Children as pawns on the national Chess board: children in Israel’s 1948 war of Independence

ABSTRACTThe article examines how nationalism shapes perceptions of childhood and defines the role of children in a national struggle, and the challenges of implementing these perceptions during wartime, while explores the evacuation of children during the Israeli War of Independence (1948) as a case study. While nationalism played a central role in shaping the society's perceptions of children's roles, practical constraints and other perceptions exerted a significant influence. While the leadership opposed evacuation, the question of whether the presence of children on frontline settlements strengthened or weakened their fight was disputed among their members. Mothers both wanted their children with them to boost morale and wished them to be safe far away. Some accepted that they could play a vital role, others supported their evacuation so they could play their own part without hindrance. These dilemmas were compounded by the fact that children served as emotional and mental supports for both the family and the collective. The trauma of the Holocaust heightened this aspect of the double bind. The tension between child welfare vs. national goals often led to last-minute decisions. Children were thus more often evacuated under live fire rather than in the pre-planned, organized fashion characteristic of the 2WW Blitz in Britain. Despite the national principles aligning children with the well-being of the nation, their application during wartime proved intricate and contingent upon specific circumstances and the immediate danger faced by children. The harsh reality highlights the modern concept of childhood and the traditional concept of motherhood. It concludes that a child's role in national warfare is characterized by both conceptual complexity and practical flexibility. Especially in a traditional and national society striving for modernity as Israeli society. Furthermore, even in an existential war, national indoctrination can encounter limitations in its power and influence.KEYWORDS: Perceptions of childhoodchildrenfamilymotherhoodnational societieswarevacuationBritainIsrael Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/world/europe/2022-05-08/ty-article-live/.premium/00000180-a35a-d0ae-adf5-bbdecf720000 (8 March, 2022).2. The present article only treats the evacuation of children from war zones, not relating to the deliberate bringing of children into areas of conflicts by Palestinians/settlers and their use of ‘human shields’ by terror organizations. This is a topic for separate research.3. Dotan Gabbai, ‘The “Breath of Breeze” will continue: So far over 12,000 residents have been refreshed’: https://www.mivzaklive.co.il/archives/684531.4. Also known as the 1948 War. Herein, I employ the standard terminology of the period by Israelis because I am discussing the evacuation of children in the Israeli rather than Palestinian context. While one of the most dramatic consequences of this war was the emergence of the question of Palestinians refugees, the status of Palestinian children during this period requires a separate study.5. I thank the anonymous reviewer for this comment.6. Israel’s declaration occurred on the afternoon of May 14, with formal establishment post-midnight on the 15th, while the British withdrawal wasn’t complete until August 1948.7. For instance, until 1967, due to ongoing security tensions, in the kibbutzim located in the northern part of the country, children would sleep in shelters every night, illustrating the deep-seated policy of non-evacuation.8. United Kibbutz archive, United Kibbutz council meeting, 29 June, 1948, 1B/7/33.9. On May 13, Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, the largest of the bloc’s settlements, was captured, and on May 14, the other three kibbutzim surrendered to the Arab Legion.10. For example: Kibbutz Be’erot Yitzhak. Shimon Forscher’s interview with Rami Haruvi (Barukhi, Citation2009, p. 79‒80).11. United Kibbutz archive, ‘The Fight for Ramat Rachel’, 31 May, 1948, Ehud Raman files.12. Despite the ban on leaving, some of the inhabitants of besieged Jerusalem came up with ‘creative’ ways of doing so.13. Nahum Sarig, an IDF commander in the War of Independence in the Negev Brigade (Oren, Citation1988a, p. 63).14. Itzhak M., Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi (Bar-Giora, Citation1950, p. 51‒53).15. Yad Tabenkin archive, Uri Milshtein interviewing Ulani Shaul, Kibbutz Nitzanim, 19 April, 1984, 25/41/2; Eli N., Kibbutz Gesher (Kibbutz, Citation1958, p. 76).16. See also IDF archive, 922/75/283.17. Etzioni (Citation1951), p. 126‒27; quoted in Tal (Citation2006, p. 249).18. For the Kibbutz Kinneret testimonies, see Habas (Citation1950, p. 191‒93).19. Kibbutz Be’erot Yitzhak archive, interview with Shimon Forscher, commander of Be’erot Yitzhak, 28 April, 1992.20. Author interview with Zipora Bilig, Alon Shvut, 26 October, 1999.21. Yad Tabenkin archive, report of 16 May, 1948, Central Galilee collection, Ehud Raman files, 25 m/2.22. I did not find a gender distinction in evacuation regarding the children, and it seems that boys and girls were treated the same.23. Shimon Forscher’s interview with Rami Haruvi (Barukhi, Citation2009, p. 79‒80).24. ‘Ruhama in the Weapons’ Search and during the Evacuation of the Children’, Hashavua (organ of the National Kibbutz Movement) 1557, 9 May, 1986, p. 7.25. Author interview with Leah Sadiel, 26 October, 1999, Kfar Etzion; cf. also Knohl (Citation1954), p. 98; Bar-Giora (Citation1950, p. 51‒52 (Yitzhak M.).26. Religious Kibbutz archive, interviews Dolly Ben-Eliezer conducted with Rivka Nedivi and Rachel Doron, 13 May, 1993, Gush Etzion, 1948.27. Author interview with Leah Sadiel, 26 October, 1999, Kfar Etzion.28. Author interview with Hannah Yair, 6 March, 2001, Kibbutz Yavneh.29. Religious Kibbutz archive, Dolly Ben-Eliezer’s interview of Miriam Livneh, 13 May, 1993, File: Gush Etzion, 1948.30. Gush Etzion archive, testimony of Zippora Katz, personal files, Zippora Rosenfeld.31. Dov Knohl (Ben-Yaacov, Citation1983, p. 270).32. Testimonies in Raz (Citation1951).33. See the report given by the Kibbutz Kfar Etzion representative in Jerusalem (Knohl, Citation1954, p. 103); author interview with Leah Sadiel, 26 October, 1999, Kfar Etzion.34. Etzioni (Citation1951), quoted in Tal (Citation2006), p. 25435. Ibid, quoted in Tal (Citation2006), p. 25536. Yitzhak E (Bar-Giora, Citation1950, p. 112).37. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Ben-Zion Gradinowski, 18 April and 25 February, 1948, Letters from the Besieged.38. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Dov Knohl, Diary, 5 January, 1948.39. Dov Knohl (Sharir, Citation2019, p. 188).40. 7 January, 1948, Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Letters from the Besieged.41. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, interview with Rachel Tilman, Beit Yannai, 19 October, 1998, Files of casualties.42. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Yehoshua Sadiel, Fathers’ letters to their families, 13.43. Religious Kibbutz archive, Dolly Ben-Eliezer’s interview with Rivka Nedivi and Rachel Doron, 13 May, 1993, File: Gush Etzion, 1948.44. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Letter from Zippora Rosenfeld to Zippora Bilig, 16 April, 1948, Letters from the Besieged, 20.45. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Moshe Schechter, Letters from the Besieged.46. S. Gadiel, ‘The Last Seder under Siege – The First Seder in the Liberated Village’, Hatzophe, 12 April, 1968, 15.47. Kibbutz Kfar Etzion archive, Tzvi Sheinfeld, Letters from the Besieged.48. Religious Zionism archive in Jerusalem, Letter from the Kfar Etzion and Masu’ot Yitzhak representatives to the Jewish Agency administration, 9 April, 1948, 18–2036.49. Gush Etzion archive, Natan S. and Shimon H., Protocol of members’ meeting, Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, n.d. According to Hannah, one of the evacuated mothers, the mothers’ demand to bring the teachers to them ‘did not meet with the desired understanding in Yavneh’ (Hannah E., in Kvutsat, Citation1950, p. 26).50. Yitzhak E (Kvutsat, Citation1950, p. 32‒33).51. Many children were bored in the evacuation accommodation provided for them, which was much more confined than the kibbutz: see Dov Rapel (Kvutsat, Citation1950, p. 18).52. Yitzhak E (Kvutsat, Citation1950, p. 33).53. Child development and growth requiring good care, complex, persistent psychological problems arise from tension and abuse during evacuation (Dodd, Citation2020).54. e.g., Renan Netzer, ‘Mom, when you die do you hear the colour red?’: https://www.mako.co.il/health-wellness/mental-health/Article-67795da0f868471027.htm; idem, ‘Wrapped in trauma: A huge project due to the mental price paid in the Gaza Strip’: https://www.hashomrim.org/heb-special-projects/trauma.