The Haj - Leon Uris [99]
Gideon shuffled his papers but scarcely needed to refer to them as he reported on the strength of the Arab Irregulars and their probable strategy.
‘I count less than three thousand full-time men in Abdul Kadar’s Jihad Militia,’ Gideon said. ‘However, half of them are deployed in the Ramle-Lydda area. This means they will make an all-out fight for the airport. In our early strategy we must be prepared to commit the Palmach. If we don’t capture the airport, it would spell a catastrophe.’
The chief of operations, a young Jerusalem archaeologist of thirty years, agreed that Ramle-Lydda and the airport was second only to West Jerusalem.
Gideon continued. ‘The balance of the Jihad force is around Jerusalem. But we must remember Abdul Kadar can drum up as many as ten thousand coffeehouse fighters for any given action. All of them have arms of some type. If he smells a soft spot in our defense, he might overrun it by his sheer numbers. He can hurt us in three ways. First, the roads. He can line up a thousand men along the Bab el Wad against any given convoy.’
‘For us to clear the Bab el Wad and the Judean hills,’ Yigael Yadin, the chief of operations, said, ‘we would have to use an entire Palmach brigade.’
‘We might have to,’ Gideon replied. ‘Abdul Kadar’s obvious strategy is a blockade of West Jerusalem and the starvation of our people.’
‘It would be the mortal blow to the Yishuv,’ Ben-Gurion said.
Yadin, who was a Jerusalemite, whose family lived in the city, and whose father had discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, was adamant. ‘I would love dearly to be able to commit a Palmach brigade from Latrun to Jerusalem, but it is not possible. We may have to think in terms of a Jewish state without Jerusalem.’
There was a silence of someone sprinkling ashes.
‘It cannot happen,’ the Old Man said.
‘I hope not,’ Yadin agreed.
Ben-Gurion nodded for Gideon to continue. ‘The four most vulnerable settlements in Palestine are the Etzion Bloc,’ he said, in reference to four kibbutzim of ultra-Orthodox Jews located in all-Arab territory fifteen miles south of Jerusalem. ‘Abdul Kadar can butcher us there. The Etzion Bloc is my major objection to Plan D. I think we have to evacuate it.’
Several commanders jumped up in disagreement. The debate heightened.
‘Quiet, quiet. Let Gideon finish.’
‘West Jerusalem is already our greatest problem,’ Gideon insisted. ‘How the hell can it supply the Etzion Bloc?’
‘I disagree! Abdul Kadar cannot take the Bloc.’
‘Then I suggest that you personally lead the first convoy that tries to break through to them,’ Gideon retorted. ‘Suppose the Etzion Bloc holds against the Irregulars. Suppose some of the isolated settlements in the Negev and Galilee hold during the first phase. What then? What happens in phase two when the Arab Legion crosses the Jordan River and the Egyptians invade from the south?’
‘Forget Plan D for the moment. I want your assessment of Kaukji.’
The Old Man was being stubborn beyond stubborn. Gideon sighed a deep sigh and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Kaukji has put together a force of eight thousand men: a thousand Syrians, five hundred Lebanese, two thousand Iraqis, five hundred Jordanians, two thousand Saudis, and two thousand Egyptians. They are laced with a number of regular officers from the standing armies of these countries. In addition, we may be looking at a few thousand Moslem Brotherhood and several hundred highly trained troops in the form of British deserters, ex-Nazis, and European mercenaries. Kaukji will have some armor and a half-dozen artillery batteries.’
‘How good are they?’
‘They are more than adequate for their particular mission. Their strategy is no secret. Kaukji will cross and try to pick off some of the most isolated settlements in the Galilee. None of these settlements can depend on reinforcements from us. If Kaukji captures a village or kibbutz, there will be a massacre. I am sure that Kaukji deeply believes he can create a panic and flight of the Jews in Galilee through such a massacre.’
The intelligence chief nodded in agreement.
‘During