מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL liberated אילת EILAT during Operation עובדה ʿUVDA. The נגב NEGEV Brigade reached the post at אום רשרש UMM RASHRASH and raised an improvised flag, remembered as the Ink Flag. The advance restored sovereignty of עם ישראל AM YISRAʾEL at the gulf while negotiations with the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan continued.12

The museum’s photograph account identifies אברהם אדן AVRAHAM ADAN as the flag raiser, פועה אראל PUʿA EREL as its preparer and מיכה פרי MIKHA PERI as the photographer. These names give the achievement its human scale. The inspected page describes an afternoon ceremony; the photograph’s pixels and original exposure clock were not independently examined. The page incorrectly starts the wider war at the declaration of the state, so its chronology is not adopted wholesale.3

What did the commanders report?

The גולני GOLANI institutional history reproduces the message’s declaration:

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

מגישות חטיבות הנגב פלמ"ח וחטיבת גולני את מפרץ אילת למדינת ישראל.

אילת (אום רשרש) ט' באדר תש"ט

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

The Negev–Palmach Brigade and Golani Brigade present the Gulf of Eilat to the State of Israel.

Eilat (Umm Rashrash), 9 Adar 5709.4

The preceding message invokes the approaching Haganah commemoration on 11 Adar. That commemorative dedication is separate from the message’s own 9 Adar dating. A later photo caption assigning 11 Adar cannot simply replace the operational date. The photograph’s catalog description is not an independently examined image clock.

Where do the accounts disagree?

The institutional narrative places the flag in the afternoon, around 4 p.m.; the battle-site narrative places arrival around 3 p.m. and גולני GOLANI two hours later. the American ambassador’s March 11 dispatch instead reports משה שרת MOŜE SHARETT placing the flag at 22:00 the preceding night. These clocks lead to different Hebrew dates.567

The same diplomatic record denies an intention to attack Aqaba and requests UN observers to check the Israeli position. The Palmach reconstruction describes movement through Egyptian territory. The earlier article also preserved historian אלחנן אורן ELḤANAN OREN’s account of a local breach of the Egyptian armistice boundary. The restored control by מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL is supported; a blanket claim that no frontier was crossed is not.

The no-battle arrival describes the soldiers’ encounter at the post. It does not establish the fate of local Bedouin households, an expulsion order or a right of return. Those require different records.

How is this dated?

The inherited route ט׳ באדר ה׳תש״ט 9th 𝑜𝑓 Adar, AM 5709 corresponds to daytime March 10, 1949. The commanders’ reproduced message and afternoon operational accounts support it. Sharett’s reported 22:00 clock would instead fall on י׳ באדר ה׳תש״ט 10th 𝑜𝑓 Adar, AM 5709. The prior municipality witness assigns 9 Adar; the Yad Ben-Zvi caption YBZ.1033.471 assigns 11 Adar. Those previously inspected witnesses remain preserved below the cutoff and are not described as newly recovered here. Original telegram, flag photograph clock and operational logs remain unresolved. The existing calendar verification and unchanged H1 check are retained; neither settles this new clock discrepancy.8910

Guided reflections

  • How does the message separate the day of arrival from the commemoration to which it dedicates the achievement?
  • How should sovereignty of עם ישראל AM YISRAʾEL be described while preserving a documented dispute over military routes?

Footnotes

  1. Palmach, Negev Brigade in Operation Uvda, Arrival and improvised flag. ↩
  2. Military heritage map, Umm Rashrash, Police post arrival narrative. ↩
  3. Eretz Israel Museum, דגל הדיו, Photograph account and biographical context; metadata/text inspected, image unexamined. ↩
  4. Palmach, Golani Brigade in Operation Uvda, Closing commanders’ message, selected concluding lines; TJD translation. Original telegram uninspected. ↩
  5. Palmach, Negev Brigade in Operation Uvda, Flag narrative. ↩
  6. Military heritage map, Umm Rashrash, Arrival and reinforcement. ↩
  7. FRUS 1949 VI, document 529, Opening report of the preceding night’s flag raising. ↩
  8. Palmach, Golani Brigade in Operation Uvda, Dated commanders’ message. ↩
  9. Palmach, Negev Brigade in Operation Uvda, Afternoon reconstruction. ↩
  10. FRUS 1949 VI, document 529, March 11 dispatch, opening clock. ↩

Works cited

  1. Palmach, Negev Brigade in Operation Uvda. Later institutional operational history in Hebrew. Embedded commanders’ message is a later reproduction; original operational orders, telegram and logs unheld. https://palmach.org.il/history/database/?itemId=8508. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  2. Military heritage map, Umm Rashrash. Later military heritage reconstruction, recovered indexed web text after direct redirect failures. Metadata and narrative distinguished; underlying operational documents uncollated. https://moreshet-map.org.il/step-5/מבצע-עובדה/אם-אל-רשרש/. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  3. Eretz Israel Museum, photography collection. דגל הדיו. Micha Perry photograph account, March 10, 1949. Hosted description and biographical text inspected; photograph pixels and exposure clock unexamined. The page incorrectly begins the wider war at the May 1948 declaration; that claim is not adopted. https://hope.eretzmuseum.org.il/photos/דגל-הדיו/. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  4. Palmach, Golani Brigade in Operation Uvda. Later institutional operational history in Hebrew. Embedded commanders’ message is a later reproduction; original operational orders, telegram and logs unheld. https://palmach.org.il/history/database/?itemId=8509. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  5. FRUS 1949 VI, document 529. Official digital edition of contemporary diplomatic record. Source-given conversation, document and transmission dates distinguished. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1949v06/d529. Accessed October 11, 2026.