240
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
hand-to-hand fighting followed. When Kfar Etzion fell, the
Arabs found sixty-two dead, forty-two gravely wounded, and
three survivors. The rest had fled to the three adjoining kibbutzim—making a combined defensive force of about 350
Jews.
In the next few days these kibbutzim, too, underwent Kfar
Etzion's fate. After their surrender they were plundered and
burned. Thus ended the tragic saga of Kfar Etzion, the first
major triumph of the British-trained, British-armed, Britishled, so-called Arab Legion—while at Lake Success and in
London, British spokesmen soberly repeated that the English
and the Legion had pulled out of Palestine.
On the night of May 13, the last night of the British
mandate—the night before the Jews would proclaim the establishment of the first independent Jewish State in two thousand years—I stood watching the burning buildings of Kfar
Etzion glowering against the sky. The ravished settlement was
symbolic of the Holy Land, a Holy City set afire by the torches
of colonialism. I watched far into the night, then went downstairs and prepared for bed. Moustafa and I slept on adjoining
cots. I lay on my cot. Moustafa was removing his jacket.
"I feel suddenly frightened, Moustafa. I cannot explain
why."
"It is because you are afraid of the future. You will see that
the Arabs will win. Allah is on our side."
"Do you still believe what you said about Tel Aviv?"
"Of course. Every Arab believes it. Every Arab knows that
we will be in Tel Aviv one month from tomorrow. We will sit
in the cafes by the sea, drink coffee ... eat baklawa and
enjoy the Jewish girls!"
"And hang all the Haganah from the trees?"
"Yes, I am sure of it."
He paused for a moment, and grew confidential.
"Artour, I can now tell you our big plans, since they are not
secret any more. The Egyptian armies have already crossed