The Fall of Mishmar HaYarden – Four Letters from Members of the Moshava to the Farmers’ Association, Requesting ...

The Fall of Mishmar HaYarden – Four Letters from Members of the Moshava to the Farmers’ Association, Requesting Assistance – February-August 1948
Four letters from members of the moshava Mishmar HaYarden. February-August, 1948.
1-3. Three handwritten letters from Elad Segal, secretary of Mishmar HaYarden’s committee, to Mr. H. [Haim] Ariav, director-general of the Farmers’ Association, February 15, 1948–June 1, 1948.
These three letters, which were written before the Syrians captured Mishmar HaYarden, describe, in a most touching manner, the difficult situation and hardship that the community is suffering due to severe attacks by the Syrian army and Arab gangs. The community’s committee requests assistance, pleading for financial and material aid, together with additional personnel from the Farmers’ Association. The letters describe the difficult financial situation that the community faces, as well as the severe shortage of equipment and weapons. The committee also asks for help in evacuating the women and children, who will become a burden in the defense against the attacks.
In the third letter, dated June 1, 1948, several days before the final capture of Mishmar HaYarden by the Syrian army, as it faced relentless aerial and artillery attacks, the members of the settlement accuse the defense institutions of treating them with indifference, and conclude with a plea for assistance and that they not be left to their fate.
4. A handwritten letter from Beruria Lobovsky to Mr. Ariav, secretary-general of the Farmers’ Association, August 18, 1948.
In the letter, which was written after the fall of Mishmar Hayarden to the Syrians on June 10, 1948, Beruria Lobovsky, one of the settlement’s founders, asks Mr. Ariav to help her obtain financial compensation for the property she lost, and tells him about her son, who was wounded and taken prisoner by the Syrians.
Size and condition vary. Filing holes in the margins of all the letters. Minor blemishes.
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.