On the day after the founding of the state of Israel the regular troops of the Arab states marched into the Land of Israel. We were faced with a new enemy - equipped with aircraft, artillery, tanks. What I had been afraid of was now reality-the population of Israel now found itself at war with the whole of the Middle East.
Our newly created army did not have the weapons to win the battle with the enemy’s destructive machine. We had no artillery and no aircraft fit for combat. We had no tanks, apart from the few that were "confiscated" from the British. With almost empty hands, with rifles, machine guns, and hand grenades, the Israeli soldier had to hold off well-trained armies equipped with heavy weapons.
From the first day the whole Givati Brigade directed its attention toward the south. There the strongest and most modern Arab army, the Egyptian, was just beginning to set up its "springboard" in the area between Gaza and Majdal. This enemy was facing a choice: either to march ahead toward Tel Aviv, or to link up with the Arab Legion around Hebron and cut off the Negev. The task of the Givati Brigade was to prevent both these possibilities.
Between Majdal and Hebron, near the Negba kibbutz, stands a fortress on high ground, that dominates the whole area. It can be seen from almost any point in the south of the country. This gigantic fortress, the police station of Iraq Suweidan,1 was recently handed over to the Arabs by the British as they pulled out. Our first task was to capture this fortress before the Egyptian army could establish itself there.