families, about their houses, and their own lives, give him a hearing. He doesn’t promise any reinforcements. He doesn’t promise them the heavy weapons we don’t have. He promises only one thing - that he and his men will stand firm to the last, to the last bullet, to the last breath.
The citizens hear his words. And they see the gray-blue eyes, these steely eyes that are so human. They are not certain that his army will win. But they are certain that his army will fight to the end. And they decide: we will stay, together with the soldiers.
It may be that in this instant the real decision was made. It is possible that Shimon Avidan achieved his greatest victory at this moment. Not in the field, not in battle. But in talks with the citizens of the south, who remain voluntarily in their houses.
* * *
On 8 July, at dawn, thirty hours before the end of the agreed ceasefire, the Egyptians attack Beit Daras. A selected company of Sudanese sol-diers assaults the positions. In man-to-man fighting they are driven back. Dozens die or are wounded in this battle. With their last energy the defenders beat off the attack. The enemy withdraws.
The chief and his deputy are in the new battle HQ near Kfar Warburg. And they decide: attack immediately, before the Egyptians are ready for another attack. The brigade is prepared. Everything is planned. All that is needed is the order. And it comes.
In the night of 8 July, brigade units attack Position 113, Hatta, and Karatiyya. And at the same time other units capture the villages of Iraq Suweidan, Beit Affa, and Ibdis in the Negba region, while a Palmach unit attacks the police station of Iraq Suweidan, that terrible fortress that controls the whole of the south.
The attack on the fortress was not successful. In the morning the forces leave the villages of Beit Affa and Iraq Suweidan, which are indefensible as long as the enemy occupies the fortress. But the Ibdis Position near Negba remains in the hands of the brigade.
Now it is the enemy’s turn. In great strength he attacks Ibdis and Negba from his base in the fortress. In Ibdis the fighters had no time to organize themselves and dig in properly. The capture of the village was not complete until eleven o’clock, at which time the approaching Egyptian units could already be seen in the distance.
The intention is clear, even without having seen the Egyptian battle plan, which later fell into the hands of the Israelis in Ibdis. The plan is