Life in the Besieged City
271
THE PALMACH AND PORTZIM ATTACK
THE BBC announced that King Abdullah had fired a pistol
across the Jordan border as a signal for his armies to cross into
Palestine, thus carrying on the fiction that the Legionnaires
had not been in Palestine before the Mandate ended. The
announcement, however, caused the Haganah to intensify its
efforts to rescue the Old City Jews before the full power of
the Legion was thrown against them. Pushed into an evertightening corner, they had been undergoing a frightful ordeal. The Haganah began its campaign with a sudden attack
upon Deir Aboutor. Presently reports came that it had captured the entire area without the loss of a single man, sweeping all my ex-pals before it. My boys had not even put up a
fight. No one could say that they had not time to prepare.
Nor could they plead lack of arms, ammunition, or manpower. In addition, they had the strategic advantage of being
on high ground. They had everything in their favor—except
guts! The braggarts had turned tail without even token resistance.
The Palmach—striking force of the Haganah—pursued
them down the Valley of Hinnom, and up the steep slopes
of Mount Zion to the walls of Zion Gate (entrance to the
Jewish sector), behind which the Arabs took refuge. The
snipers' nests and mortar emplacements that had plagued us
at the Pantiles were wiped out. We breathed easier after this.
Schmidt and Calder took their beds out of the hallway and
back into their rooms. How the Israelis managed to scramble
up Mount Zion in the face of entrenched Arab positions astonished us all.
This achievement was eclipsed by what followed the next
night.
Davidson and Bilby left immediately after supper, after
having been mysteriously absent most of the day. News had