Letters from Eilat 1952

Israel Doni's letters from 1952 were sent to ESRA Magazine by his daughter, Tsafy (Zafrira). In his letters, which he wrote to his wife and three children, Israel describes Eilat 1952 when he first flew there. He was a volunteer fireman in the Fire Brigade who was sent to Eilat to give a course about fire-fighting, together with his colleague and friend Aharon Ankori. Israel Doni was born in Chernovitz, which was then in Romania and now is in the Ukraine. He came to Israel in 1939 to study at the Hebrew University, as he was not allowed to carry on with his studies in Romania. He met Drora at HU and they got married in 1941 and in 1947 moved to Tel Aviv. 

24/12/52 at 18:00

Dear Drora, Aviva. Menashe, and Zafrira,

Greetings from Eilat.

When I left you this morning, many thoughts ran through my mind about you and about me, who is going down to Eilat for the first time, down south to the Gulf of Eilat-Aqaba …

At 6:15, Aharon Ankori picked me up, and we picked up somebody else on the way, a Mr. Zakai, who is probably the Deputy Governor. In any case, he is an important man, an amateur photographer of a great degree, and he might even take photos of me in Eilat…

At 7:50, we arrived at Lod airport, and, at the entrance, we had a chance to see "the vehicle" in which we were going to fly to Eilat. At 8:00, we got in (to the airport itself) – after registering as passengers of Arkia – and spent time at the restaurant. Some had breakfast, but I just had a milky coffee and a piece of cake. At 8:50, we entered the airplane after we were called in, and at exactly at 9:01 according to my watch we took off – this was a real experience for me! I left the stable ground, the earth, and the sea – for the first time in my life – and I rose into the air as if I were in a taxi, just with the additional noise of the two engines. I was afraid I might not feel well or vomit – but, TG, none of this: it was just like I was born to fly, and I am sure that if I can manage in the future to organize a flight for you, you also would have as easy a time as I had. The plane made a lot of noise, drove on land for a few seconds as if it was a taxi going from our road to the next road, and, out of nowhere, the tail suddenly rose, and. after being diagonal, the plane turned to be horizontal, and we were in the air without any shaking or moving. As soon as they closed the door of the plane, we had belts tied around our tummies – we were 10 passengers, one accompanying man and three pilots – an illuminated sign was on, telling us to stop smoking. After we were raised up into the sky, this warning light was turned off, and life went back to normal.

We flew over Yazur (today's Azor), Ramat Dagon (today Beit Dagon) and Mishmar HaShiva, over Arlozoroff Street, and we saw from a distance the Va'ad HaPoel building and, within five minutes, we also saw Dizengoff Square and the sea. We carried on along the beach and saw Jaffa, Bat Yam, and the sand dunes of Rishon Le Zion… Ashdod and here we are in Migdal Ashkelon, where the plane turned left back unto our land and, ten minutes, later we are above Beer Sheba, which has grown bigger and developed very nicely, and here is the road to Eilat – no vegetation, with bare mountains, gorges, flat plains, and valleys. We go over the Ramon Crater, and we can see the new road to Eilat being built. On our left, we pass the road from Sedom to Koronov. We see the small and the big craters, Ma'ale Akrabin, and, suddenly on the same side, the Arava Valley. The road to Eilat is near us; we can see the copper quarries, Be'er Orah, and … Eilat, that same Eilat that we have heard of, and there is what to hear and what to see and what to hope for. We are already above the Gulf, and, far away on our left, we can see the Trans-Jordan-British Aqaba Gulf, where there is a French cargo boat (that I later learned is called Hendrick). The plane makes another right turn, and we get a chance to glance along the 11 kilometers between us and Egypt, and then we can see Eilat in all its beauty. The plane goes down and lands and turns and here is the reception in Eilat: Mr. Hanoch Nanner welcomes us as if he is the Mayor of Eilat, as a representative of the Arava Governor on behalf of the Israeli Government. Next to him stands a military policeman who is here to welcome the soldier who flew with us, and then there are policemen and a representative of the postal service and of the Arkia company. We saw Eilat first at 10:11 exactly, and we got off the plane at 10:16, a flight that lasted exactly one and a quarter hours.

My first steps were where?... to the post office. I wait for the clerk to come back with the sack of post delivered by our airplane and get hold of two telegram forms and send one to you and one to my parents, as well as two postcards that I send urgently to you in the hope that they will arrive before me…

After a few more things I need to arrange, they are taking me to the government house. Ankori and I hear about the arrangements made for us to perform our duties, and, at exactly 11:00, we leave with Hanoch for our inspection, which ends at 13:00. On the way back to the government house, we stop at the little museum next door, which is very impressive. Different kinds of fish were put into jars or were found dry or as fossils, and they were all arranged in a beautiful exhibition. Even more than fish, we saw hundreds of shell fish, some kinds of useless sponges – but dozens of corals, big and small, some on huge corals and some on various kinds of rocks – from these corals they made lamps, baskets, covers, and various tools – they promised me I could buy something similar somewhere in order to really show you what I saw here.

At 13:25, we went to the Yam Suf Hotel's restaurant to have our lunch. We were 6 people, and we had a vegetable soup and a tomato soup, a main course that was made of a choice of vegetables and tinned Gefilte fish, and a cup of coffee. The government is taking care of food and accommodation for us. At 14:00, I accompanied Ankori to the plane, and I went back to my hotel, which is this government house. I found a nice guest room and chose my bed.

At 14:30 Mr. Zakai took me to a military camp, and I taught a group of soldiers until 17:30, when a military command car took me back to the government house, where I washed myself and organized my things and started writing this letter.

I will try to describe now my impressions so far….

… In Eilat, the airport is a bit primitive, but with a lot of fire extinguishing instruments, a fence, marking of the landing lanes, a windsock with a drawing of an airplane preparing for landing, a post office, a hairdresser, a watchman, and an Arkia office – all in strong wooden huts, and outside there is an Eshed (later merged into Egged, tr.) bus stop with signs for the local bus that I still am to see for myself. On the beach, there are some buildings; one of them is the military canteen, just on the beach itself, and opposite it there is a luxury hotel – which I did not like the look of, yet it is nice that there is a hotel so far from town. It has rooms for 8 people each and a pretty big and well-organized restaurant.

There are branches here of Tnuva, the Mashbir La'Tsarchan, Solel Boneh, one accountant, engineers etc., etc.

A few permanent houses were built with a nice and pleasant façade. I saw a few sample buildings made of Adobe bricks, plaster, and earth. There is also one laboratory; though it is located in a wooden hut, it is nice looking. On my way, I saw a few military camps, and, since they have been here longest, they look as if they have been here for dozens of years. They are spotlessly clean as if they are next to some really big town. So, you see, I found a lot of everything here.

The ten passengers on the airplane included the Israeli representative in France, Mr. Fisher, who spoke a lot with the pilots and not with us. I only had a common language with Mr. Zakai, who in the pilot's cabin explained to me the road we were traveling. There were also a few workers from Eilat as well as 2 government inspectors. Yet there was one more person there. A nice man whom I met before, Shochat was his name, and he was there to deal with some port matters in Eilat, and he also described to me the places we saw.

I mentioned before the museum, and I would like to describe it in detail and talk about the manageress:

The museum is about 4 meters by 4 meters. On the west side, there are shelves with jars of fish and various kinds of corals and sponges. On the east side, there is a big table with hundreds of shellfish with notes that explain what they are and what they are called. On the south side, on the wall, there is a Whiptail stingray - only its skin – and underneath there are its head, eyes, and some other parts. In the middle of the room, there is some kind of a pillar and around it some circular shelves with corals, fossils of fish, and salted fish. The explanations are given by a lady, I don't know her name yet, but I already know she is a painter who came down to Eilat over a year ago as a tourist in order to look for subjects for her paintings, and she "got stuck" here: the views, the sea, the rich sea life, and vegetation had all "turned her over" and she is not willing to go to back to town, to Tel Aviv, for any sum of money. About 5-6 months ago, she got the current job, and she does not intend ever to see Tel Aviv. She lives here alone with her dog (Lucia is her name), and she, the manageress, looks to me like a very special Russian lady dedicated to her job. Now they intend to build her a special house on one of the hills, far away from the sea, and she is most impressed by the location – I might still get a chance to talk to her a bit more, in which case I will tell you about her later.

Tonight, at around 8:00 (2000) I will give my lecture about fire extinguishing in Eilat at the Histadrut House, and I now stop my writing to prepare for my lecture.

Will continue later,

Israel, your father

Eilat, 25/12/52 at 12:30

My darlings,

Yesterday had a very poor ending: the electricity in Eilat was not operating well and there were many power cuts and the longest one was between 8:00 and 10:00 (2000 and 2200), and it did not allow for the residents' meeting at the Histadrut House to take place. I was left lost for words. I did not do anything and did not get a chance to meet the people who were invited to hear about the firefighting theories and practices. It was so well advertised on notice boards, and, all day long, everyone we met during the day wanted us to assure us that the lecture would take place. In the end, we only had one and a half dozen people, and. at 10:15 (2215), the lecture was called off. What could I do?

We came back to Yam Suf Hotel for a cup of coffee and then returned to the Government House.

I will try and describe all kinds of cases I met, which will shed some light on our southern port in Eilat.

Yesterday was the Yahrzeit of Nimtsa-Bi Z"l, and since my visit is based on his efforts to sort these matters here, they talked about him. It was Christmas evening and I met a sailor who is now the Head of the local port, a Protestant Christian. On the other side of the port in Akaba I saw a boat and everyone here expected them to blow fireworks– there are a lot of British there and hardly any Arabs - but it did not happen until past midnight. We talked about a lot of things and went to Hanoch's home for some coffee with biscuits and chocolates. We discussed scientific matters as well as financial and economic subjects.

Who did I meet here?

2 Romanian young men searching for work but can't find it, so expecting the government to send them somewhere else so that they can bring bread to the table. They did not leave a good impression on me, but begged far too much.

In Eilat you can find now over 400 citizens, including some 60 families and 30 to 40 young ladies – are they looking for a spouse or just have a great hunger for adventures? There is also a kindergarten with one teacher and some 12 to 15 little ones aged 2 to 5, and there is a nurse in a medical centre that deals with all matters and mainly supplies clean purified water/ I myself felt a great thirst during the afternoon practice and the person in charge made 2 halls in a tin of … orange juice and gave it to me and it was very good!

The citizens here are a great mix of all countries of origin, no majority of any country in particular. A lot of them speak English or American, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Germans, North Africans and Israeli born Sabras. I met a painter, a very quiet guy that I could not tell where he came from. I assume he was from North Africa, at the time he was very red and in the evening he looked like he was ready for a dance only there is no orchestra yet in Eilat.

The Head of the Port I mentioned above is a pure German, but he left Germany some 20 years ago after he suffered so much from the Germans: Herman Goering himself broke his fingers as well as his ribs and one of his legs – luckily, he did not kill him! This non-Jew has a wife and 2 grown up sons and a daughter and they all live here in Eilat. He had to walk with crutches but by now he walks some 30 km every day and he is even willing to walk 100 km! He is healthy and strong and in the past 2 years has added some 15 kg to his weight. His wife suffered from Rheumatism and half of her body was paralyzed and now she is well and healthy. His sons are well known seamen and fishermen and his daughter is not yet at marriage age. I think it goes to show that Eilat has some power which we need to test and practice in order to express our opinion about it.

There is so much to tell about Eilat: the different style housing made of earth they are trying to build, the planning for future fruitful life. The building of the port so that it can be used in the future – they are building and building and developing, but there are difficulties just like any other place. If I had "points" I could buy myself underwear and socks etc. without the "points" I could only buy so much…

I can just sum it all up saying that Eilat is no more a fairy tale but a real living entity that one needs to know and live in in order to express an opinion.

We need to wait and see, time will tell, and I hope to come back to Eilat, not alone but with you, and hope you will also appreciate this enterprise that our county can be very proud of.

All the best and greetings with warm kissed

Your loving father

Israel