The Egyptian military evacuation ended, while יגאל אלון YIGAL ALLON sought authority to remove civilians from the same former pocket.

What was completed?

Bunche’s later report dates completion to February 28 and totals 2,900 military personnel. Klir’s March 1 entry describes troops entering yesterday, with damaged property and an unnamed older resident remaining. That account is not proof of unanimous welcome or subsequent protection.12

What did the commander request?

The removal-request study distinguishes Allon’s February 28 request from the same-day exclusion order and from later departures. Morris supplies the archival locators; original instruments remain unheld. His likely-approval reconstruction is not a verified authorization from דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION.3

Which settlement dates remain uncertain?

The JNF catalog identifies photograph D3027-042, by Rudolf Jonas, as two members at morning prayer in the new settlement of לביא LAVI, dated February 28. This supports a photographed settlement presence by that date; the image itself and formal founding instrument remain unexamined. The same catalog lists D115-021 and related photographs of the Iraqi pioneer group establishing נוה אור NEVE UR, dated March 1. Its explicit rule treats first-of-month dates as month-and-year precision, so these identify March 1949, not a founding on March 1. Klir’s March 1 entry reports an unnamed Iraqi pioneer settlement founded yesterday; נוה אור NEVE UR is a candidate identification, with the institutional history adding context. Neither source establishes an individual Holocaust-family claim.456

How is this dated?

This is Day 457 of the 599-day civil-date series, 1949-02-28. The date register’s fixed-Hebrew daytime conversion is כ״ט בשבט ה׳תש״ט 29th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5709; after sunset it is ל׳ בשבט ה׳תש״ט 30th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5709. Bunche expressly dates completion February 28; the military correspondence is dated through Morris; Klir’s yesterday wording is a separate compilation witness. The route identifies this daily account; it does not assign every earlier occurrence, evening event or reported total to its daytime Hebrew date.7

Guided reflections

  • How did military completion change the vulnerability of civilians who wished to remain?
  • What can a dated photograph establish without proving the founding date of a settlement?

Footnotes

  1. Ralph Bunche, S/1269, Completed February 28. ↩
  2. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, March 1, yesterday. ↩
  3. Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, p.524, notes 139–141. ↩
  4. JNF, Rudolf Jonas photograph catalog, Collectionsearch, recordunisolated. ↩
  5. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, March 1 settlementnotice. ↩
  6. Neve Ur, institutional history, Institutionalhistory;exactdateunsettled. ↩
  7. Ralph Bunche, S/1269, Dated source and passage identified above. ↩

Works cited

  1. Bunche, Ralph. Cablegram dated March 1, 1949, S/1269. Military withdrawal February 26–28 and separate civilian transport. Official English HTML inspected. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-211653/. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  2. Klir, Yosef. ממנדאט למדינה. Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, 1952. Project Ben-Yehuda digital text; dated compilation entries, not original operational records. https://benyehuda.org/read/23753. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  3. Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Printed pp. 522–524 and 527; PDF pp. 545–547 and 550. Held full-book PDF reused. Page images 522 and 524 compared; other cited pages/notes extracted. Military and AFSC manuscripts cited by scholarship remain uninspected. https://yplus.ps/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Morris-Benny-The-Birth-of-the-Palestinian-Refugee-Problem-Revisited.pdf. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  4. Jewish National Fund photographic archive. Rudolf Jonas collection search. D3027-042 and related Lavi records dated February 28, 1949; D115-021 and related Neve Ur records dated March 1, 1949. Catalog explicitly treats first-of-month dates as month/year precision. Record text inspected; photographs and founding instruments uncollated. https://salkkl.kkl.org.il/ArchiveTazlumim/archive_list.aspx?AdSana=&City=&MiShana=&MilotMaftech=&MisTmuna=0&Teur=&TxtFree=%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%A1&Zalam=. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  5. Neve Ur. Institutional history, ההיסטוריה שלנו. Settlement context inspected; exact founding day not independently established. https://neve-ur.co.il/growth/history/. Accessed October 11, 2026.