Israel’s Jews exulted at the establishment of the new state but for the

Israel’s Jews exulted at the establishment of the new state, but for the Palestinians May 1948 was Al-Naqba, the Catastrophe. There were no Arab traders selling fruits and vegetables, no Arab workers tilling the fields, no Arab children scampering home Jaffa was a ghost town The exodus left an unsettling vacuum Many Israelis were astonished at its speed and extent. Aharon Remez, commander of the Israeli Air Force, told Shlomo that the plane had gone down and he was going to look for the pilot “Remez came back to Sde Dov, with the pilot I spoke to him in Arabic He was shivering I asked him if he wanted to drink something He said, no, no, no He was afraid. Its elegant Bauhaus buildings defined its identity: open-plan, democratic and egalitarian.But now Tel Aviv was under attack Shlomo shot well. Modern, dynamic, Tel Aviv boasted a vibrant commercial, artistic and cultural life.

Founded in 1909, Tel Aviv was the capital of the Yishuv, the Jewish state-in-waiting. Aharon used his profits to buy land, where the first Jewish settlements outside Old Jaffa were built: Neve Tsedek and Ahuzat Bayit, which later became Tel Aviv. They had arrived in Palestine from Algeria in the late 1830s and had settled in Jaffa. In the late 19th century the great patriarch Aharon worked as a jeweller and money-changer. I gave him everything I had and the plane flew out to sea.”The Chelouches were one of most respected Jewish families in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. “Who goes in to pull out the wounded when ammunition is exploding everywhere? Only a fool,” laughs Shlomo, who still lives in Tel Aviv. “The second plane came towards us an hour later, from the direction of Jaffa He was not flying very high I positioned the gun and waited for him, for a few minutes I was calm, I aimed.

Shlomo had helped pull the wounded from the wreckage and was decorated for his bravery. Which was why on 17 May 1948, when Israel was three days old, Shlomo Chelouche was steadily tracking an Egyptian fighter plane in the sights of his machine gun. Shlomo was a Haganah commander for north Tel Aviv, based at Sde Dov airport The airport had already been bombed that morning A tent was hit, holding arms and ammunition. We will sweep them into the sea.”Just three years after the liberation of the Nazi camps, there was no reason for the Israelis to disbelieve the Arabs’ threat of a new Holocaust. He confidently predicted that, “It does not matter how many Jews there are. “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades,” announced Abd al-Rahman Azzam Pasha, secretary general of the Arab League. Others sent reinforcements and the 1948 war entered its second phase.

These were not rag-tag Palestinian militias but well-equipped armies, with tanks, artillery and aircraft. Arab leaders loudly proclaimed that they would annihilate the Jews, who were outnumbered and outgunned. He wanted Jaffa to be an open city, with no looting or destruction,” says his daughter Suad. “There has been criticism of this, but there was no way to fight, and he wanted to save Jaffa from being destroyed.” Clause eight of the surrender agreement seemed to leave the door open for some to return: “… any male Arab who left Jaffa and who wishes to return to Jaffa may apply for a permit to do so. Permits will be granted after their bona-fides have been proved, provided that the Commander of the Haganah is convinced that applicants will not, at any time, constitute a threat to peace and security.” The Haganah commander may have been sincere, but his political masters had other plans.Four Arab armies immediately invaded the new state of Israel: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria.