Gunmen attacked a convoy carrying דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION near location://BabAlWad. His own diary records wounded travelers, an immobilized bus and British fire toward the attackers, showing how the route to ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM affected the community's leaders and ordinary passengers alike.

What happened near location://BabAlWad?

דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION departed toward location://Yerusalayim before nine on 23 December 1947. His diary says armed attackers fired on the convoy near location://BabAlWad, four travelers were wounded and a bus was disabled. British troops fired toward the attackers. The diary is direct evidence for Ben-Gurion’s account of his own journey, though a police log and the passengers’ medical records would improve the casualty record. 1

The archive’s English translation preserves his departure in the first person:

I left before nine in a convoy to Tel Aviv.2

That morning phrasing supports the Hebrew-day placement, while the following account of the ambush supports the reported four wounded.

The road linked institutions of יהודים YEHUDIM on the coast and in Jerusalem. An ambush that halted a bus and wounded passengers therefore affected the ability to travel and govern before independence. The reported British fire also shows intervention by Mandate forces in this incident; it would be inaccurate to say they were absent from every road battle.

A fuller source study of this episode is available at A convoy carrying דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION was attacked near location://BabAlWad..

How is this dated?

This is Day 24 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1947-12-23. Its OTD route, 5708-10-10, is the daytime fixed-Hebrew conversion of that civil date, not a claim that every action mentioned here occurred before sunset.3 The adjacent Hebrew date after local sunset is 11 Tevet 5708 (5708-10-11). Ben-Gurion's diary records departure before nine on civil 23 December, securely within the daytime of 10 Tevet. A JTA report published the following day covers the attack, but its issue date does not move the ambush to 24 December. Newspaper issue dates, dispatch dates and later testimony are kept distinct from occurrence dates.

Guided reflections

  • Which event or report fixes the date of this day’s main account?
  • What record would resolve the most important remaining timing or casualty question?

Footnotes

  1. https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/en/node/13329 23 December diary. ↩
  2. https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/en/node/13329 diary entry of 23 December. ↩
  3. https://www.hebcal.com/converter?cfg=json&g2h=1&gd=23&gm=12&gy=1947 daytime conversion. ↩