words “Judaea board small ships, despite the gee Camp. Yehuda Arazi, dis- Restituta (“Judaea Restituted”), consistent and forceful efforts guised as a Jewish refugee, led with the Tower of David op- of the British to stop them. a revolt that caused a major re- posite Titus Gate in the back- action around the world against ground and the dates MCMXLV This medal commemo- what was regarded as the cru- - MCMXLVI (1945-1946). The rating the 70th Anniversary of elty and lack of humanity of the design of this historical medal the “Clandestine Immigration” British. The bitter struggle last- of Israel is reproduced today on also has a unique numismatic ed over a month and reached the new State Medal of Israel. value as it contains a replica of its peak when Yehuda Arazi de- another historical medal. The clared a hunger strike on board. ISRAEL GOVERNMENT original medal was especially Leaders of the Jewish Commu- COINS AND MEDALS COR- ordered in 1946 by Yehuda Ara- nity in the Land of Israel joined PORATION zi, one of the most prominent the strike in solidarity. 5 Ahad Haam Street, PO Box personalities of the “Haganah” 7900, Jerusalem 91078, Israel (the underground military or- Finally, after 75 dramatic Tel: 972-560-0147/8 Fax 972-2- ganization in the pre-state). hours of hunger strike, the Brit- 563-4496 Yehuda Arazi, who worked ish army gave in to the pressures E-mail: [email protected] for yeas in secret assignments, of international public opinion Online shop: www.isragift.co.il purchasing enormous quanti- and allowed the immigrants to ties of arms and ammunition for the Jewish Defense Forces, became head of the clandestine operations in Italy, in 1945 after World War II.

Arazi and his devoted as- sistants, were relentless in their struggle against the British pol- icy to prevent free immigration to the Land of Israel. Secretly, ships were acquired and reno- vated. One after another, they 24