Word: haifa
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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While U.N. talked, the Jews were carving Palestine with a sword. In a whirlwind week they seized Haifa, attacked Jaffa, won Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee and tried to cut the Arab supply road into Jerusalem. For the first time since the Romans leveled Jerusalem 1,800 years ago, a Jewish army ate Passover matzoth and bitter herbs around campfires in the field. Said Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion: "We stand on the eve of the Jewish State . . . heartened by the victories of our army . . . We have just begun to buckle on the sword...
Behind the Mortars. The Jews' most dazzling military prize of the week was Haifa, the only port where seagoing ships can dock. As British troops prepared last week to withdraw from all of the city except the dock area, Jewish soldiers began to filter into the town. Others gathered on the slopes of Mount Carmel. One morning at i a.m. they struck. Behind a creeping mortar barrage, the Jews moved into the Arab quarters of the city. Bewildered Arabs gathered for one brief counterattack, then collapsed in leaderless confusion. Within a day, the Jews had taken Haifa...
...mass evacuation, prompted partly by fear, partly by orders of Arab leaders, left the Arab quarter of Haifa a ghost city. More than pride and defiance was behind . the Arab orders. By withdrawing Arab workers, their leaders hoped to paralyze Haifa. Jewish leaders said wishfully: "They'll be back in a few days. Already some are returning...
...into the battle. Kawukji sent an anxious appeal to the Arab League Political Committee, meeting in Cairo. Ka-wukji's army, it turned out, had suffered less than 100 casualties. But the Jews had driven the Arabs back, seized nearby Arab villages, firmly blocked the road into Arab Haifa from the southeast. Some Jews disguised as Arabs were caught trying to get through Kawukji's lines. Grinning with a calm ferocity that showed his gold molars, Kawukji said: "I have some Jewish prisoners, but intend to kill them...
...Palestine, as at Flushing Meadow, there was joy among Jews. In the early morning hours, when news of the U.N. vote reached Tel Aviv, cheering crowds danced the traditional hora. In Jerusalem and Haifa, jubilant thousands paraded the streets waving the blue & white Zionist flag. Even British Tommies joined in the fun. Jews began debating the name for their promised state. Most likely choice: New Judea, although ironically the tentative borders (see map) exclude from Jewish control most of ancient Judea...