“We’ve been lucky.”
“Safed wasn’t-luck and neither are those magnificent children at Gan Dafna luck. Don’t be modest, Ari. We’ve got children under siege at Ben Shemen too … the Iraqis won’t dare take a try at them. Ari, Kawukji is still in the central Galilee … we want to get rid of the bastard. That’s why I asked you to come down here. I want to extend your command and I want you to take charge of the operation. In a matter of a few weeks we should be able to get a battalion of men up there to you, along with some new stuff.”
“How do you figure it?”
“If we take Nazareth I think we’ve got it all. We’ll have the whole Galilee then, all the roads from east to west.”
“What about the Arab villages in the area?”
“Mostly Christian, as you know. They’ve already sent delegations down here to see us. They’ve asked Kawukji to leave. At any rate, they’re not interested in fighting.”
“Good.”
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“Before we proceed with the planning of this operation we want you to secure your area completely, Ari.”
“Fort Esther?” Ari asked.
Avidan nodded.
“I need artillery to take Fort Esther-I wrote you that. At least three or four Davidkas.” ,
“Why don’t you ask for gold?”
“Look, there are two border villages guarding the approaches to Fort Esther. I just can’t get at the place without some long-range pieces.”
“All right, I’ll send them up to you.” Avidan stood up abruptly and began pacing the room. Behind him was a large map of the fighting zones. Ari had felt strangely all along about Avidan calling him to Tel Aviv. He had felt there was more to it than the planning of a new operation and he knew that Avidan was leading up to it now.
“Ari,” the bald-headed block of a man said slowly, “you were ordered to capture Abu Yesha two weeks ago.”
“So that’s why you called me down here.”
“I thought it would be best if you and I talked it over before it gets kicked around like a football in general staff.”
“I sent you a report that I didn’t feel Abu Yesha was a threat to us.”
“We think differently.”
“As area commander, I believe I’m in the best position to judge.”
“Come off it. Abu Yesha is a base for Mohammed Kassi. It’s an entry point for the irregulars and it blocks the road to Gan Dafna.”
Ari stiffened and looked away.
“You and I have known each other too long for equivocation.”
Ari was silent for a moment. “I’ve known the people in Abu Yesha since I was old enough to walk and talk,” he said. “We’ve celebrated weddings together. We’ve gone to funerals together. We built their houses and they gave us land to make Gan Dafna.”
“I know all that, Ari. Dozens of our settlements are faced with the same thing. We happen to be fighting for our lives. We didn’t invite the Arab armies to invade us.”
“But I know those people,” Ari cried; “they aren’t enemies. They’re just plain decent farmers who want nothing more in life than to be left alone.”
“Ari!” Avidan said sharply. “We have Arab villages who have shown the courage to resist Kawukji and the Arab armies. The people in Abu Yesha made their own decision. It is wishful thinking for you to say it is not hostile. It has to go …” 532
“Go to hell,” Ari said and got up to leave.
“Don’t go,” Avidan said quietly. “Please don’t go.” The big farmer now actually did appear tired. His shoulders sagged. “We’ve begged the Palestine Arabs a thousand times to stay out of this fight. No one wants to drive them from their homes. Those villages that have shown loyalty have been left alone. But the others have left us no choice. They are used as arsenals and training camps and as bases to attack our convoys and starve our settlements. A hundred thousand civilians are starving in Jerusalem now because of them. We talked about this thing for weeks. We have no choice but to kill or be killed.”
Ari walked to the window and lit a cigarette. He stared moodily out of the window. Avidan was right and he knew it. The Jewish settlements had not been given the same choice the Arab had been given. With the Jews it was stand and die … fight to the last bullet and be massacred.
“I could easily put another man up in your command to take Abu Yesha. I don’t want to do it that way. If you feel morally incapable of doing this then I give you the choice of asking for a transfer from your area.”
“To what? Another Abu Yesha by another name?”
“Before you give an answer … I have known you since you were a baby. You have been a fighter since you were fifteen years old. We haven’t enough men of your caliber. In all those years I’ve never known you to disobey an order.”
Ari turned from the window. His face was lined with worry, sadness, and resignation. He sagged into the chair. “I will do what has to be done,” he whispered.
“Get together with operations,” Avidan said softly.
Ari shook his head and walked to the door.
“By the way, you are Colonel Ben Canaan, now.”
Ari gave a short sarcastic laugh.
“I am sorry, believe me, I’m sorry,” Avidan said.
Colonel Ari Ben Canaan, his executive officer and his adjutant, Majors Ben Ami and Joab Yarkeni, mapped out Operation Purim for the capture of Fort Esther and the removal of Abu Yesha as an Arab base. It would be the final securing of the Huleh Valley.
The artillery that Avidan had promised never arrived, but Afi really didn’t expect it. He brought the faithful Little David mortar from Safed and rounded up fifty rounds of ammunition.
Frontal attack from Gan Dafna on Fort Esther was ruled out without the artillery. Kassi still had some four hundred men in the area and superior arms at Fort Esther plus better strategic position. Ari also knew that Kassi’s men would give
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a better account of themselves fighting a defensive battle inside the concrete barricade.
Ari had three Arab villages to worry about. Abu Yesha was the first on the road to Fort Esther. High up in the mountains on the Lebanese border a pair of villages flanked the entrances to Fort Esther. Kassi had men stationpd in both of these. Ari planned his battle to get around to the rear of Fort Esther. In order to do it he had to get past the two flanking villages.
The move on Fort Esther was planned to involve three columns. Ari took the first unit out. At darkness, they went up the mountainside by goat trails to the Lebanese border with the Davidka and its ammunition. His objective was to get near the first of the mountain villages. The going would be hard and tricky. He had to swing wide and travel many extra miles to be able to get at their rear without detection. He had the mountain, the darkness, and the weight of the mortar and ammunition to contend with. Thirty-five men and fifteen girls carried one round of ammunition each. Another fifty men acted as cover.
Ari’s leg still gave him trouble but he pushed his column up the mountain in a brutally paced forced march. They had to make their objective by daylight or the whole operation would fail.
They reached the top of the mountain at four o’clock in the morning, exhausted. But there could be no rest now. They continued at a murderous pace along the mountaintop toward the first village. They swung wide of it and made a rendezvous with a patrol from a friendly Bedouin tribe which was acting as a watch on the village. The Bedouins advised Ari the area was clear.
Ari raced his outfit into the ruins of a small Crusader castle two miles past the village. As dawn began to break they scrambled for cover and collapsed into a heap of weariness. All day they stayed bidden, with the Bedouins standing guard. ,
The next night the two other columns moved out from Ein Or headquarters. Major David Ben Ami led his men up the face of the mountain on the now familiar route into Gan Dafna. He reached the village by daylight and went into hiding in the woods.