Page 159 - big friday
P. 159
ses and lurking in the smelly little alleys and behind the drawn shutters of the forlorn
houses.
W hile the officer phoned the military headquarters for an escort, we could see soldiers
in undershirts taking a sun bath on the second-floor balcony of the Jerusalem Hotel across
the way. Four soldiers gossiped atop a big Cromwell tank in the courtyard. In the near-by
backyard white hollyhocks bloomed.
[ ]… When we asked the officer whether we could see the Mayor of Jaffa, he said that
he had gone to Amman, and when we asked about the deputy, the officer said that all
were gone, and with a vivid gesture of the hand told us that the City Hall was locked up.
T he C.I.D. man who took us down the shuttered business street, including the Jaffa
Chevrolet agency, to the military headquarters, was asked by the British press officer with
me whether he was surprised at the quick collapse of Jaffa. The C.I.D. man, with a shake
of the head, said "no," and added that he remembered 1936. That was the year before the
Arab uprising began. The C.I.D. man indicated that he didn't think much of the Arabs as
fighters.
A t the heavily barricaded military headquarters we were handed over to a pleasant
young Scottish non-com […] and he took us over to the officers' mess for a drink while
we waited for the soldier escorts to finish the lunch which had just been announced
by bagpipe. […]
“Danger - mines” in English and German (!) on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa border,
May, 1948
Before the Declaration 157
houses.
W hile the officer phoned the military headquarters for an escort, we could see soldiers
in undershirts taking a sun bath on the second-floor balcony of the Jerusalem Hotel across
the way. Four soldiers gossiped atop a big Cromwell tank in the courtyard. In the near-by
backyard white hollyhocks bloomed.
[ ]… When we asked the officer whether we could see the Mayor of Jaffa, he said that
he had gone to Amman, and when we asked about the deputy, the officer said that all
were gone, and with a vivid gesture of the hand told us that the City Hall was locked up.
T he C.I.D. man who took us down the shuttered business street, including the Jaffa
Chevrolet agency, to the military headquarters, was asked by the British press officer with
me whether he was surprised at the quick collapse of Jaffa. The C.I.D. man, with a shake
of the head, said "no," and added that he remembered 1936. That was the year before the
Arab uprising began. The C.I.D. man indicated that he didn't think much of the Arabs as
fighters.
A t the heavily barricaded military headquarters we were handed over to a pleasant
young Scottish non-com […] and he took us over to the officers' mess for a drink while
we waited for the soldier escorts to finish the lunch which had just been announced
by bagpipe. […]
“Danger - mines” in English and German (!) on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa border,
May, 1948
Before the Declaration 157
