The Surrender of Gush Ezion
On Friday, 14.5.1948 --- the day Israel’s independence was declared --- the settlers of Gush Ezion surrendered. The officers of the Arab Legion held off the attempts of an Arab mob to injure them.
The three remaining settlements asked for instructions. A message came from Massuot-Yitzhak to Jerusalem: “ ‘Malka’ has fallen. Our ammunition is gone and we cannot hold on. Do something”. ‘Malka” was the code-name for Kefar Ezion. On 13.5 in the evening, instructions had been given to establish contact with the British, in order to arrange the evacuation of the entire group of settlements. If this should not be possible, orders were to surrender. After it became known what had happened to the people at Kefar Ezion who surrendered, the other settlements refused to do so. After midnight, there was a message from Jerusalem: an agreement had been reached --- at 0400 there would be a cease-fire. The men would be taken prisoner; the women and the wounded would be evacuated to Jerusalem.
On Friday, 14.5.1948 --- the day Israel’s independence was declared --- the settlers of Gush Ezion surrendered. The officers of the Arab Legion held off the attempts of an Arab mob to injure them. Proceedings were supervised by the Red Cross, whose personnel saw to it that the surrender took place without disorder.
320 men and women went into captivity in Jordan (they were released nine months later). 155 men and women were killed in the final battles. The total of dead in Gush Ezion after five months of fighting was 240.
The Palmach’s part in this episode was as follows:
Oved Michaeli tells in his book how at the very beginning of the fighting, a large Arab force advanced on “The Mukhtar’s Saddle”, forcing its defenders to retreat. They were able to do this thanks to a squad of Palmach fighters, who approached unseen through the orchards, and destroyed two Jordanian armored vehicles with PIAT anti-tank missiles. According to Michaeli, there were 25 Palmach fighters at Kefar Ezion, brought in as reinforcements from Messuot Yitzhak.
The Palmach fighters killed fighting at Gush Ezion in May 1948 were:
On 4.5: Moshe Goldfarb; Natan Hay; Rafael Jacobson; Shimon Shechtman.
On 12-13.5: Mordechai Ax; Shmuel Baklachek; Aviv Gutman; Amnon Damio; Erez Hirshler; Yehezkiel Tesher; Yechiel Yochelman; Zvi Lustig; Reuven Meiri; Yehoshua Margalit; Pinhas Mashkov; Yosef Nadav; Yekutiel Solchanski; Yehoshua Sofer; Avraham Fishgrund; Eldad Pan; Zvi Klaz; Yisrael Keren-Zvi; Menahem Rubinstein; Moshe-Shlomo Rafaeli; and Yeshayahu Tahblum.
On Friday, 14.5.1948 --- the day Israel’s independence was declared --- the settlers of Gush Ezion surrendered. The officers of the Arab Legion held off the attempts of an Arab mob to injure them. Proceedings were supervised by the Red Cross, whose personnel saw to it that the surrender took place without disorder.
320 men and women went into captivity in Jordan (they were released nine months later). 155 men and women were killed in the final battles. The total of dead in Gush Ezion after five months of fighting was 240.
The Palmach’s part in this episode was as follows:
Oved Michaeli tells in his book how at the very beginning of the fighting, a large Arab force advanced on “The Mukhtar’s Saddle”, forcing its defenders to retreat. They were able to do this thanks to a squad of Palmach fighters, who approached unseen through the orchards, and destroyed two Jordanian armored vehicles with PIAT anti-tank missiles. According to Michaeli, there were 25 Palmach fighters at Kefar Ezion, brought in as reinforcements from Messuot Yitzhak.
The Palmach fighters killed fighting at Gush Ezion in May 1948 were:
On 4.5: Moshe Goldfarb; Natan Hay; Rafael Jacobson; Shimon Shechtman.
On 12-13.5: Mordechai Ax; Shmuel Baklachek; Aviv Gutman; Amnon Damio; Erez Hirshler; Yehezkiel Tesher; Yechiel Yochelman; Zvi Lustig; Reuven Meiri; Yehoshua Margalit; Pinhas Mashkov; Yosef Nadav; Yekutiel Solchanski; Yehoshua Sofer; Avraham Fishgrund; Eldad Pan; Zvi Klaz; Yisrael Keren-Zvi; Menahem Rubinstein; Moshe-Shlomo Rafaeli; and Yeshayahu Tahblum.