between  Ijzim  and  the  Hagana  (the  main  armed  Jewish  organization  that  preceded  the establishment of the Israel Defense Force). On the very same day that Etkes was captured, Shari¯f, who was keeping the captive in his Ma¯qu¯ra home near Ijzim, wrote the following letter to a Jewish acquaintance: To Mr. Dov Ben Alter Ha’adom, Abu ¯  Yu ¯suf hello, I have received your letter today through a man from ’Ein Ghaza¯l regarding the engineer Etkes. Salomon, the lawyer from Haifa, also applied in this matter. Also, Mr. H ayyat of Haifa came and met the elders of Jaba’ and promised to release five of the people the Jews captured in ’Atlit. Perhaps by tomorrow the exchange will be over and engineer Etkes will be released. He is in my home, healthy and well and honored as usual with the Arabs.²⁵ Shafiq, Shari¯f’s son, remembered the prisoners vividly. We met in July 1998, at his home in Haifa.^H Shafiq: One day, people came to my father and told him that one of the Jews had surrendered and they had shot him. My father said to them that this is no good—whoever surrenders should be placed in captivity. A few days later they brought him prisoners—a truck driver, who later worked as a guard at the income tax office on Port Street. . . He was an elderly man. I do not know if he is still alive. . .. And a taxi driver who later worked in a clothes warehouse on Herzl Street. . .. And Etkes and his wife. His wife was injured in her hand and we happened to have guests from Dalia. As we didn’t have a doctor, my father said—“what shall I do?” and asked the guests to take her. And they took her, you know, through the mountains. . ..The three remained in the house and my mother would make food for them every day. You know, the Jeni¯n Triangle was under Iraqi army control and they sent Iraqi soldiers to take the prisoners. My father refused. He said to them, “You cannot take them. These are our prisoners. We are going to exchange them for our prisoners that the Jews took. We do not want to give away the prisoners, or else our prisoners will remain there.” So they left and did not take them. No one guarded the three prisoners. I used to visit the room where they stayed every day. The driver, I remember, from Port Street, said to me “let me escape” and I said to him: “There are too many people for you to be able to escape. They’ll catch you and kill you. You cannot”. To make the story short, there was an exchange later. . . and with the assistance of some Druze, Mrs. Etkes sent a gift to my mother, stockings and perfume and I don’t remember what else was in this suitcase. When Etkes returned from his imprisonment, he was questioned by the IDF and supplied information about the situation in Ijzim, including a description of the Iraqis who had come to  take  him.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  report  that  was  written  by  Etkes’ interrogator: On Thursday night, an Iraqi unit with an officer showed up on the estate. The people were well armed and one had a machine gun. They looked very tired as if they had come from afar. Then he [Etkes] discovered they came from ’Arra¯beh [a village south west of Jeni¯n] where the Iraqi headquarters is at the moment. The officer spoke fluent English but Etkes is sure he is not an Englishman. He looks like an Iraqi. The officer questioned him briefly and then said he was about to take him to ’Arra¯beh for a thorough interrogation. But after consulting with Shari¯f, he changed his mind and said Etkes would be released if we were to release Ijzim’s prisoners. The unit stayed for a short while and then continued to Jaba’.²⁶ Kupershtock was the name of the truck driver who was imprisoned at Shari¯f’s house and who was mentioned by Shafiq. From his imprisonment he sent letters to Ya’aqov Salomon, a Jewish lawyer who was a Hagana liaison officer in Haifa and a participant in the negotiations with  Ijzim.  Salomon  knew  Shari¯f  long  before  the  incident,  as  they  were  both  lawyers  in Haifa. The following letter was found in Ya’aqov Salomon’s archive in a small envelope that contained other notes from that period.²⁷ 15/7/48. Dear Mr. Salomon. I have received your letter and I cannot comprehend why is it taking so long when my head and body are not well. . .  and I need medical treatment. . .  and I have nothing here. “Moh ammad Efendi¯”²⁸ is willing to set me free if you give him one Arab. You should know that the situation here is very tense and I am liable to pay with my life any minute. Our airplanes dropped many bombs. . .  and there were many casualties. . .. They already wanted to set me up [namely, get rid of me], only Muhammad Efendi¯ wouldn’t let them. You cannot imagine how critical my situation is. I now write to you clearly and I ask for a clear reply. Then I will know what to do, as I will have no other choice but to escape and risk my life in one hundred percent.²⁹ I am lost and I find it difficult to carry on. They are watching me with seventy eyes. Please take everything into consideration. I thank you in advance. Zvi Kupershtock.³⁰ On the 8th of July, while Kupershtock and Etkes were still in Ijzim, there was a Jewish infantry  assault  on  the village,  described  as  a  reprisal  for  the  Arab  road  attack  two  days EFRAT BEN-ZE’EV 18