THE WARRIORS OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
SIXTY YEARS TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL
By Solly Ganor

About months ago I received an invitation from the Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and the chief of the Israeli armed forces Gabi Ashkenazi. The invitation was for a meeting of the ‘warriors’ of “Tashach”, 1948 and it was in honor of 60th anniversary of the State of Israel and the War of Independence. We were to gather on June 1st seven p.m. at the camp of ‘Rabin’, at the military establishment of the Kyria in Tel Aviv.
What caught my eye was a sentence at the bottom of the invitation:
“ The State of Israel wants to tell you ‘Todah’ Thank you.”

I went with my childhood friend Uri Chanoch who served with the Palmach during the War Of Independence. " It has been a while since the State of Israel wanted to thank me for anything" Uri said, so we decided to attend. I was curious if I would meet some of my old army buddies of the 7th brigade, the majority of which were at the time Mahal volunteers. They came mostly from English speaking countries and their contribution to the Israel’s victory over the Arabs was never properly appreciated. I was also curious how many would be able to come. After all, most of us who fought in the war of Independence were In the late seventies or eighties and most of us fought in at least four subsequent wars as ‘Miluimniks’ In those days they discharged you from the reserve duty when you were at least fifty or more.

Approaching the Kyria on foot I could see them from a distance, a long line of people standing patiently, inching their way towards the entrance around the massive wall that surrounded the military establishment. As we came nearer we saw their wrinkled faces and gnarled hands, some of them barely able to walk, supporting themselves on canes, some were lead by young soldiers helping them along. They walked quietly and proudly trying to straighten out their bent bodies., They came from all over the country, men and women, to be together one more time and to accept the gratitude not only from the state of Israel but also from the people of the country. They looked anxiously around trying to spot long forgotten comrades, who helped them stem the tide of the Arab hordes that swooped down on the fledgling state to strangle it at its birth.
Here and there we heard joyous shouts of people who found each other hugging and kissing.
We finally made it inside. The compound was huge! Thousands of plastic chairs were spread out in front of a stage where a military band were playing tunes we sang in 1948.
From here we were to hear the speeches by the dignitaries.

Was I surprised? Not really. After all, these were the people who stopped the combined Arab armies with their bodies, as they had few weapons to fight with.
No, I wasn’t really surprised at their tenacity and determination. Without these old timers, Ben Gurion could have proclaimed the establishment of Israel until he was blue in the face, Israel wouldn’t have survived.

In May 1945, when the British were departing from Palestine Robert Kennedy, came as a young correspondent for the Boston Post. In one of his dispatches he wrote:
“Jews make up for lack of arms with undying spirit and unparalleled courage. “

I was glad that I came to be among these people with “the undying spirit and unparalleled courage.” As Robert Kennedy put it.
My memory took me back to the immigrant ship ‘Pan York’, loaded with two thousand men, women and children from the DP camps of Europe, survivors of the Holocaust.
There were also young men from Canada, US and England who came to join the Israeli Defense Forces that were in the middle of a life and death struggle against the combined 7 Arab armies. It was August 1948, three months after the state was declared.
I remember the day when we sighted the Carmel hills surrounded by an early morning mist.
Then as the sun rose in the East the mist lifted and we saw the white houses of Haifa stretching from the sea to the Carmel like some three thousand year old apparition that endless generations of Jews dreamt of. We all stood on the deck in total silence and then one of us began singing the Hatikvah and we all joined and the sound carried far across the quiet water.
At that moment we knew that we came here to lay our lives down if necessary to fulfill a two thousand year old dream; the rebirth of our ancient home.
Many of us who were on that ship did lay their lives down in the defense of this country.
As I sat among my comrades in arms sixty years later and heard Ehud Barak and Gabi Askenazi thanking us in the name of the nation, I thought of those who died for this country, some of whom were the last members of whole families who died in the Holocaust. The thanks and our gratitude belongs to them.