Poll: 50% of Israeli Jews don't know what the Lamed Heh convoy was

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 26 January 2006

Telephone poll of a representative sample of 500 Israeli Jews carried out by
Geocartography for the Etzion Bloc regional Council and published in Haaretz
on 26 January 2007

Background: The Gush Etzion area some 15 km. to the east was under
increasingly heavy local Arab attack in early 1948, and they depended upon
the Hagana supply convoys for their survival.
Under the command of Danny Mas, 35 Hagana members made their way on foot
from Har Tuv (near Beit Shemesh) on the night of January 15, but there were
not enough hours of darkness to get them to their destination. Arab
shepherds from Tzurif spotted them at dawn, and promptly summoned a large
group of armed locals to block their way. The battle lasted all the next
day; the last of the group was killed at about 4:30 p.m.

The Arab attackers mutilated the bodies of "the 35"; a British soldier who
took pictures of the mutilated bodies left his roll of film to be developed
in Jerusalem and never came back for it. Several decades later the negatives
were discovered, but it was decided not to publish the atrocities.

Poll:

Don't know about the Lamed Heh (35) Convoy:
Total 50% Among young 65%

10% connected the Lamed Heh Convoy to the Lebanon War.

Of those who knew about the Lamed Heh Convoy, 68% did not associate it with
actions in the defense of the Etzion Bloc and Jerusalem.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il