In the spring and into the summer of 1953, Israel's eastern border with Jordan warmed up, as murderous terror squads that infiltrated the eastern part of the country attacked houses in the center and east of the country, killing and wounding residents – and terrorizing the public.
In May 1953, Jordanian infiltrators sneaked into Israel in the dead of night and attacked the Holtzman family home in Kfar Hess (south of Tel Mond). Grenades were thrown into the house, which was also attacked by bursts of gunfire from the bedroom window. Shoshana Holtzman (35) was killed and her husband Zvi was wounded by bullets in his legs. Miraculously, their two children emerged from the attack unharmed.
During the same period, infiltrators attacked several times both the homes of Moshav Mishmar Ayalon, near Ramle, and the moshav Tirat Yehuda, about 5 km east of Yehud, where Moses Stark (26) was killed.
Following the murderous activity, the Border Police was established on 23 April 1953 to combat the phenomenon of infiltration, but its activity took time to start due to the need to organize on the ground.
Following another murder, which was carried out in July 1953 in Moshav Ibn Sapir in the Jerusalem corridor, it was decided to take revenge on Nabi Samwil, north of the capital, in order to locate and assassinate gang leader Mustafa Samueli.
Samueli was not located, and in response to the failure of the operation, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion angrily knocked on his desk and said: "This situation cannot continue any longer."
At the beginning of August 1953, Arik Sharon, on Ben-Gurion's secret orders, established Unit 101, which went into operation for the first time on 13 October, after infiltrators had murdered a mother and her two children the night before.
After the killing of 60 villagers and the bombing of 45 houses in a revenge operation carried out by Unit 101 in the village of Qibiya in the West Bank, the thick hint was picked up by the Jordanian authorities and the activity of the infiltrators subsided.
For those over 60 years old: "Old people's city" was established in Pardes Hanna
A typical living room in Neve Avot's homes, 60s, photo: Biphoto Archive
In 1942, the British army expropriated land in the Pardes Hanna area and built Camp 80 (which still exists today) and Camp 87, which became an immigrant camp with the establishment of the state. In June 1953, the owner of the land, the Jewish Agency, announced the new designation of the immigrant camp and its transformation into a city called Neve Avot, in which thousands of adults aged 60 and over ("old people," as they called those days) defined as "scabs in need of non-economic rehabilitation" would be gathered.
The vast majority of the elderly who were transferred to live in Neve Avot immigrated to Israel in previous years from Eastern Europe, mainly Romania and Bulgaria, but also from Arab countries, which preferred to "get rid" of the older age group in the country's Jewish communities, thereby reducing the burden of expected government expenditures on caring for this population. At the same time, Eastern European countries refused to allow the younger generation to leave for Israel, promising the adults who left for Israel that "the young people will arrive at a later date."
Although many of those aged 60 and over who immigrated to Israel found their place in the young country, and some even worked for a living, some of them were not rehabilitated for various reasons, and now the agency has decided to concentrate their care in one place in Israel – Neve Avot – where every three elderly people are housed in a spacious room.
The American Joint Distribution Committee joined and operated an aid program called Malban – "Institutions for the Treatment of Backward Immigrants." In 1976, the JDC and the Jewish Agency transferred Neve Avot to the responsibility of the government and the Ministry of Health, and the place, now called Shoham, became one of the largest geriatric rehabilitation centers in Israel.
Budget war in the Upper Galilee
Hatzor Haglilit, mid-50s, photo: Fritz Cohen, GPO
On June 21, 1953, a conference was held at the Central Hotel in Safed at the initiative of Mayor Moshe Fadhazur, to which journalists and various public figures were invited, together with the heads of the Upper Galilee Regional Council and representatives from the transit camps of Khalsa (Kiryat Shmona) and Hazor HaGalilit. The theme of the conference was "The Future of the Upper Galilee".
At that time, internal tension began to develop in the Upper Galilee, due to conflicts of interest between several communities that lived close to each other - such as Safed, Rosh Pina and Kiryat Shmona. The communities competed for the attention of the Israeli government and its ministers, hoping to receive increased budgets for their needs. However, in those days the public coffers were almost completely emptied, and the remnants of the budgets were distributed among areas from which members of Knesset and the government came. The Upper Galilee region, which in those days was considered very far from the center of the country, was indeed close to the hearts of economic decision makers, but it turns out that it was far from their pockets.
The conference participants in Safed were mainly frowned upon by the Government Planning Department. Avraham Hacohen, head of the Kiryat Shmona local council, said: "I get nice development plans from them, but I don't have the money to pay the council employees tomorrow morning." A representative of Hazor complained about "a complete disconnect between the planning department in Jerusalem and the reality in the Upper Galilee," and Fadhzur from Safed said that "Kiryat Shmona, Hazor and Safed have more than enough for one small area. Any further plan to establish cities in the Upper Galilee must be stopped, at least until we get back on our feet economically and socially."
Monastery of the Cross - to the museum?
Monastery of the Cross, early 20th century,
In mid-June 1953, Jerusalem announced an idea to turn the huge Monastery of the Cross into a building that would concentrate the archaeological antiquities of the Land of Israel, which were managed at the time by a small department in the Ministry of Labor.
As part of the report, Prof. Shmuel Yavin, Director of the Department of Antiquities, said that "the Monastery of the Cross ended its function many years ago as a hostel for pilgrims from Russia and Georgia.
The last monk passed away during the War of Independence, and now the site serves as a Gadna base. The monastery can be turned into an impressive and respectable museum of our archaeological treasures, with relative ease." This was a statement to say the least, since the ancient and enormous building required huge investments to prepare it as a museum, according to Yeivin's vision.
Another obstacle facing visionary entrepreneurs such as Prof. Yeivin was that until that time no one had asked what was the opinion of the heads of the Greek Orthodox Church, who, upon hearing of the plan, hastened to send a few monks from Greece to staff the place.
The immigrant married twice
The immigrant Rachamim Ben Avraham (28) from the Gedera transit camp, married with one child, came to Sharon in search of work and lived for a while in the Tel Mond transit camp. As the verse says, "It is not good for man to be alone," Rachamim set his eyes on a new immigrant from Iraq named Gulbahar ben David. Within a short time, Mercy spoke with the girl's father, and her chuppah was duly set up, and a rabbi was also located and married the two.
However, out of his enthusiasm, Mercy "forgot" his wife and son, who were waiting for him until Bush in Gedera. At some point, rumors from Hasharon reached the ears of his wife, who quickly turned to the rabbi in Gedera and told him that her husband had found him a second wife. She demanded legal alimony compensation. The rabbinate of Gedera reported the incident to the police, and a lawsuit for bigamy was filed against Rachamim, while the police searched for the rabbi who arranged the kiddushim in Sharon without having the legal authority to do so.
The Unknowns/Items That Were in the Mosquito Punching House
("Clapper")
Mosquito beater, photo: "Treasures in the Walls" Museum, Acre
A well-remembered household item that helped pass the time on the hot summer evenings of those days, when the heat bothered and flies and mosquitoes circled like airplanes and harassed anyone in their path. Usually it was the father's job to fight back and "flick" the flying insects, usually with compliments he would receive: "Look, children, what a good father we have - today he killed five flies and seven mosquitoes." Mothers, for their part, would also occasionally use "Clapper", guessing for yourself what need (hint: it started with a scolding "How many times did I tell you!" - and usually ended with tears).
Consumer / Items Since
Flashlight "Renaur"
Ranaur flashlight, photo: Ido Saban
Ran was a battery factory (which in those times was called "batteries"). It was established in Tel Aviv in the 30s and was a major supplier of batteries to the IDF from its establishment, alongside the development of products for the private market that required batteries to operate. In 1961, a powerful flashlight (pictured) with a large, heavy battery was launched. The product became very popular, but over the years, after lightweight flashlights with great light intensity came to the market, Carnot declined. In 1960, Ran merged with the Tadir factory and Tadiran was established.
Innovation in Israel: libraries for renting records
A dresser with a turntable from the 60s, photo: www.verygoodplus.co.uk
In the early 50s, a new kind of business began to develop in Israel – record rental. In Haifa, quick entrepreneurs waited for new immigrants at the entrance to the port to purchase records they had brought with them. Libraries for renting records soon sprang up in the big cities, and each subscriber was allowed to rent between one and three records a week for from 2.5 liras a month. The major libraries published catalogues of hundreds of records, emphasizing that "each record has several samplers" (copies), while noting that "they are not scratched" (without scratches). Photo: Dresser with record player, 60s
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