Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh

Author:Efraim Karsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-300-12727-0
Publisher: Yale University Press

In a desperate bid to shore up the situation, a delegation of local notables traveled to Damascus, only to be reprimanded by ALA commander-in-chief Ismail Safwat for fleeing the battlefield and ordered to keep on fighting. A subsequent visit by mayor Zaki Qadura to the royal court in Amman was a far more affable occasion yet equally inconclusive. While Abdullah was evidently moved by Qadura’s pleas, he argued that there was nothing he could do before the termination of the mandate on May 15 and that the mayor had better return to Damascus and put his case to President Quwatli, who would then urge the ALA into action. Qadura dutifully complied, and following his visit to Damascus some 130 fighters were sent to Safad, arriving in the city on May 9.

This, however, was too little too late. As fighting intensified in early May, the trickle of escapees turned into a hemorrhage. On May 2, following the bombing of the Arab quarter by the deafening albeit highly ineffective homemade “David’s mortar,” scores of Arabs fled Safad en route to the Jordan valley, accompanied by a substantial number of ALA fighters. Four days later, ALA regional commander Shishakli reported that “the majority of the inhabitants have left [Safad’s neighboring] villages. Their morale has collapsed completely.” Heavy artillery bombardments of Jewish neighborhoods failed to do the trick, and as the final battle for the city was joined on the night of May 9 a mass flight ensued. By the time fighting was over the next morning, Safad’s entire Arab population had taken to the road; a day later, Hagana patrols reported that “the [Arab] quarter had emptied to a man,” with evacuees leaving behind “a huge quantity of weapons and ammunition.” They were followed by the Hula villages and “a great number of villagers in the Eastern Galilee.”40

Having boasted of glowing successes for some time, the Arabs were loath to reconcile themselves to the fall of Safad. As late as 8 pm on May 9, Jerusalem’s Arabic radio reported that the royal cabinet in Amman had been reassured by “the commanding artillery officer in Safad” that the city had not fallen as had been erroneously announced and that the enemy had been repulsed with enormous losses. Greatly relieved, Abdullah replied that “we are very pleased with your telegram and this is what we expect of you. The day [of pan-Arab invasion of Palestine] is approaching.” It was only the next day that the Arab media grudgingly conceded that “our forces had to withdraw from Safad at 6.45a.m., after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.” So traumatic was the city’s fall that Fnaish was summarily tried and publicly executed for having allegedly surrendered Safad to the Jews for a handsome financial gain.41

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