New Heavens by Boris Senior

Author:Boris Senior
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Published: 2005-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

UMM RASHRASH

In December 1947 I made the longest flight I have ever flown in a small aircraft in one day. The tiny British Auster is no bigger than the better-known Piper Cub and was our workhorse at Sde Dov. My mission was to survey the southern and southeastern borders as far as the Red Sea. I took a former Soviet army tank expert, who was to examine the feasibility of introducing an armored column from the Far East via the Red Sea, then advance from the far south to the center of the country. I believe there was a plan to equip a unit in the Far East with World War II war-surplus tanks from the Philippines, and after docking at the shore near the present port of Eilat, it was to make its way up the Arava Valley to the north.

From Tel Aviv we flew to Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev to refuel from jerry-cans carried in the aircraft, and from there to the extreme south along the border with Transjordan. In the southern Negev in 1947, we held only five positions: the kibbutzim of Gvulot, Beit Eshel, Tse’elim, Hatserim, and Revivim. Revivim was the most southern, near the Egyptian border. The kibbutzniks had cleared a short strip in the desert.

I spotted the kibbutz easily, the only green area in a landscape burned brown by the sun and no moisture. Rain falls rarely in the cruel desert of the southern Negev.

I spent some time studying the nearly featureless maps of the uninhabited deep south of Palestine. After taking off we climbed to cross the escarpment before descending down below sea level to the desolate valley of the Arava.

As soon as we saw Ein Husub (now Ein Hatseva) the first of the oases in the Arava, I descended and flew low above the dry stony desert ground. From Ein Husub we followed the track that vaguely marked the route from Aqaba to the Dead Sea. In biblical times, long before the sea route through the Suez Canal, this was the main route from the Red Sea through Palestine to Europe. On the way we examined and made notes of the location and appearance of the five existing oases, whose points were not well marked. Only a few date palms and a hint of green indicated their location. We continued at low level to Aqaba near present-day Eilat. I am not sure whether my passenger was unfamiliar with Hebrew or if he was just a silent type, but whatever the reason we hardly exchanged a word during the nine-hour flight.

All that could be seen in the Arava was the stony landscape with a little scrub vegetation and an occasional oasis. Our only company for more than three hours was the mountain range of Moab and Edom on our left, brooding over us as we made our way along the Arava. On the right, the sharp, high crags of the Sinai Mountains added to the wild and inhospitable feel of a landscape stark and devoid of any sign of human habitation.

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