File spoon-archives/marxism-news.archive/marxism-news_1998/marxism-news.9801, message 42


From: ScotFOP <ScotFOP-AT-aol.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 16:58:06 EST
Subject: M-NEWS: ScotFOP #4


Information Bulletin
Countdown to Catastrophe
Scottish Friends of Palestine 

WEB PAGE = http://members.aol.com/scotfop

15th January 1998 
Information concerning sources can be obtained from Scottish Friends of
Palestine

By mid-January units of the Arab Liberation Army from Syria were in action in
Palestine, with little success. They were undoubtedly hindered by the
destruction of bridges over the River Jordan by the Zionist forces. However
their efforts in the face of the determined Zionists - members of both the
Haganah and the Irgun had been trained under the British - were never going to
achieve much at this stage. And as long as Palestine was still being governed
under the British Mandate, the armies of the surrounding Arab states were
loathe to break international law and intervene.

The perception of the struggle ahead by the two major protagonists was always
going to be a major determinant of the final outcome.

A number of quotes from Aluf Ygal Yadin, Israel's first chief of operations
clearly outlines the Zionist position

``We had made an intelligence survey. We went through every village in
Palestine, and estimated its character, whether it meant trouble or not; and
we had a map in which the strategic characters of every Arab village and the
quality of its inhabitants were indicated. We had a library of files with the
details. We made an air-photographic survey of most of the country; we used to
hire a plane at =A34 an hour. We knew in the early months of the trouble that
the Palestine Arabs had nobody to organise them properly, but we had not taken
account of the British. The moment we brought up a platoon the British would
come and arrest our men. We could have taken Jaffa quite easily, but the
British stopped us. If not for the British we could have quelled the Arab riot
in one month.''

``We had in November 1947 30 000 members of the Haganah and about 3 000 in the
Palmach.''

``In the Air Force we had six or seven obsolete reconnaissance planes. We
bought the remains of twenty Austers from the British. We used them as
bombers. There were two men in each plane. One man carried on his knees home-
made bombs weighing 50 kilos, and dropped them over the target. They had a
good moral effect, because before 15th May the Arabs had no planes.''

And the Palestinian Arab reality

``Suddenly, overnight there grew a black market in light armaments, mostly the
type which were useless in actual combat.. People used there own money to buy
arms; Uncle Ibrahim bought himself a Colt .45, Ali a Walther .38, Mousa a 8mm
Beretta. The prices they paid were exorbitant, not only by the standard of
1946 and 1947, but even by today's. They handled the guns with affection,
cleaning them too often.''

``There was no one to tell them that the war in the making would demand
different arms, organised bodies of men and military training. Their
conception of training was to own a gun, perhaps a small hand gun, and to be
able to use it, not to prepare for war. Even their wives remembered the names
of their guns and recited their husbands' exaggerated claims of their
effectiveness.''

and, the formation of the Holy Strugglers, the Mufti of Jerusalem's militia:

``Practically everyone offered their services, but Ibrahim had no uniforms for
them let alone arms and he had no clear idea of where their salaries would
come from.''

``They brought with them ill-fitting second hand uniforms and rusty arms
consisting of the discarded light equipment left behind in the Western Desert
during the Second World War - Italian, German British, American, Canadian and
other makes. Ibrahim was also allocated a certain amount of cash each month,
which he distributed to his volunteers more in line with need than in
accordance with rank and competence - in fact there were no ranks beyond
commander and deputy commander.''

1948 Jan 15

The aftermath of the van explosion the previous day in Haifa brought life to a
standstill, with firing intensifying as daylight arrived. The British military
installed outposts on rooftops and upper storeys thus bringing sniping, by
Arab forces, to a virtual halt.

An Arab bus was fired upon, resulting in one dead passenger and 6 injured.
Some passengers returned fire, with two - armed with a Tommy gun - escaping
from the police. At the same time, on the eastern side of Haifa a Jewish bus
was fired upon resulting in two dead and 1 injured.

During the day Haifa came to a standstill as buses and cars fell victim to
sniper fire. Jews and Arabs battled for control of the road that led from the
Jewish quarter. One report put the Arab deaths at ten, Jewish deaths at five.

Jerusalem was the focus of much fighting. Military estimates pointed to as
many as 500 members of the Haganah, and the terrorist Irgun and Stern Gang
operating under one command. The 1 500 Jewish residents in the Jewish Quarter
were subject to incessant sniper fire but refused to evacuate.

Jan 16 

A British report to the UN estimated 1 974 deaths or injuries between November
30th (the day after the UN partition resolution was passed) and January 10th.
Those killed included 295 Arabs, 262 Jews and 30 British. Increasingly British
forces were being called upon to protect Jewish convoys travelling to outlying
areas, with the RAF playing an increasingly important role. Jewish convoys
conveying potash between Jerusalem and Jericho had the protection of a single
plane. Six spitfires together with tanks and other ground support dispersed an
Arab force of up to 3 000 who had surrounded 4 settlements in the Hebron area.

The Haganah blew up 3 Palestinian houses in Haifa as a reprisal for bombing of
the Jewish bus terminal the previous week. In the first house eight children
between the ages of 18 months and 12 years were slaughtered. One woman, aged
25 years, was killed. It was alleged that this house was a `centre for Arab
gangsters.' In the second house 5 Palestinians were killed with 5 reported yet
to be recovered from the rubble. In the third house there were no reported
casualties.

During the course of the day, in attacks attributed to Arab assailants, 2
British soldiers were shot, one fatally. A goods train was held up and robbed
by presumed Arab assailants. A policeman was killed when his bus came under
fire. Eleven Jews, in possession of armaments ranging from pistols to
grenades, were arrested by police. Zionist sources claimed to have killed 82
Palestinian Arabs [Ed note: presumably including women and children] in the
previous 24 hours.

Jan 17

35 Haganah fighters and 4 Arab fighters were killed in the proximity of the
settlement of Kfar Etzion near the village of Surif, 12 miles south-west of
Jerusalem. Reports vary, with the Zionists claiming that their forces were
ambushed while on their way by foot to reinforce the settlement. In total, two
Zionist parties were ambushed. Later in the day a further Zionist force of
about 100 men was reported to have attacked Surif, the HQ of the Arab
guerrilla leader, Abdul Kader Husseini. 

A Jewish convoy travelling from Jaffa was ambushed outside Jerusalem. One
Jewish death was reported, 1 missing and 9 wounded.

The Palestinian village of Dayr Aban [pop. 2 100] was surrounded by force of
at least 100 Zionists. There was no record of casualties resulting from what
was described as a ``punitive expedition.''

One British soldier was shot dead, by assailants believed to be Arab, while
travelling by truck along the Acre-Safad road.

In Haifa most Arab and Jewish businesses had closed by 2pm. Buses with armour
plated or netted windows had started to run again between the upper Jewish and
Arab lower parts of the town.

Jan 18

The village of Salama with a population of 6 730 was attacked by the 3rd
Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade (3 houses were blown up). The Arab
Liberation Militia sent 20 reinforcements to join the 30 strong village
militia. The operational orders of the assault force read ``The aim is to
attack the northern part of the village of Salama.... to cause deaths, blow up
houses and to burn everything possible.'' 1

An estimated force of 80 Zionists attacked the village of Kuwaykat [pop. 1
050].

By the 18th, the situation in Jaffa was described thus

``there is no work. Whoever could leave, has left, there is fear everywhere,
and there is no safety. Robbery and theft are common.''

A convoy was sniped and ambushed on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road, two Jews were
killed including the Haganah chief, Maale Hashiman. The Haganah blew up four
house near the suburb of Holan.

The Haganah policy of brutal reprisals resulted in the ``temporary evacuation''
of the semi-Bedouin community of Mansurat al Kheit on the River Jordan.

A 100 strong Haganah party, searching for the 35 dead as a result of the
ambush days earlier, clashed with Arab forces near Beit Jamal. There were
conflicting reports of casualties. The dead included the first American to be
killed in the conflict.

Jan 19

The Haganah attacked the villages of Shafa Amr (Haifa area) and Tamra ( in the
Nazareth district). In the case of Tamra, an attacking force of about 200
killed 2 Palestinian Arabs and wounded 3 seriously, including a 10 year old
boy. The Irgun were prevented from perpetrating a potentially devastating car
bomb attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. A car packed with gelignite and
rivets, connected to a timer, tried to enter the city at Jaffa Gate driven by
Jewish bus driver dressed as an Arab and carrying false identity papers. He
successfully passed through the checkpoint but was recognised by an Arab bus
driver. His burnt and dismembered body was found in the city.

Four Stern Gang members, including a girl, were sentenced to life imprisonment
for taking part in illegal military training. 

It was stated that the 4 settlements in the Hebron area were in constant
danger due to their isolated position.

Jan 20 

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu suggested, in the House of Lords, that the United
Nations should obtain a solemn pledge from the ``new Jewish State'' that it had
no further territorial ambitions in the Middle East.

It was stated that no searches for arms were now being made except when there
was evidence of misuse. Zionist `self defence' organisations would not be
obstructed while they acted in purely defensive roles.

A combined force of Palestinians and the ALA, estimated at about 500 fighters,
attacked the ``colony'' of Yehyam in western Galilee. British troops came to the
rescue.

The village of Lubya [pop. 2 350] situated to the west of Tiberias was
attacked by Zionist raiders during the night. One villager was reported dead
as a result of the attack. At Jehiam, Upper Galilee, a force of 100 Zionists
fortified in a crusader castle, were under siege by an Arab force of about
500. Nine Zionists were killed before being relieved by British troops and
police.

In Jerusalem, the relative calm of the previous few days, while religious
leaders met to consider the position of Jerusalem, was shattered. The Haganah
fired upon members of the Highland Light Infantry as they evacuated inmates of
a Jewish home for the aged. One soldier was seriously injured, three less so.
One Zionist was killed and three injured in the return fire.

Jan 21 

It was reported that a second contingent of ALA volunteers arrived in
Palestine.

Britain informed the UN Palestine Commission that it was not possible to
comply with the UN request that a major seaport be opened to speed up the
transfer of Zionist immigrants to Palestine. The policy of 1 500 immigrants
per month was reaffirmed. 




   

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