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Catch a Pearl in a Forceps Movement: The Drama Behind the Battle for the South

The storm in the Knesset ahead of the formation of the new government, Ben-Gurion's abandonment of the plenary hall, the attempt to pull time in the international arena while the forces establish facts on the ground and the effort not to upset the British.

72 years later, Operation Fact for the Conquest of Eilat is a glowing chapter in the story of the revival of the south

Tags

• Eilat

• The ink flag

• Operation fact

Eli Ashkenazi

Friday, 05 March 2021, 22:00 Updated: 22:26

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Raising the ink flag in Umm Rashrash at the end of the operation on March 10, 1949 (Photo: screenshot, Wikipedia)

A month after he was elected as the first Knesset member,

Yosef Baretz

was particularly troubled by the question of how IDF soldiers will receive a gift from the citizens of the country on the night of Passover. Baretz, 59, who immigrated to Eretz Israel alone as a 16-year-old boy, was one of the founders of Degania He was active on defense, one of the founders of the Histadrut and at the age of 51 volunteers in the British army. now, with the establishment of the state and by virtue of the role assumed by the founder of the Committee of soldiers 'Welfare', shipment Shi soldiers on the front, Passover, was the most important thing he saw before him.

In the morning On March 10, 1949, while MK Baretz, who was defined as the "Operations Officer of the Committee for the Soldier" was bothering about the intended operation "to alleviate the loneliness of those who would stay on Seder nights in camps and outposts in the Negev, in Sefer, in abandoned settlements and in front of the Jerusalem wall." It was the third day for a discussion on the "composition of the first government and its plan" ahead of a vote of confidence in it. In the

Knesset plenum, Baretz from Mapai confronted their rivals from Mapam. MK

Shmuel Dayan

, Baretz's partner in establishing Degania, said at the beginning of his speech that In this stage, a mental vibration and the horror of the torments of generations, which raised it to this status, are felt. "

Then he turned to beating opponents and went against what he defined as "Mapam's monopoly on blood, army commanders, the occupation of the country and the country." In a moment of anger, during the storm that the Maariv newspaper described as "stormy incidents", Prime Minister

David Ben-Gurion

demonstratively left the hall.

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Not to upset the British.

From Maariv (Photo: Maariv, without)

On that day, the first Israeli government was formed, after winning the Knesset's trust.

The speeches felt that every word they delivered in the plenum had historical significance, as the State of Israel learned to take its first steps.

A few hours after he angrily left the hall, Ben-Gurion returned to the plenum to deliver the concluding speech.

Maariv reported that the faction whipers "turned on phones and runners" to call Knesset members "who is over the lunch table and who is out of bed."

At 14:30, when Ben-Gurion came up to speak, the hall was full.

The Speaker of the Knesset sank comfortably in his armchair. He knew that he would have a speech in front of him that would last about three hours.

The Israeli flag is hoisted on the coast of Eilat.

Herut in 1949 (Photo: screenshot, Herut newspaper)

But an equally great drama took place at that time a few hundred miles south;

At the same time that Ben-Gurion was firing on his opponents on the right and left and especially on those from Mapam, a significant move was about to end on the southern front that he pushed for and that his impact on the future of the State of Israel would be very important; half an hour into the prime minister's speech pincer movement which moved in the Golani brigade and the Negev and resulted in Umm Rash Rash ascent of

Abram ledge

on the first Torah hung the Israeli flag painted with ink on a sheet.

the raising of the ink flag immortalized in photography has become one of the most prominent symbols of the War of Independence was the end of "Operation fact" established by the works Israel's control of the southern Negev, whose southern tip is Umm Rashrash, is Eilat.

Reports of the operation in 1949 (Photo: Maariv, no)

According to the partition plan adopted on November 29, 1947, the southern Negev was included in the territory of the Jewish state.

The Jordanians, for their part, demanded that the southern Negev up to the coast of Umm Rashrash be owned by them, and this claim was also upheld when the talks between Israel and Jordan in Rhodes began on March 4, 1949. Britain had a mutual defense agreement with the Kingdom of Jordan and supported its claim.

Ben-Gurion was determined to leave the Negev under Israeli control and decided to implement it, under open fire restrictions on Jordanian Legion soldiers, for fear that this would drag the British into battle.

"(The headquarters) planned a plan by virtue of which the dream of establishing itself in the southern Negev and Eilat became a reality, by way of a surprise without serious clashes with the Arab Legion," wrote

Yigal Alon

, who was the commander of the southern front during the War of Independence.

Operation reports.

Out of a thing (Photo: screenshot, Davar newspaper)

The Chief of Staff,

Yaakov Dori

, assigned Alon and

Yitzhak Rabin

, the Operations Officer of the Southern Front, to plan the operation. According to the plan set for the two brigades, the Golani Brigade would move south on the Arava Road, while the Negev Brigade would move in the center of the Negev. highlands. Meanwhile Israeli delegation in Rhodes was instructed to shuffle her feet and to gain time to determine facts on the ground forces. at the beginning of the talks delegation complained that Jordanian Legion forces crossed the border and stayed inside Israel.

Maariv "reported on March 8 during talks on Haiti Rhodes. "Israel has leisure," it read. "The former Jordanians are in no hurry, and so is

Dr. Bunch

(Ralph Bunch, an American diplomat who mediates between Israel and Arab countries). The question is: who has more leisure?"

The answer to the question was soon given;

As early as March 5, 1949, Operation Fact was launched.

On March 8, the British headquarters in the Fayed area of ​​the Suez Canal reported that it did not know of any Israeli forces advancing towards Aqaba, but by this day Golani soldiers were already in the area of ​​Yotvata today and soldiers of the Negev Brigade had reached Ras al-Nakab, about 12 kilometers northwest of Leum. Rustling.

On March 10, around 3:00 PM, the operation ended and soon after, the ink flag was hoisted by Aden, a company commander in the Negev Brigade and later General of the Southern Command.

Conquest of the city by scissors.

Umm Rashresh (Photo: Courtesy of the Eilat Iri Museum)

The war was over, it was the last operation in the War of Independence.

A day later, Ben-Gurion described the operation as the biggest event in recent months, if not the entire war of liberation and occupation.

The British were further summoned and told Washington about what was happening in the Negev.

Maariv's headline read that "London calls on Washington over battles in Aqaba", but it was too late for them and the London Times' editorial said that "Israeli army movements in Aqaba are new proof that Israel is still ready for military action there. Fulfilling its requirements. "

After writing in his diary that Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori “telephoned me that tonight our flag got stuck in the waters of the Red Bay.

We arrived in Eilat, "the prime minister and defense minister continued, almost breathlessly, writing about the tasks at hand: "What is the missing equipment, what is the import and export." .

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