THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, Awst 25, 1978 21 Addition to Yitzhak Ben-Ami's Memoir of Altalena Tragedy Yitzhak Ben-Ami, author firmed sailing date 24 hours later. of the important memoir about the sinking of the "We sailed in a hurry be- Irgun munitions-carrying cause once the weapons boat, the Altalena, on or- were aboard the French and ders from the then Prime we couldn't dilly-dally any Minister David Ben- longer. The decision to sail Gurion, and the exonera- on June 11 was not Begin's, tion of Menahem Begin of but Lankin's, based only on charges that he had aimed local circumstances. at usurping power in Israel "The only crucial point on 30 years ago, has written a follow-up note on the sub- which negotiations broke down during the unloading ject. The Ben-Ami article, was Begin's insistence that which was featured in last 20 percent of the arms go to week's Jewish News, refer- the Irgun units in red to the books that in- Jerusalem. Zahal did not cluded references to the Al- function as yet in talena. Ben-Ami comments on the various views relat- ing to Begin and the Irgun policies 30 years ago in this letter. As to: '0 Jerusalem' — Altalena version, it is basi- cally the official version, based on misinformation and untruths as given to the authors by the Hagana his- torians. It is distorted as are all its other major chapters, when it comes to choose be- tween the Hagana and Irgun versions. "When the Altalena docked, there were three ex-Irgun batallions al- ready incorporated in Zahal. Begin did origi- nally insist on their re- ceiving 80 percent of the Altalena arms, but gave up this demand in the later phase of the negoti- ations. The unloading at Kfar Vitkin was at Zahal orders, and detailed in- structions with a promise to help in the unloading. "Begin did not advise Zahal on the exact sailing date and what was on board because he did not know on June 11 that the vessel had sailed and what was on board. He received the con- American Finds Jews in Yemen TEL AVIV (JTA) — An American Embassy official in the Republic of North Yemen recently came upon a small community of some 40 Jews living in Wadi Waj- bara in the northern part of the country. Although it had been thought that the entire Yemenite Jewish commu- nity had been brought to Is- rael by "Operation Magic Carpet" in the early 19,50s, the American official dis- covered that between 1,000 and 2,000 Jews still live in North Yemen. They informed their American visitor that they enjoy good relations with their Moslem neighbors as well as the freedom to prac- "'rice their religion and to travel throughout the coun- try. Jerusalem. Eventually, the Hagana let down the Irgun and Lehi, and Jerusalem was not liberated as plan- ned. All this today is public knowledge in Israel. How- ever, the Hagana/Labor historians adhere to their version and continue to feed same to overseas resear- chers. "J.B. Bell's story is bas- ically accurate, some- what embellished. Pag- lin's 'ideas of rushing to Tel Aviv to take over the government' may have been Paglin's ideas, which he actually may or may not have related to Bell. In any event, neither Begin nor Lankin on the vessel nor Landau at Irgun headquarters talked or planned such action. A number of ex- Irgun people in a position to know, told me that Bell's reporting of his conversations with them was sometimes incorrect. "I can only speak for my- self, Meridor who was nearby, Lankin, Ben Eliezer, and Begin, basing myself on their comments to me and on their writings over the years. Only 250 Excaliburs Are Created Each Year... ...AND LIBERTY STATE BANK & TRUST WaL GIVE YOU ONE OF THEM Deposit $61,680.89 in an 8-year investment passbook account and Liberty State Bank & Trust will give you this remarkably impressive and incomparable Excalibur in lieu of interest. Valued at $28,500,* there are only 250 Excaliburs created each year. 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