Teller From Jerusalem

TFJ Season 2 Episode 21 Foreign Volunteers, The Battle for Lod and the Displacement of Non-Combatants

Foreign volunteers were critical to Israel's victory in the War of Independence. Israel's fledgling air force was made up of Jewish English speaking pilots, veterans of WWII. It became clear that the only way that Israel could persevere through the difficult beginning of the War of Independence would be if she would seize the initiative and Plan Danny was launched. Part of this operation was to capture Lod (Lydda) which was an Arab stronghold. In the fighting tens of thousands of Arabs either fled their homes or were instructed by their leaders to leave with the assurance that they would return with victorious Arab armies.

TFJ Season 2 Episode 20 The Arab Revolt, The White Paper and the Évian Conference

With the rise of Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1930s the Arabs lodged their protest with violence, attacks, murder and mayhem that became known as the Arab Revolt (1936-1939). In response to the revolt, famous appeaser Neville Chamberlin, far more interested in Arab oil than the plight of millions of desperate Jews whose lives were in imminent danger, issued The White Paper of 1939. This entailed a severe limitation of Jewish immigration to Palestine. Despite the fact that the White Paper stated that the future of Jewish immigration would be determined by the Arab majority and limited if not curtailed the ability of Jews to buy land, it was still rejected by Palestine Arabs led by Haj Amin al-Husseini. With the number of Jewish refugees in Europe at catastrophic dimensions consequential to the Nazi rise to power in Germany and in Austria, the Évian Conference was convened to ease their plight. The conference was a fiasco never intending to be of any help, and in fact, gravely worsened their condition.

Gratitude should not be short-term. Ideally one should feel and express gratitude for favors done to family members and the community, yet minimize the favors that you have done for others. Otherwise, you may walk around in a constant state of annoyance for not being recognized for the good that you have performed. Gratitude is the most important component to achieve happiness, but even gratitude cannot help if happiness is confused with pleasure. There are many who believe that the pursuit of pleasure is the goal of life and will sacrifice their lives in the process.

Close to 100,000 Jewish residents in Jerusalem were starving because of an Arab siege of the city. A garrison manned by Jordanian gunners in the high grounds of Latrun overlooking the sole road to Jerusalem saw to it that no trucks bringing relief to the city could pass. Ben Gurion ordered that Latrun be taken, but Israel had neither the manpower nor the weaponry to launch a successful assault and each of its attacks were futile and very costly. A shepherd path was accidentally discovered beyond the view of the Arab gunners, and hundreds of Israeli volunteers worked around the clock to convert this winding path strewn with rocks and pits into a viable road for trucks to bring desperately needed supplies to Jerusalem. The miraculous road, discovered and created so providentially, was named the Burma Road because of its similarity of circumstances to the road built by the Allies during world War II connecting Burma to Southwest China to avert the Japanese sea blockade. This episode has been enhanced by the excellent "History of Israel Explained/Unpacked" series.

Newly declared prime minister David Ben Gurion said that if Israel can hold out for the first two weeks of battle (in the War for Independence) than "we will win." Those first two weeks proved to be the bloodiest of all, but with her back against the wall, Israel prevailed in repelling attacks, enlarging its borders and freeing all but the Old City of Jerusalem which had been under siege.

At the beginning of the War of Independence Israel was vastly outnumbered and did not had sufficient weapons to defend herself. In those initial weeks before weapons began to arrive, primarily form Czechoslovakia, it was only the daring and ingenuity of lone Israeli soldiers coupled with industrial helpings of Divine Providence that enabled Israel to hold on. Ron Feller is one such hero who single-handedly took on and defeated an entire Egyptian mechanized platoon. Swedish diplomat Count Folk Bernadotte was chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in Israel's War of Independence. Bernadotte labored to turn the cease-fire into a binding peace treaty which he figured would earn him a Nobel Peace Prize. It certainly earned him disdain.

• In TFJ's first installment on gratitude, the correlation between gratitude and happiness is explored. Although goals are critically important, expectations are a recipe for misery. Furthermore, the less you expect the more grateful you will be, and the more you expect the less grateful you will be. Counting your blessings is not merely a phrase, but a mantra for a grateful person. It is the only way to avoid the all-too common appreciating what you have, only when it is taken away.

Once Israel declared her independence, she was attacked by all of her neighbors. The Hagana, which will become the Israel Defense Forces, mobilized any able-bodied man or woman and this amounted to barely 30,000. The Arabs had significant manpower and far greater firepower and air forces. The Jews had nothing comparable. Lacking defense in depth the Jews could not afford to give ground on any of their four fronts.

But now that the British mandate was over, the Jews were able to import weapons that had previously been forbidden. The greatest Jewish resource was the dedication of their troops, and the talent of their leaders. If Israel was to hang on, she would have to survive the first two weeks.

Declaring independence was a daring move, for Israel knew that the very declaration was an invitation to immediate war against five organized armies. Ben Gurion understood that it was now or never. Israel's Declaration of Independence assured that Israel would be open for Jewish immigration, and for the ingathering of the exiles. It would foster the development of the country for the benefit of all inhabitants. It would be based upon freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel. It would ensure complete equality of social, religious and political rights to all of its inhabitants. TFJ also looks at the mystery and tension regarding the name that would be awarded to the new country.

Following the UN vote for partition in November 1947, the British informed that they would not carry out on the policy voted on by the General Assembly, and they would remain in Palestine until May 1948. The British would no longer intervene in any fighting between Arabs and Jews, but they would still steadfastly enforce the ban on weapons for Jews. The Hagana was planning its attack to liberate Jewish residents under siege in Jerusalem. The road leading to Jerusalem was subject to sniper fire from Arab terrorist. The Irgun and Lechi wished to assist their brethren in Jerusalem and attacked the village of Deir Yassin and encountered fiercer resistance than expected. Pinned down, the fighters tossed hand grenades resulting in civilian losses.