By April 23, 2008 Read More →

Jewish Claim, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 1948.

Negev Brigade SoldiersIsraeli Spokesman Says One-Third Of Arab Palestine Has Been Taken

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JERUSALEM, June 2 (AP)-A Jewish spokesman today said Israeli forces have taken about a third of Arab Palestine.

He said that in the 19 days of total war with Arab armies of five nations, the Jews have held all but a two-mile wedge of their own state. The spokesman reviewed what he called the first phase of the war ending with both sides agreeing to accept a four-week cease fire.

“Our object has been achieved and more.” the spokesman said “our frontiers have been held. We have fought the enemy in his own lands and not in ours.”

The Israelis have fought the combined strength of units of armies of Trans-Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon, supported by Palestine Arab volunteers and polyglot outsiders of Fawzi Bey Al Kaukji’s “liberator army.”

THE BALANCE SHEET

The spokesman said the Israeli forces have managed this balance sheet-

Lost in battle-four settlements of the Kfar Etzion bloc near Hebron, Yad Mordecai in the Negeb desert and Haharaim in the north-all in the part of Palestine given to the Arabs by United Nations partitioners. Also lost was the Jewish quarter in the old city of Jerusalem, slated to be an “international” area.

Yielded to consolidated lines-Beth Haarava at the Dead sea, Neve Yaacov and Ataroth between Jerusalem and Ramallah, and Hartov, southwest of Jerusalem, all in Arab Palestine.

Conquered-all of West Galilee, stretching from the Jewish state north beyond Haifa to the Lebanese frontier- a large area at Megiddo, north of the Jenin-Nablus-Tulkarm triangle; the city of Jaffa; the Judean mountain expanse along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, except for a four-mile stretch at Latrun; and all but a small section of modern Jerusalem.

ARAB CONQUEST

The only place the Arabs have managed to penetrate the frontier of Israel is a two-mile wedge driven in the coastal plain between Natanya and Haifa, where an Iraqi push has been blocked, the spokesman said.

Arab military communiques stress the “conquest” of parts of Palestine and refer to distances their armies are from Tel Aviv. Scoffing at such communiques, the spokesman pointed out that it is possible to be even closer to Tel Aviv than ten miles and still not cross the frontier of Israel.

He said the area of Palestine the Arabs say they have “captured” so far includes Arab cities such as Gaza, Beersheba, Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho where no Jews have lived for a decade.

He said Arab artillery has been completely ineffective against Jewish Jerusalem save for a somewhat demoralizing effect on civilians and for restrictions in normalcy. Damage is superficial and only about two dozen lives have been lost in two and a half weeks of shelling, frequently with incendiaries, the spokesman said.

ARTILLERY FAILS’

“If this is intended as saturation shelling of Jerusalem, it is far from saturation,” the spokesman added, “artillery has no effect on military effectiveness of Jewish forces.”

Jewish artillery has been a considerable factor in the Israeli war effort. Unused yet in Jerusalem, it is credited with holding the Iraqis and Syrians at bay in the north and with driving the comparatively puny Lebanese expedition back across its borders.

Israeli aircraft has been matching the Arab aerial raids in the past week with bomb attacks on Trans-Jordan’s capital of Amman and on the Arab Legion and Egyptian troop concentrations in Arabic Palestine.

The spokesman said the Jewish victory so far is “not altogether surprising, despite the fact we are one small nation against five. Our forces with supporting or auxiliary units probably number 90,000. We frankly doubt the Arabs can match it.”

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