INGRID DOWS - AN ALTERNATE STORY PART 3 - THE SPACE AGE by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 13 – PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY

 

16:16 (Jerusalem Time)

Wednesday, August 29, 1951 ‘C’

Lydda Airport (Lod Airport)

45 km northwest of Jerusalem

British Mandated Palestine

 

United States General Consul

to Palestine James McDonald stood

with General Alan Cunningham, the

commander of the British forces in

British Mandated Palestine on the

main tarmac of the Lydda Airport, which would be renamed years later as the David Ben Gurion Airport, while observing the landing of the big American Air Force Fairchild C-142T heavy transport. A number of British soldiers were also present on the tarmac, both to act as a guard of honor and also as a protection for the important American officer about to arrive. Both men had to hold on to their hats as the downwash from the four powerful turboprop engines of the C-142T swept the tarmac when it pivoted towards one of the terminal’s gates. General Cunningham had to nearly shout to be heard over the noise of the aircraft’s engines.

‘’What do you know about the mission of this Lieutenant-General Dows, Mister McDonald?’’

‘’Only that she is being sent by President Dewey as his plenipotentiary envoy in charge of finding a solution to the present crisis in Palestine, General.’’

‘’A plenipotentiary envoy?’’ said the surprised British general. ‘’Your President gave this woman full powers to set his policies concerning Palestine? Shouldn’t that be more properly the task of your Secretary of State, subject to the approval of your President?’’

‘’Normally, it should, General. However, this present crisis is an extremely sensitive one and also quite an intractable one, while General Dows has the full confidence of President Dewey and is also highly regarded as an astute strategist and conflict solver. She was the one who bombed to bits the Japanese military high command in Tokyo, then bombed to high Hell Adolph Hitler and his Nazi minions in Berlin in 1944. She also bombed the Kremlin early last year and killed Stalin and the members of his Supreme Soviet. You could say that she is a specialist in vacuum cleaning jobs.’’

‘’Wow! I hope that she is not planning to bomb the Hell out of Jerusalem in order to stop this conflict. Is she aware of the subtleties and intractable problems involved in this conflict in Palestine?’’

McDonald gave Cunningham a side look as the rear cargo ramp of the C-142T started coming down and as its engines died down one by one.

‘’General, have you heard about General Dows very special ‘talents’, especially that of her ability to remember her past incarnations?’’

‘’Uh, I thought that this business of incarnations was a rather laughable story.’’

‘’Well, don’t laugh about that, General: that ability has been proven many times during the past few years. First, she was born as a Jew in Berlin before the war, so could speak German, Hebrew, Yiddish, French and English. Next, her incarnations, spread over 7,000 years, include living as Agar, the Egyptian slave bought by the prophet Abraham, and living as Aïsha, the third wife of the prophet Mohammed. I was told that she thus can speak fluently Classical Arabic. In terms of old British incarnations, she was also Brigid, one of the two daughters of Queen Boadicea, who fought the Romans during the First Century. Her capability to remember her past incarnations is also said to give her some incredible level of maturity for her age.’’

‘’Talking of her age, how old is she right now?’’

‘’I believe that she is 27 years-old, General.’’

That answer made Cunningham open his eyes wide and he nearly choked on his reply.

‘’Dear God! She is a lieutenant-general at such a young age? I wish that I had the kind of connections she has.’’

McDonald then gave a very serious look to Cunningham.

‘’General, please don’t make the same mistake about her that many men have before. She was promoted to that rank thanks to her valor and competence and not because she was distributing sexual favors around. You really need to take her very seriously.’’

‘’Very well, Mister McDonald.’’ said Cunningham, deciding to adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards that woman.

A jeep was the first to roll out of the big cargo aircraft, followed by a big radio van truck, a 2½-ton cargo truck and two M20 six-wheeled armored cars carrying a dozen American soldiers. While the trucks and armored cars formed a small convoy next to the terminal building, the jeep, in which two women in combat uniforms sat, rolled to McDonald and Cunningham, stopping in front of them as the waiting British soldiers were called to attention and presented arms. While the female driver of the jeep stayed in her seat, the other woman stepped out of her vehicle and walked quickly to the two waiting men, to stop in front of them and saluting Cunningham as a courtesy before presenting her right hand for a shake.

‘’General Cunningham, I suppose? Lieutenant-General Ingrid Dows, Plenipotentiary Envoy of President Dewey.’’ Cunningham, nearly mesmerized by her youthful beauty, had to shake himself to regain his composure and returned her salute before shaking her hand, finding out that her grip was a surprisingly strong one for a woman.

‘’Welcome to Palestine, General Dows. With me is Mister James McDonald, the General Consul of the United States for Palestine.’’

‘’Pleased to meet you, Mister McDonald.’’

‘’The same here. Welcome to Palestine. I am ready to guide you and your escort vehicles to my consulate, where you and your personnel will be accommodated during your stay in Palestine. General Cunningham has brought with him some soldiers to help escort you to the consulate and to ensure that you arrive there safely.’’ Ingrid nodded her head at those words, becoming instantly quite serious.

‘’And how bad is the security situation around Jerusalem at this time? How are the various Jewish and Arab fighting factions taking the news of my coming here?’’ Cunningham took on him to answer her on that.

‘’The Arab fighting factions won’t be a problem for you here, General Dows: they are tightly controlled by General Glubb Pacha, the commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion. Those you should be wary about are the Jewish guerrillas of the Lehi and Irgun groups, who tend to ignore the directives of the Haganah, the main Jewish armed group in Palestine, and of the Jewish Agency of David Ben Gurion. Those irregulars have assassinated many of my soldiers and British functionaries along the years, on top of placing bombs and attacking Arab civilians in Jerusalem and around the rest of the country. These Jewish extremists are presently very active, while the promises made by the Jewish Agency too often prove to be empty ones: they still think that the whole of Palestine should belong to them and that its Arab inhabitants should leave. You will find that Ben Gurion is quite worried about what kind of message you are bringing on behalf of President Dewey, as he still hopes to get the support of the United States for the formation of a Jewish state of Israel which would incorporate the whole of Palestine.’’

‘’Well, my mission, as given to me by President Dewey, is to make both the Jews and the Arabs to agree to live side by side in peace in Palestine, with nobody evicting anyone from it. I realize that this sounds like an impossible task but I believe that it could be done...with the right amount of persuasion and incentives. But I believe that we will be able to discuss this more at ease once at the American Consulate.’’

‘’Indeed! You can ride with me and General Cunningham in my diplomatic car while on our way to Jerusalem, so that we could talk together during the way. Your vehicles can join the British Army vehicles General Cunningham brought wi th him.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan, gentlemen. Let me go give directives to my driver and my escort first.’’

 

On the second floor of the airport’s terminal building, a man who had been sipping on a coffee cup while sitting next to the large windows giving a view of the tarmac area got up and went to a bank of public telephones nearby. Composing a number and waiting for someone to pick up at the other end of the line, he then spoke in Hebrew while keeping his voice low.

‘’This is Ben. Our American visitor is about to leave the airport with many friends, to join the party in Jerusalem... Yes, I will! Shalom!’’

Hanging back the telephone receiver, the Irgun13 fighter then made his way down to ground level, where he joined another man sitting in a car parked near the terminal building.

‘’Let’s follow the convoy of American and British vehicles but keep a safe distance, Yehudah.’’

‘’Got it!’’ replied the driver before starting his engine and then following some distance behind the military convoy now rolling on the road leading to Jerusalem.

 

13 Irgun: Extremist Jewish organization which attacked both the British and the Arabs in Palestine during the British Mandate, committing assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. With the Lehi, another Jewish extremist group, the Irgun was the biggest headache in Palestine for the British authorities and security forces.

Ingrid had chosen to sit on the right side of the rear bench of the big Bentley car belonging to the United States consulate, so that she would not have to constantly twist her neck in order to speak to the two men also sitting on the rear bench seat. That also prevented her large GLOCK 17L 9mm pistol, held in a holster fixed to her right upper leg and hip, from incommoding with its bulk the man next to her, Consul James McDonald.

‘’So, how bad is the security situation in Palestine, gentlemen?’’

‘’Bad enough, General Dows.’’ answered Cunningham. ‘’I have repeatedly requested more troops from London in order to be able to control the situation in Palestine but was constantly rebuffed, being told that many other hotspots around the Empire required troops. As a result, I don’t have enough troops to effect proper security across the country and many of my men are reduced to hunkering down in their regional garrisons and barracks in order to avoid Jewish ambushes, snipers and bombings. On the Arab side, their irregular fighters mostly concentrate on defending their neighborhoods and villages against attacks by Jewish irregulars, while the Jordanian Arab Legion is concentrating on defending the Arab and Christian sectors of Jerusalem and the region of Transjordan14. We will soon pass by the fort of Latrun, one of the positions occupied by the Arab Legion. Outside of Palestine proper, Arab armies are massing at the Egyptian and Syrian borders and in the Negev Desert. The Haganah, the biggest Jewish armed group in Palestine, is presently trying to regain the Negev Desert from the Egyptian Army, while my forces are simply insufficient to stop that fighting. That is why my government is planning to pull out of Palestine soon, to stop the bleeding of our forces. ’’

‘’How soon could that pullout happen, General Cunningham?’’

‘’Er, I’m sorry, General Dows, but I can’t answer that question. My government wants to avoid that the armed groups in Palestine take advantage of a planned departure date for our troops. The one thing that we are certain of is that, when we will pull out, then fighting on a large scale will follow in Palestine. Unfortunately, the United Nations has proven to be completely useless in this conflict: they utter pious calls for peace and coexistence but can’t make any meaningful move to help, mostly thanks to a series of Soviet vetoes at the Security Council. Basically, the United Nations, from being

 

14 Transjordan: Name given by the British to what is now Jordan and the West Bank of the Jordan River. a hope for World peace after World War 2, has turned into one big, useless joke. So, what is the United States ready to do to help here, General?’’

‘’What President Dewey wants to achieve is a region-wide understanding that would allow both Jews, Muslims and Christian living in Palestine to coexist in peace. However, I made him fully aware of the level of mistrust and hatred actually reigning in Palestine and counseled him to be ready to contribute a significant peacekeeping force to Palestine, a force to be called the ‘Palestine Interposition Force’, which would be tasked to protect innocent civilians on all sides from attacks and attempts at chasing them from their homes and lands.’’

Cunningham made a face, obviously skeptical about such a force.

‘’Your Interposition Force better be a big, well-equipped one, General Dows. If not, it will end up being as helpless as my present forces are. How big will it be?’’

‘’I am sorry, General Cunningham, but that force is still being assembled and I prefer to keep its size and composition to myself. However, I can assure you that, when I will give it the go, it will come down quite hard on the extremists in Palestine.’’

‘’Wouldn’t that be within the authority of your President to order in such a force?’’

‘’Normally, yes. However, President Dewey made me his plenipotentiary envoy to Palestine, with full authority to deal with the situation the best way I will judge. That Interposition Force, once deployed, will be under my direct command and I will not be pussyfooting around, I promise you. I never do. Let’s hope that the parties to this conflict will come to their senses before I would have to drop the hammer down on them.’’

Those words clearly caught Cunningham by surprise and he looked at Ingrid with some skepticism.

‘’The United States would be ready to enter a war here, in the Middle East? That would be quite a risky and possibly costly move on its part, General Dows.’’

‘’True, but the actions of the Soviets, who are trying to destabilize the Middle East to their advantage, is not leaving many other options to us. They already tried to seize the Ryukyus Islands in Japan, after invading Hokkaido Island. They also helped the Communist Chinese to invade and take the Korean Peninsula and would probably have invaded Western Europe if I wouldn’t have killed Joseph Stalin first. Apart from helping to bring peace to the people of Palestine, we also intend to send a clear message to the Arab countries of the region: playing the game of the Soviet Union will not benefit them.’’

Cunningham slowly nodded his head then, properly impressed by this apparent American resolve, while James McDonald, who had received only the minimum of information from Washington, was left pensive.

‘’So, President Dewey is ready to gamble big on the Middle East. That will be a nice change from the policies of the previous administration.’’ On his side, Cunningham still had reservations about how truly empowered a young woman like Ingrid was about ordering in and then leading a sizeable military force into a situation as chaotic as Palesti ne was in presently. He however didn’t state out loud his reservations and mostly kept quiet from then on, apart from describing to Ingrid the various points and locations they were passing by.

 

The small American-British convoy was in sight of Jerusalem and was rolling through an apparently deserted, half-destroyed village, when a powerful explosion made the lead vehicle, a British truck carrying a dozen troops, roll on its side, with its fuel tank bursting into flames. As the other vehicles of the convoy braked hard to avoid the burning wreck, a hail of bullets hit them, fired from some of the abandoned houses. The driver of the American diplomatic car carrying Ingrid, McDonald and Cunningham was promptly killed by at least three bullets after he had braked the Bentley to a halt. Ingrid reacted at once by shouting to McDonald and Cunningham to get down on their bench seat, then surprised them by opening her door and jumping out of the car barely after it came to a stop. Crouching beside the Bentley, which was still receiving bullet hits, she shouted orders at her driver and at the crews of the two M20 armored cars which had been following the Bentley.

‘’MACHINE GUNNERS, ENGAGE AT WILL! DIANE, GET OUT OF THE JEEP AND GRAB YOUR CARBINE!’’

She then ran to the jeep, where she hurriedly grabbed her own M2A2 .357 magnum carbine, which had been held in a rifle rack next to the front passenger seat. As she did so, the two .50 caliber heavy machine guns mounted on the M20 armored cars started firing, their big slugs chewing up the walls of the houses from where the enemy rifle fire was coming and hitting a number of the attackers. Thanks to the armored shields of the heavy machine guns, enemy rifle fire proved mostly ineffective against the M20s, letting them systematically silence one by one the hidden attackers. Ingrid, using that fire support, led Denise Bateman and three of the U.S. Marines of her escort at a run towards one of the houses from where rifle fire had come. Seeing a rifle barrel stick out of a window, she immediately peppered that window with her carbine, forcing the attacker inside to hastily pull back his rifle. Pointing that window to the marine nearest to her, she shouted an order while still shooting.

‘’GRENADE!’’

That marine, a gunnery sergeant who was a veteran of the WW2 fighting in the Pacific, ran at once towards that window and crouched under it, covered by the support fire from Ingrid, Denise Bateman and the two other marines in the group. Arming a grenade and counting to three, he then threw the grenade inside the house. A short cry of alarm in Hebrew came from inside the house just before the grenade exploded. As he was getting back on his feet, ready to jump through the window, Ingrid kicked open the door of the house, her carbine at the ready. The moment she stepped inside, she was confronted by an armed man in civilian clothes who was staggering, having probably been severely shaken by the grenade’s blast. Two bullets from Ingrid’s carbine then made him crumple down to the floor, where he stayed motionless. Followed closely by Denise Bateman, another veteran from WW2 who had been part of the Fifinellas, Ingrid methodically but quickly checked the few rooms to be found in the house. The noise of running feet then made her run to the backdoor of the house, in time to see two men running away towards a civilian jeep parked behind one of the houses from which rifle fire had come. She did not hesitate one second or wasted time in shouting to them to halt and raised her carbine, firing twice and downing both men. Another armed man then ran out of that building, apparently with the goal of jumping in the jeep and flee, but was shot down by Denise Bateman. Both women ran to the jeep and crouched behind it, ready to greet any other enemy fighter who would try to flee the house. A man and a woman ran out a mere second later, visibly panicked, only to be shot down by Ingrid and Denise. The marine gunnery sergeant soon joined them and threw a grenade through the opened rear door of the house. A scream of pain greeted the explosion of the grenade, with the marine NCO then running inside while firing his Browning AR-41 assault rifle, closely followed by Ingrid and Denise. Finding no other live enemy gunman inside, Ingrid went to one of the front façade windows of the house and, seeing some rifle fire still coming from the house on the opposite side of the street, carefully aimed her carbine and fired once, killing the enemy shooter with one bullet to the head. By now, enemy fire had mostly stopped, making Ingrid shout another order.

‘’THE ENEMY IS PROBABLY IN THE PROCESS OF WITHDRAWING. FOLLOW ME ACROSS THE STREET AND GO CHECK THE BACK DOORS OF THOSE HOUSES. SHOOT ANYONE RUNNING AWAY!’’ She then jumped out through the window and sprinted to the house facing her. Instead of entering it through its front door, she ran around the building, arriving at the back of it in time to see three armed persons, two men and one woman, in the process of jumping into a waiting jeep with another woman at the wheel. Switching to fully automatic fire, Ingrid swept the four of them with a salvo of .357 magnum bullets, imitated by Denise Bateman and one of the marines of her group. All four irregulars died before the jeep could start moving. The marine gunnery sergeant and one corporal engaged at the same time another group of three irregulars who were running away through an open field. The firing then stopped as abruptly as it had started, leaving the Americans scanning around them with weapons at the ready. When nothing more happened after twenty seconds, Ingrid cautiously approached the four irregulars lying in and around the jeep. Pointing the dead woman in that group to Denise and to the marine NCO, she then spoke to them.

‘’Jewish irregular fighters! Arabs don’t use female combatants. Let’s see if those have papers or documents on them. Gunny Richardson, take your marines and go search the bodies in the houses we cleaned up.’’

‘’Right away, General!’’

Going to the dead woman still sitting in the jeep’s driver’s seat, Ingrid took away the revolver she had at her belt, then searched her, finding an identity card in English which named her as ‘Sarah Rubenstein’, plus a Star of David pendant and what looked like a sort of identity card written in Hebrew.

‘’A membership card from the Irgun Zvaï Leumi, one of the most active Jewish extremist fighting groups in Palestine. This attack on our convoy is typical of their style of fighting.’’

‘’But how could have they had enough information so quickly after our arrival in order to mount that ambush, General?’’

‘’A good question, Denise. I suspect that they were warned in advance about my arrival and prepared that ambush before we left the Lydda Airport. The big question now is: who warned them? Well, we will find out soon enough. I will continue to search these dead irregulars. Go check on the British soldiers who had been in the lead truck.’’

‘’Right away, General!’’

When Ingrid returned to the diplomatic car, she found Lieutenant General Cunningham and James McDonald helping Denise Bateman in providing first aid to two gravely wounded British soldiers, while the marines from Ingrid’s escort were busy collecting weapons and documents found on the dead irregulars. Cunningham looked soberly at Ingrid when she approached him, carrying a collection of weapons and documents found on dead Jewish fighters.

‘’You decidedly deserve your reputation as a seasoned fighter, General Dows. Your house-clearing technique was quick and effective. What did you find on those dead irregulars?’’

‘’A collection of varied weapons, plus documents showing them to be members of the Irgun. A number of the dead were women, proving that they were not Arab fighters.’’

Cunningham took one of the I.D. cards offered by Ingrid and examined it with growing anger.

‘’Those Irgun bastards...again! They probably were targeting me today.’’

‘’I don’t think so, General Cunningham. I rather believe that they were after me. I was sent to Palestine by President Dewey with the main mission of protecting the innocent civilians in the country, be they Jews, Christians or Arabs, something that directly contradicts the goals of the Irgun and of other Jewish groups who want to turn Palestine into a Jewish state, with no place for its present Arab inhabitants.’’ Ingrid didn’t have time to add to that, as Denise Bateman, who was crouched next to one of the two wounded British soldiers, spoke up in alarm.

‘’General, I was able to stop the bleeding on the other wounded but I am losing this man: he probably suffers from heavy internal bleeding and I can’t do more for him.’’ Quickly kneeling next to Denise and the wounded British, Ingrid could only agree with her after a few seconds of examination. That then brought her both sadness and a moral dilemma: sadness, for that British was a very young soldier, probably a conscript, moral dilemma as she remembered how the touch of her hands had healed for good John F. Kennedy’s Addison Disease some four months ago, something that had made her realize with shock that she had some power of touch-healing. She had been hiding that power since then, wishing to avoid a deluge of sensationalist media coverage, but she now had a choice to make: keep her power a secret or save that young British soldier. She finally listened to her heart and gently laying her hands on his chest.

‘’Please step back and let me do this, all of you. I am going to heal him.’’ Cunningham didn’t have time to question her on that before he saw Ingrid’s start glowing. Stunned speechless, he could only watch with McDonald and Bateman as that glow gradually enveloped the body of the wounded British soldier. Fifteen seconds after she had started to glow, the young soldier opened his eyes but otherwise stayed immobile, still too weak to move. All three onlookers looked with awe at Ingrid as her hands stopped glowing after a minute, then gently held the head of the young British, speaking softly to him.

‘’You will be alright, Private. However, do not move yet: you lost a lot of blood. We will get an ambulance for you and your comrade.’’ Getting up on her feet, Ingrid then eyed soberly her driver, Cunningham and McDonald.

‘’I will ask you all to keep this to yourselves: publicizing this would only inflame the religious aspect of this conflict and I do not wish to be characterized as some kind of angel who came to Palestine to favor one of the sides here.’’ Denise Bateman responded to that plea after a moment of hesitation, coming to attention and saluting Ingrid.

‘’Understood, General!’’

‘’But, how?’’ could only say at first Cunningham, utterly stunned.

‘’I don’t know the how, General, but I can’t deny the fact that I have been discovering along the last ten years that I hold a number of supernatural powers of unknown origin, including that of remembering my past incarnations. Now, back to the reality here: has anyone called for help and an ambulance yet?’’

‘’I was able to contact the consulate via the radio in my car and asked them in turn to alert the British garrison in Jerusalem.’’ answered James McDonald. ‘’So, what should we do in the meantime, General?’’

Ingrid looked around with sadness at the British dead soldiers and at the consulate’s driver before answering that question.

‘’We take those bodies off the road and line them up by the roadside, ready to be picked by the relief unit that will come. My marines will take care of collecting the weapons, ammunition and papers found on the dead Irgun fighters.’’

‘’What about the bodies of the Irgun irregulars?’’

Ingrid in turn looked at Cunningham, who answered McDonald.

‘’They will be collected as well, to be then formally identified before we will notify their families, so that they could collect their loved ones.’’

‘’That is fine with me, General.’’ said Ingrid. ‘’Well, this does not augur well on how the preliminary talks I intended to hold with the principal leaders in this conflict will go.’’

 

14:12 (Jerusalem Time)

Thursday, August 30, 1951 ‘C’

The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem

British Mandate Palestine

 

David Ben Gurion, the leader of the Jewish Agency, and Yigael Yadin, the leader of the Haganah, were understandably nervous as four U.S. marines were escorting them to a large tent set between the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, two Muslim buildings sitting on the Temple Mount, the vast stone terrasse on which the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem had once stood. Normally, the Temple Mount was considered as a strictly Muslim place of prayer, presently under control of the Jordanian Arab Legion, and any Jew coming here would normally be arrested or killed. Now, they were being escorted to meet with Amir Abdallah of Jordan and with General Glubb Pacha, the commander of the Arab Legion. Ben Gurion then whispered a question in Hebrew to Yadin as they were approaching the marquis tent set next to the Dome of the Rock.

‘’What do you know about this General Dows, Yigael? What should I know about her?’’

‘’The most important thing to remember about her is not to underestimate her, David. Her combat record from World War 2 is a truly incredible one, while she was the one who bombed the Kremlin and killed Stalin and his minions. She is said to be a top military strategist with a solid understanding of geo-politics and is also said to be a very open-minded and caring person. If she tells us something, then we should not take that as a bluff or a bluster. The stories about her power to remember her past incarnations are quite established as truthful by now, something that is said to give her some tremendous level of maturity for her age. ’’

‘’And how old is she exactly?’’

‘’I believe that she is in her mid or late twenties, David.’’

‘’And she is a lieutenant-general at such a young age?’’

That prompted Yadin in throwing a warning look to Ben Gurion.

‘’Please don’t go thinking that she got promoted by getting in bed with senior military officers or politicians, David. That would be the worst mistake you could do concerning her. Just remember that she already has on her killing score card Hitler, Stalin and most of the top Japanese generals and admirals. You definitely don’t want to end up on her to-do list.’’

Ben Gurion shook his head in disbelief at that as a marine opened the entrance flap of the marquis tent for him and Yadin. Inside, he found a large round table with chairs, around which he saw the American Consul, James McDonald, Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham, Amir Abdallah of Jordan, General Glubb Pacha and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hussam ad-Din Jarallah. There was also a young woman of great beauty, wearing an American Air Force blue going out uniform festooned with an impressive collection of medals. His attention then centered on that young redhead, who greeted him in fluent Hebrew.

‘’Thank you for coming, Mister Ben Gurion. Thank you as well to you, General Yadin. Please, take a seat: we are now ready to start this meeting.’’ Ben Gurion sat down next to General Glubb Pacha, whom he had dealt with politically in the past and trusted...to a point, while Yadin sat to his left, nearest to General Cunningham. Once they had sat down, Ingrid looked around the table and spoke up, using English first.

‘’Are you all comfortable in holding this discussion in English? I can always translate in Hebrew or Arabic if you wish me to do so.’’ The Grand Mufti nodded his head in response and spoke in a bit of a halting English.

‘’I speak a passable, yet imperfect English, General Dows. If I have problems understanding some statement, then I will let you know.’’

‘’Thank you, Grand Mufti. Now, for those who don’t know well my personal history, know that I was born in Berlin in 1923 from Jewish parents. However, my whole extended family was killed in 1940 in the first British bombing of Berlin. Now an orphan, I enlisted as a female auxiliary in the German Luftwaffe, not because I was a convinced Nazi but simply because I wanted to protect my country against further British bombings. Then, while I was stationed in France, I was captured in a British commando raid led by Nancy Laplante, the Canadian time traveler, and brought to the Tower of London, where I was interned with other German female auxiliaries. While held there, I and Nancy became good friends and she eventually adopted me in secret, then educated me, using her knowledge of the future. When Nancy was killed by the Gestapo in 1941, I asked to be pardoned and married an American officer assigned to the United States embassy in London. I then followed him to his next posting, which happened to be Manila, in the Philippines. A few months later, the Japanese attacked, bringing the United States into World War 2. Since the American forces didn’t take women at that time, I managed to enroll in the Filipino Air Corps as a fighter pilot, thus starting my career as a combat pilot. During the war, I accumulated a total of 114 air victories, on top of killing by air bombardment both the Japanese Army and Navy high command in Tokyo and the German High Command in Berlin, including Adolph Hitler. After the war, I studied in Boston and got my degree in aeronautical engineering in 1948. I stayed on as a reserve officer of the United States Air Force but also became chief aircraft designer and manager at Hughes Aircraft. In March 1950, I piloted a supersonic B-12 bomber, which I had designed, and bombed the Kremlin following a Soviet attempt to take parts of Japan, killing in the process Joseph Stalin and much of the Soviet political leadership. Now I am here, in Palestine, as Plenipotentiary Envoy of President Dewey, with the mission to help reestablish peace in Palestine and to protect its civilian inhabitants from ethnic and religious cleansing. I am hoping that you will all help me fill that mission, by being reasonable and showing tolerance. If you don’t, then I may be forced to use more direct methods against whoever will threaten peace in this land, gentlemen.’’ The Grand Mufti was the first to speak after her, raising a hand to ask her a question.

‘’You said that you were born as a German Jew, General. Are you still Jewish?’’

‘’Not anymore, Grand Mufti. You may now call me an atheist and humanist who is hoping to see Humanity become more tolerant and more compassionate and kinder.’’

‘’What about the stories about you being able to remember your past incarnations, General Dows?’’ asked next Glubb Pacha.

‘’Those stories are a lot more than simple stories, General Pacha. I gained the power to remember my past incarnations at the same time as Nancy Laplante did, in early 1941. My past incarnations cover a total period of 7,000 years, from my first incarnation as a young nomadic woman living in the Sumerian Basin, to the present person you are looking at. I lived lives as a woman and as a man, being the lowest of peasants as well as a merchant, a warrior, a princess and an emperor. If you were planning on deceiving me through some kind of trick, then forget it: I have seen them all during the past 7,000 years. Trying to kill me, like the Irgun tried to do yesterday, won’t help either. Those Irgun irregulars are now dead, with their bodies now in British custody and waiting to be turned to their families.’’

There was a moment of consternation on the part of the Arab delegates, with Amir Abdallah then asking her a question.

‘’Your stated mission sounds laudable enough, General Dows, but you must know that the political differences between the various factions in Palestine are quite intractable. While I simply want the Arab inhabitants in Palestine to live in peace on the lands of their ancestors, the Jews are claiming the whole of it as their new national Jewish home and state, to be called Israel. How are you planning to resolve that conflict, General?’’

‘’By first doing my best to convince you to accommodate each other in peace, Your Highness. If that doesn’t work out, then I am ready to use force in order to both protect the innocents living in Palestine and to stop anyone bent on using violence to impose their own views and goals. Know that President Dewey gave me the authority to direct and use a sizeable American military force, to be called the ‘Palestine Interposition Force’, in order to impose peace in this country. The United States will not take over the direction of this country from Great Britain but will instead support any legitimately elected local government ready to live in peace with its neighbors. If one faction then decides to continue using violence, notably by forcefully evicting people from their houses and lands and by committing acts of terror, then I will use the full power of the United States Army, Air Force and Navy against them. And if someone hopes to get the support of the Soviets to attain their own political goals, then you better think twice: I bombed the Kremlin to rubble once and can do it again if need be. Right now, the United States government is delivering diplomatic notes to the various Arab countries situated around Palestine, explaining to them the goals of my mission and warning them to stay out of Palestine. Egypt, in particular, will be told that any attempted air raid against the Jews of Palestine will be countered by American carrier-based jet fighters, while any Egyptian armored incursion will be stopped and destroyed by American attack helicopters. If you don’t know how dangerous and murderous an AH-4 attack helicopter is, go ask the Japanese about it. As for using guerrilla tactics against American peace enforcement troops, I would strongly recommend against that, because you definitely won’t like my reply to that. Now, to get into the substance of my action plan, here are the specific points I will be expecting from all of you, including from the British government. First, there will be no more attempts at chasing away any parts of the population of Palestine by either intimidation, threats or acts of terrorism. Second, any government which will take over either parts or whole of Palestine via truly democratic elections will then have to commit to treating ALL of its citizens equally and with justice, be they Christians, Jews, Muslims or atheists.’’

‘’But we earned the right to have our own nation of Israel, General!’’ protested at once David Ben Gurion while jumping on his feet. ‘’We Jews suffered horribly at the hands of the Nazis and the ones who survived the German concentration camps now have the right to live in a Jewish nation of our own, here in Palestine.’’

‘’And you would create that new nation by first expelling the people who had been living here for centuries, if not millenniums? The Israelites first came to this land and took it by slaughtering its original inhabitants and burning down their cities some three millenniums ago, justifying their acts on a ‘land promised by God’. Then, the Jews got to experience a similar treatment by a succession of foreign empires, culminating with the Romans crushing the Bar Kochbah Rebellion in the Second Century. Then, many Jews either died or fled the country, but not all did. Those who stayed in Palestine were then progressively assimilated by the Romans, then by the Christian Crusaders and, finally, by the Arabs. Those Arab Palestinian you want to expel from Palestine are thus actually in majority descendants of those Jews who stayed despite of foreign occupation. You may shout out loud that this can’t be true but I would say to you that you need to better study the history of this land, instead of relying only on so-called holy texts which would justify spoiling innocent people from their homes and lands and replacing them with your own people. I don’t have anything against either Jews or Muslims but I definitely abhor bullies ready to use ethnic cleansing, Mister Ben Gurion. Everybody who is presently living legally in Palestine will keep their homes and lands and will be entitled to live in peace and prosperity, alongside with the other lawful and peaceful citizens of this land. Yes, the Jews will also be able to live in peace here in Palestine, but they will have to accept to keep the peace and to respect their neighbors. Those who will still want to use violence to impose their views on others in Palestine will then feel my wrath and that of the American forces, gentlemen. The choice is now yours.’’

‘’The United States wants to impose its policies on us, General?’’ insisted Ben Gurion, seriously exasperating Ingrid.

‘’No! The United States is simply trying to impose a just peace and settlement, Mister Ben Gurion. By the way, know that the special education I received from Nancy Laplante included historical information from the early 21st Century. In that information from the future, your actions and plans for the formation of Israel were described in quite a lot of detail, including your plans for a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Arab farms, villages and cities situated west of the Jordan River, plans that you then denied forcefully in the face of World opinion while realizing them. Well, your hypocrisy will not work on me, Mister Ben Gurion. Either you genuinely commit to peace and restrain the murderous extremists among your people or you will find me on your way.’’ David Ben Gurion turned deep red with anger as the other participants watched his reaction, then stormed out of the marquis tent. Yigael Yadin was next to leave but the look he then gave Ingrid was a sober one rather than an angry one.

 

Giving a moment to the stunned Arab representatives to comment between themselves on the abrupt departure of the two Jewish representatives, Ingrid then politely asked for their attention back.

‘’If you will please listen again to me, gentlemen, here are the actions I will be expecting from you. First, I will ask the Arab Legion to continue to maintain peace and order within the Muslim sector of Jerusalem and throughout the Transjordan territories. Second, I would be happy if you, General Pacha, could either disarm or disband the irregulars of the Arab Liberation Army who have been raiding Jewish farms and villages. Please make them understand that peace must be a two-way street.’’ Glubb Pacha, who was actually a British officer serving under Amir Abdallah, took a moment to confer in whispers with the Jordanian monarch before the latter spoke to Ingrid.

‘’My Arab Legion will do its best to control the men of the Arab Liberation Army, General Dows.’’

‘’And I will add my spiritual authority to this, General.’’ added the Grand Mufti. ‘’Your sense of justice and peace would have made you a truly great Muslim woman.’’ That last remark brought a gentle smile on Ingrid’s lips.

‘’I already have been a good Muslim woman during the 7th Century of the Christian calendar, or the First Century following the Hijrah15, Grand Mufti. My name then was Aïsha Bint Abi Bakr and I was the third wife of the Prophet. Millenniums before that, my name was Agar and I was an Egyptian slave belonging to the Prophet Avram16. I had a son from Avram, which I named Ishmael, before Avram’s wife, Saraï, jealous

 

15 Hijrah: The time period when the Prophet Muhammad left Mecca towards Medina with his followers, in order to establish his new religion, which would become Islam. 16 Avram: Ancient Semitic name of the Prophet Abraham. about me, made him chase me out into the desert. I will be happy to discuss with you about those two early lives of mine, once this situation in Palestine will be under control.’’ The Grand Mufti was left speechless for a moment before he regained control of himself and bowed deeply to her.

‘’Then, I would be most honored to later make you visit the Dome of the Rock, so that you could see the spot from where the Prophet ascended to Heaven, oh Mother of the Believers.’’

 

15:19 (Jerusalem Time)

Jewish Agency headquarters

Rehavia District, Jerusalem

 

‘’You are already back, David? That was a short meeting.’’

‘’It was a short meeting because I stormed out of it, Golda!’’ replied David Ben Gurion to Golda Meirson, one of his most trusted political aides. ‘’That young General Dows was most insulting and said that she won’t allow us to create our own state.’’

‘’Er, that’s not what Dows said, David.’’ cut in Yigal Yadin, making Ben Gurion throw him a hostile look. ‘’She said that the United States would support a democratically-elected government or a number of regional governments, as long as all the present inhabitants of Palestine would be able to live as equals in it. Her main point was actually that she and the United States would not allow anyone to engage in ethnic cleansing, forced evictions or intimidation towards other religious groups.’’

‘’And our long-cherished dream of a new Israel? We should renounce it and accept to live while surrounded by Arabs living in our midst?’’ Golda Meirson, a rather overweight 53-year-old woman with a large nose, looked with shock at both men.

‘’She won’t allow us to create our own nation, free of Arabs? What kind of bastard is she?’’

Yigal Yadin blew air out in frustration then: he had spent most of the trip back to Rehavia arguing with Ben Gurion about the conditions presented by Dows.

‘’Golda, she is no bastard, on the contrary. She simply cares as much for the Arabs of Palestine as for us: it’s that simple. I also believe that she has the ear of President Dewey and she said that she has a complete American task force ready to intervene in Palestine if things don’t improve soon. She calls that force the ‘Palestine Interposition Force’ and it has warships, including aircraft carriers, attack helicopters, tanks and heavy artillery, all things we don’t have ourselves. Hell, we can’t even find enough rifles to arm all of our soldiers right now! Believe me: if General Dows decides to strike us, it will hurt...a lot!’’

‘’I wish that the Irgun would have done a better job of dealing with her.’’ said Ben Gurion in a bitter tone, making Yadin snap his head to look at him with big eyes.

‘’You knew that the Irgun was planning to attack Dows’ convoy?’’

‘’Er, no! I was only wishing that the Irgun would have succeeded in killing her.’’ replied Ben Gurion, trying to repair his verbal gaffe. That was however not sufficient to allay Yadin’s suspicions.

‘’Do you have any idea of the troubles her assassination at our hands would have brought to us, David? That woman is an American national hero no less and Dewey is said to have the utmost confidence in her.’’

‘’And the supporters of Israel have a lot of political power in the American Congress, Yigal.’’ replied Golda. ‘’Maybe we should indeed kill her...politically.’’ Yigal gave her a poisoned look, then pivoted around and stormed out of the room, utterly frustrated. Now alone with Ben Gurion, Golda eyed him soberly.

‘’Tell me what this Dows said exactly, David, and please be accurate about it.’’

 

22:48 (Jerusalem Time)

Ingrid’s bedroom, U.S. General Consulate

Agron Road, Shaarei Hesed District

Near the Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem

 

Due to the limited number of guest bedrooms at the American consulate and due to the fact that Denise was the only woman in the recently arrived support group for Ingrid Dows, the young blonde had ended up being lodged in the same bedroom as Ingrid, something that both women had agreed to. Now, Denise lay in bed as Ingrid was taking a shower in their adjacent bathroom. While still tired from the change in time zones, Denise had problems getting to sleep, as she thought about the extraordinary way Ingrid had healed that young British soldier with the simple touch of her hands. Denise’s thoughts however changed to something else altogether when Ingrid walked out of their bathroom, fully naked, showing to her driver the fact that her groin was closely shaved. It took an effort for Denise not to stare more than a couple of seconds at Ingrid’s groin and to look up at her with a question.

‘’General, where and how did you gain that incredible power of healing you showed yesterday?’’

‘’To be frank, Denise, I really don’t know. I just know that the first power I got aware of was my ability to remember my past incarnations, an ability which came to me in early 1941, the same night my adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante, gained the same power. I later found out that I had also become much stronger, faster and more resistant than before. In truth, I am still exploring what I am capable of. There is however one more power I discovered in 1944.’’

‘’Oh? Which one?’’

Ingrid smiled and walked up to the bed, stopping just beside Denise and offering her a close view of her naked body.

‘’I am also an empath, Denise, and I can feel that you like to see me naked like this.’’

Denise was immediately alarmed by those words: gays and lesbians were still not accepted in the American armed forces and, if it was found out that she was a lesbian, she would immediately be dishonorably discharged, losing any pension or service benefit on top of being kicked out of the Air Force. Ingrid, sensing her sudden fear, hurried to reassure her.

‘’Don’t worry about me outing you as a lesbian, Denise. I am myself a bisexual girl, at least since I started remembering my past incarnations, half of which were as a man and the other half as a woman. I would lose even more than you if I myself would be outed.’’

‘’That would be a gross injustice to you, General: you fought hard for the United States and your sexual preferences should not cancel all that you did for our country.’’

‘’I fully agree with you on that, Denise. Unfortunately, the social standards of the American society of today are still quite behind, compared to the standards Nancy Laplante knew in the Canada of 2012. Even the Europe of today is more tolerant than the United States but it will take many more decades before that changes. With this said...’’

Ingrid then pulled away the bedsheet covering Denise and, lying on her belly on the bed, positioned herself between the legs of the young blonde before starting to give her some oral sex.

09:05 (Jerusalem Time)

 

Friday, August 31, 1951 ‘C’

Courtyard of the American General Consulate

Jerusalem, British Mandate Palestine

 

Consul James McDonald was quite

worried as he watched Ingrid climb into one of

the two M20 armored cars parked in the courtyard of the consulate. Her driver, Sergeant

Denise Bateman, was already in the armored car along with two U.S. marines, armed with her M2A1 carbine and wearing a steel helmet.

‘’Are you sure that you want to go to Haifa with such a light escort, General? Haifa is very tense these days and the British have little control left of that region.’’ In response, Ingrid pointed at the large American flag attached to the radio antenna of the M20.

‘’Whoever will attack me will be committing an act of war against the United States, Mister McDonald. Besides, I will have some very heavy backup ready on call if need be. I really want to go check on what is happening in Haifa. My marines remaining here will concentrate on protecting the consulate: I have zero confidence on the goodwill of the Jewish Agency and it may well arrange for the Irgun or Lehi to attack you while denying involvement.’’

She then looked down at the marine corporal sitting in the driver’s seat.

‘’Time to go, Corporal Tomassi.’’

‘’Yes, maam!’’

Tomassi then started his engine and rolled out of the courtyard, with two marines closing back the gate of the consulate. Ingrid, decked in a combat uniform and her blue beret she had inherited from her time as commander of the 99 th Combined Air Group, the Fifinellas, was armed with both her GLOCK 17L pistol and her M2A2 carbine and stood behind the M2 heavy machine gun of the vehicle. The passage of the M20 through the streets of Jerusalem as it headed Northwest to join with the coastal road leading to Haifa did not go unnoticed by the Arab and Jewish inhabitants of the old city. While most of the Arabs waved at her and looked enthusiastic, the public attitude as the M20 rolled through the Jewish districts of Jerusalem was a much colder one, with many Jews eyeing her with either suspicion or outright hostility: the story of how she and her marines had killed numerous Irgun irregulars two days ago must have gone around Jerusalem and the region around it. Ingrid didn’t bother to respond back to the few who heckled her at her passage, simply throwing a resolute look at them: she was here to accomplish a mission, not to win a popularity contest.

 

The M20 turned northward on the road to Haifa once it passed through Lydda, which was a Jewish stronghold with little British military presence in evidence: The British soldiers left in Palestine were for the most part hunkered down in their barracks and garrisons, in order to avoid roadside bomb attacks and snipers, so Ingrid couldn’t really count on their support during her trip, except to refuel her M20 at the British positions marked on her map. However, that didn’t mean that she was alone and defenseless on this trip: apart from the heavy machine gun mounted on her armored car, she had radios connecting her with the American warships cruising close to and along the coast. One of those warships was a 15,400-ton escort carrier carrying a full squadron of AH-4 attack helicopters, ready to react on call. Other warships which she could count on were the battleship NEW JERSEY, three heavy cruisers and two light cruisers, lined up along the coast and ready to provide heavy naval gun support if she called for their help. Instead of flooding Palestine with American troops, Ingrid’s plan was to use only relatively light reconnaissance units on the ground, backed up by naval gunfire, embarked helicopters and, if really needed, the Hughes F-9 supersonic fighter-bombers embarked on the fleet aircraft carrier U.S.S. INTREPID. A whole battalion group of marines embarked on an amphibious flotilla was also ready to react quickly if she gave the order to. That battalion group was in fact commanded by an officer she both knew well and respected greatly: Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller, who was a near-legend in the U.S. Marine Corps and who had more than proven himself on Guadalcanal and in the Philippines. Ingrid had specifically asked for him for her interposition force and gotten him, despite the fact that he was normally affected to the Pacific area. Also, last night, she had requested her marine amphibious group, the escort carrier U.S.S. BOGUE and the battleship U.S.S. NEW JERSEY to move at night towards Haifa and take positions in advance of her trip to that port city. President Dewey, realizing how tricky and risky her mission to Palestine would be, had thankfully ordered the American forces in the Mediterranean to provide maximum support to her mission and to follow here directives and orders to the letter. With such a powerful support, Ingrid was thus confident of fulfilling her mission to bring peace to Palestine.

 

She encountered the first roadblock some 20 kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv, at the junction of the road to Haifa and that from Tel Aviv to Tulkarm. Seeing the roadblock from a distance, Ingrid told her marines and Denise to be on alert, then told Corporal Tomassi to approach it at a moderate speed. A grim expression came to her face on seeing that the burned-out hulk of a civilian car lay off the road, just short of the roadblock: four bodies still lay around the carcass and the car was still smoking: it thus must have been destroyed only hours ago. When Tomassi stopped the M20 just short of the mobile barrier set up across the road, Ingrid identified the ones holding the roadblock as being Jewish irregulars, with two of the seven irregulars being women. They were armed with a motley collection of bolt-action rifles, British STEN sub machine guns and revolvers and were now looking with suspicion at her and her M20, their weapons at the ready. Ingrid spoke up out loud as a man holding a rifle at the ready approached.

‘’THIS ROADBLOCK IS AN ILLEGAL ONE. REMOVE IT AND LEAVE, NOW!’’

‘’THIS IS JEWISH LAND! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL TURN AROUND AND LEAVE!’’

In response, Ingrid looked at Denise Bateman and gave her an order in a voice strong enough for the Jewish fighter to hear her.

‘’Sergeant Bateman, take my place at the machine gun and cover me. If any of those assholes attack me, then blow them away.’’

‘’With pleasure, General.’’

Grabbing her carbine first, Ingrid then deftly jumped out of the armored car, landing on both feet and then walking resolutely towards the Jewish man near the M20 and stopping nose to nose with him, to speak in Hebrew to him in a firm tone.

‘’This is the land of Palestine and it is open to everyone, not only to Jews. Why did you kill those four people? I can see that one of them was a girl. And why didn’t you have the simple decency of burying them afterwards?’’

‘’They were Arabs and not worthy of burial.’’ replied the man while throwing a hateful look to her while starting to point his rifle at her. He however could not finish that move, as Ingrid slapped away his rifle with enough force to send the weapon fly out of his hands. She next grabbed the man by his shirt collar and got nose to nose with him.

‘’Those like you who murder children and then let their bodies rot in the Sun are nothing but cowardly bastards. You now have one minute for you and your irregulars to dismantle this roadblock and disappear. If you don’t comply, I will then have you all killed, starting with you. I am Lieutenant-General Ingrid Dows, Plenipotentiary Envoy to Palestine of the President of the United States. I came to bring peace and justice to this land and I will gladly start to do so with your bunch of murderers. The minute has just started.’’

Stunned and infuriated by her challenge, the man hesitated, then made a big mistake by shouting an order to the other members of his group.

‘’SHOOT THOSE STUPID AMERICANS!’’

That immediately triggered Denise Bateman into opening fire with her M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun, sweeping a group of two men and one woman partially hiding behind a pile of sandbags. Those sandbags offered little actual protection to those irregulars, with the heavy slugs easily going through the sandbags before shredding the three irregulars to pieces. A burst from the assault rifle of one of the two marines in the armored car then swept two other irregulars, while Ingrid shot down the man facing him, who was trying to take a revolver out of his belt. That left only one irregular, a young woman, who promptly threw down her rifle and raised her arms.

‘’DON’T SHOOT! DON’T SHOOT! I SURRENDER!’’

Her carbine pointed at the woman, Ingrid approached her and quickly searched her for weapons, finding and taking away one grenade before grabbing her by her shirt and pushing her towards the M20.

‘’PRIVATE MILLER! GRAB A SHOVEL AND THEN HAVE THIS WOMAN DIG GRAVES FOR THESE UNFORTUNATE ARABS. JUST WATCH HER AND DON’T HELP HER IN HER DIGGING WORK.’’

‘’Right away, General!’’ replied the marine sitting to the right of the driver of the M20. As he came down from the armored car with a shovel and his assault rifle, the young Jewish woman gave a fearful look at Ingrid.

‘’What about my comrades?’’

‘’You will be free to bury them...after you will have buried that poor Arab family you murdered in cold blood. Now move!’’

As Miller escorted the Jewish woman towards the burned-out car and the four bodies lying around it, Ingrid grabbed the improvised barrier of the roadblock, made from a small tree trunk, and swung it out of the way, then threw it in the roadside ditch. Once that was done, she returned to the M20 and climbed aboard it, where she consulted her map before grabbing the handset of the HF radio set of the vehicle.

‘’Neptune, this is Lady Hawk, over!’’

She got an answer after repeating her message once.

‘’This is Neptune. Go ahead, Lady Hawk!’’

‘’Neptune, I have a request for possible preventive gunfire next to a road crossing nine miles northeast of Tel Aviv. Here are the coordinates of the point I want targeted by a short barrage fire...’’

Giving the exact coordinates read from her map and giving a few precisions on what kind of fire support she wanted; she then told the naval fire coordinator on the U.S.S. SALEM heavy cruiser to wait for her next orders. Putting down her handset, she then grabbed a pair of powerful binoculars and started observing the two villages visible in the distance, one to the West, along the road to Tel Aviv, the other to the Northwest, on the road to Haifa. This whole area was sprinkled with parcels of lands bought or taken during the past years by Jewish settlers: the irregulars who had been holding this roadblock had most probably come from one of those two villages. The short but heavy gunfire from the M20 was thus most liable to have attracted some attention in those villages and she now expected an armed force to react to it by coming forward to see what had happened. As she was still observing, she smiled to Denise Bateman.

‘’Sergeant, could you please collect the weapons from those dead irregulars and put them in our armored car? I would also need to see if you could find some identification papers on those unfortunate Arabs.’’

‘’I’m on it, General!’’

 

It took only minutes for Denise to collect the Jews’ weapons and ammunition and drop them inside the M20. As she then approached the bodies around the burned civilian car, she hesitated and, after looking inside the burned-out hulk, quickly turned away and threw up, alarming Ingrid.

‘’WHAT’S UP, SERGEANT?’’

Denise took a moment to recover and to answer her in a weak voice.

‘’A baby... There is a baby on the backseat of the car: it burned to death.’’ That prompted a horrified Ingrid to jump off the armored car and to run to the destroyed car. A cautious look inside confirmed what Denise had seen, making Ingrid then throw a hateful look to the Jewish woman digging graves nearby. That young woman however looked about as horrified as Ingrid was and quickly protested her innocence.

‘’But, but, I didn’t know about that baby and would never have hurt it.’’

‘’Well, maybe you wouldn’t have but your group leader seemed to me to be ready to kill any Arab he encountered. And you claim to follow the guidance of God? Keep digging!’’

Doing her best to calm her anger, Ingrid then returned to the M20 and climbed back into it, resuming her observation of the nearby villages.

 

Some ten minutes later, Ingrid saw a column of three vehicles approach from the village situated along the road to Tel Aviv. Observing that convoy through her binoculars, she saw that it was composed of a sedan car and two pickup trucks, with about ten people riding in the rear boxes of the trucks. Grabbing the HF radio’s handset, she then spoke in it in a calm voice.

‘’Neptune, Neptune, this is Lady Hawk, over.’’

‘’Go ahead, Lady Hawk!’’

‘’From Lady Hawk: I request one registration round fired at Point Alpha One, over.’’

‘’One registration round at Point Alpha One, understood, Lady Hawk.’’ There was a delay of about 25 seconds before the naval fire control officer spoke again.

‘’Neptune to Lady Hawk: registration round on the way. Impact in about fifteen seconds.’’

Ingrid then patiently waited while following the progression of the convoy of three vehicles. She then heard a sinister owl coming from up high in the West, followed by a powerful explosion which threw up a large cloud of dirt some thirty meters from the road and a hundred meters ahead of the approaching convoy. Those vehicles abruptly braked to a halt and stayed where they were as Ingrid grabbed her megaphone and spoke in it in Hebrew.

‘’TO THE THREE VEHICLES APPROACHING THIS ROAD JUNCTION, TURN AROUND NOW AND LEAVE! IF YOU DON’T, I WILL CALL MORE NAVAL GUNFIRE ON YOU. YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES TO COMPLY.’’ Ingrid then patiently waited for two minutes and, not seeing the three vehicles turn around, spoke again in her megaphone.

‘’LAST WARNING! MOVE NOW OR I WILL CALL GUNFIRE DIRECTLY ON YOU.’’

Her warnings seemed to finally register then, with the car and two trucks turning around on the gravel road and speeding back to the village they had come from. Ingrid then looked at Denise while giving her the binoculars.

‘’Keep watching in case they or anybody else tries again to approach. I am going to give the first rites to that poor Arab family.’’

 

Grabbing first one of the wool blankets carried inside the M20, Ingrid then jumped down and approached the burned car. She hardened herself before reaching inside the hulk and gently rolling her blanket around the dead baby and taking it out in the open. Tears came to her eyes when she saw that the tiny, burned body had its mouth wide open.

‘’My God! It died screaming in pain.’’

The Jewish woman, hearing those words, then burst into tears and fell on her knees. Ingrid, now knowing that she had been truthful about her claims of innocence, slowly walked to the hole dug by the Jewish woman and, wrapping the dead baby in the blanket, then delicately put it down in the grave, then stood next to the hole while making a prayer in Arabic. Next, she temporarily took the shovel from the woman and threw dirt over the small bundle, covering it completely and then gathering a few large rocks in order to cover the grave and preempt wild dogs from digging it up. With that done, she angrily threw the shovel back to the Jewish woman, her voice full of contempt.

‘’May you learn from this that God is about love and kindness, not about hatred and intolerance. You now have four more graves to dig.’’

 

When Ingrid climbed back in the M20, Denise Bateman looked at her with sadness.

‘’You must have witnessed many such horrors in your previous lives, General.’’

‘’I didn’t only witness many horrors, Denise: I also experience them quite a few times. Corporal Tomassi, could you please go help that Jewish woman to give the graves of that Arab family: at the rate she is going, we wil l still be here by the evening.’’

‘’Understood, General.’’

She didn’t see any sign of further movement from the two nearby villages by the time the graves were finished digging. Ingrid then helped put the Arab bodies in their graves and again made a prayer in Arabic before filling the graves with dirt with the help of the Jewish woman and of Corporal Tomassi. She, Tomassi and Miller then got back into the M20 and rolled away, leaving the emotionally broken Jewish woman behind next to the bodies of her dead companions.

 

It was close to noon when they rolled through the Jewish village to the north of the road junction. While they did not hit a roadblock or an ambush there, they did meet a mature couple standing by one side of the main street passing through the village. That couple was unarmed and was waving a white flag. While Tomassi was slowing down while approaching the man and woman, Ingrid was still able to spot the barrels of at least two rifles sticking out of the windows of two separate houses. She thus spoke at once in Hebrew to the couple once stopped next to them.

‘’Please tell your people pointing rifles at us to get away at once from their windows, mister, or there will be consequences to your village: I am Lieutenant-General Dows, sent by President Dewey of the United States on a mission to establish peace in Palestine. I have a fleet of warships off the coast, ready to provide me with heavy naval gunfire support on call.’’

The graying man took a second to absorb that, then turned around and shouted out loud in Hebrew.

‘’STOP POINTING GUNS OUT OF THE WINDOWS! THESE ARE AMERICAN SOLDIERS.’’

As the rifle barrels disappeared, the man faced Ingrid again and looked at her critically.

‘’Are you the ones who shot at our roadblock to the Southeast?’’

‘’We were the ones but we were threatened by your goons, who had murdered a whole Arab family, including a baby and a teenage girl a few hours ago. Before you protest about me lying to you, listen to this, and listen well: I was sent by the President of the United States to establish peace and justice in Palestine, and this for the benefit of all its present inhabitants and not only for the benefit of the Jews. You have no divine right to expel the Arabs who had been living in this land for centuries, contrary to all your claims about God promising you this land. Religion has been used too often in the past to justify intolerance, theft of land and violence. That won’t be allowed here this time. Tell your people to stop attacking and intimidating their Arab neighbors. In return, American soldiers will soon come to enforce the peace, stop the violence and protect the innocent civilians on both sides. Pass the word around and, most importantly, tell others that I am dead serious about this. You may now send one car to go pick up the one woman we did not kill at that roadblock. Shalom!’’

On that last word, she told Tomassi to resume driving, leaving behind her a nonplussed Jewish couple.

 

Ingrid’s next stop was at a small British fortified compound east of the coastal town of Nathariya, where the M20 refueled and refilled its water supplies while Ingrid spoke with the British captain in charge of the outpost and updated with him the known situation of the various British garrisons in Central and Northern Palestine. One piece of information that captain gave her made her frown.

‘’The Jewish Haganah has started to bulldoze the Arab Quarter of Haifa? And your forces are letting that happen?’’

The British officer made a grimace, unsure how to answer her.

‘’We did our best, General, but the people of Great Britain has lost its stomach for the continued loss of British lives in Palestine. We once had a full infantry brigade covering the Haifa area but it was gradually cut down during the last couple of years, with only about 200 men remaining in place, blockaded in their garrison by Jewish extremists.’’

‘’And Great Britain still pretends to be an imperial power, Captain?’’ asked Ingrid in a sarcastic tone. ‘’If you can’t keep the peace here in Palestine, then you should have at the least arranged for some kind of workable political solution instead of scrambling out and leaving a mess behind you. I am not blaming you or your soldiers, Captain Morrison, but rather your political leaders. I will now have to put some order into that chaos and I will not pussyfoot around about how I do it, I promise you. Thank you for letting us refill in fuel and water here, Captain. I will be leaving as soon as my M20 will be full.’’

Ingrid then walked out of the fortified British command post and walked resolutely to her armored car, in which she climbed into and grabbed the handset of her HF radio set.

‘’Jar Head One Six, from Lady Hawk... Jar Head One Six, from Lady Hawk...’’ The voice of Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller then answered her after her third call.

‘’This is Jar Head One Six, go ahead Lady Hawk.’’

‘’From Lady Hawk. I was just informed that Jewish forces have started to bulldoze houses and buildings inside the Arab Quarter of Haifa. I want you to send an heliborne company supported by attack helicopters to Haifa and for it to land in the Arab Quarter and chase away the Jewish irregulars conducting ethnic cleansing there. The bulldozers found there will be destroyed. You are to fly out as soo n as you can, over.’’

‘’Understood, Lady Hawk. We will take to the air within the hour, over.’’

‘’Excellent, Jar Head One Six. Also have some naval gunfire support ready to help you on call for that task. Over and out!’’

Seeing that Tomassi had just finished filling their M20’s fuel tank, she then gave an order out loud.

‘’EVERYBODY BACK IN! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY SITUATION IN HAIFA.’’ Within the next minute, the M20 was speeding out of the British compound, watched by Captain Morrison and his men.

 

13:50 (Jerusalem Time)

United States Marine Corps UH-2T transport helicopter

Arriving over the port of Haifa, Northern Palestine

 

Lewis Puller, riding in the jump seat behind the pilot of the helicopter carrying him and his command element, pointed at a high, thin tower visible near the port area of Haifa.

‘’THERE: A MOSQUE’S MINARET, JUST OFF THE DOCKS. WE ARE ABOUT TO OVERFLY THE ARAB QUARTER OF HAIFA. OVERFLY IT, SO THAT I CAN VISUALLY INSPECT THE SITUATION THERE, AND TELL OUR HELICOPTERS TO LAND IN THE DOCKS AREA AND UNLOAD OUR MEN AND VEHICLES THERE.’’ Just as the copilot of the UH-2T was transmitting that order to the five other transport helicopters carrying a full company of marines with light vehicles, a large explosion at the base of the minaret shook it, then made it crumble in a big cloud of dust, making Puller swear out loud.

‘’FUCK! THOSE ASSHOLES ARE REALLY IN THE PROCESS OF DEMOLISHING THE ARAB QUARTER! I WANT OUR ATTACK HELICOPTERS TO HUNT AND DESTROY AT ONCE EVERY BULLDOZER AND DEMOLITION TEAM THEY WILL SPOT.’’

As the UH-2T overflew at low altitude the location of the now destroyed minaret, Puller saw some one hundred meters down the street two pickup trucks and one bulldozer, with about a dozen men standing near them. Puller immediately reacted by activating his headset’s microphone.

‘’GUNNERS, TARGET THE TRUCKS AND BULLDOZER TO OUR TEN O’CLOCK. DESTROY THOSE BASTARDS!’’

The left side door gunner of the helicopter reacted promptly at that order, firing a long, well-aimed burst from his M2 heavy machine gun which straddled the vehicles and men down in the street. One of the four escorting AH-4T attack helicopters then completed the job with its chin-mounted 20mm cannon, putting the bulldozer and one of the pickup trucks on fire.

‘’LET’S GO LAND IN THE DOCKS AREA! I’M GOING TO GET INTO MY JEEP.’’

With that said, Puller left his jump seat and went aft into the cargo cabin, where two jeeps with trailers and a total of 21 marines were. Chesty then pointed the chains holding the jeeps and their trailers in place to his marines.

‘’Be ready to undo these chains as soon as we will have landed, men. Our objective is the mosque situated just west of the docks. Kill or destroy any armed irregulars and vehicles we will encounter on our way.’’

 

Less than three minutes later, the helicopter was on the ground and the aft cargo ramp was lowering, making marines undo as quickly as they could the tiedown chains of the jeeps and trailers. Puller, riding in the front passenger seat of the lead jeep, was the first to roll on the docks, with one other jeep and sixteen marines on foot closely following him. One bullet zipped by his jeep nearly immediately but the hidden shooter was taken out within seconds by one of the helicopter gunners.

‘’GO, GO, GO! TAKE THAT ALLEY TO OUR RIGHT!’’

Seeing a pair of silhouettes appearing from behind a corner ahead of the jeep, the machine gunner of Puller’s jeep opened fire at once as the driver pushed his engine to the maximum and raced towards the end of the alley. Puller, manning a medium machine gun hooked to a pintle mount in front of him, also fire short bursts meant to keep the enemy heads down. The moment the jeep sped past the corners of the two warehouses bordering the alley, Puller turned his machine gun a full hundred degrees to his right and fired a burst that swept along the wall of the right-side warehouse, shooting down three armed men who had been cowering along that wall. His heavy machine gunner did the same but aimed to the left, killing more irregulars.

‘’TURN LEFT AND GO TOWARDS THAT MOSQUE!’’ shouted Puller while still firing his machine gun. The still intact Jewish irregulars visible to Puller then broke and ran away in utter panic.

‘’GUN THESE FUCKERS DOWN, ALL OF THEM!’’

Pursued by merciless machine gun fire, none of the Jewish fighters on that street were able to flee. Telling his driver to stop once in front of the now badly damaged mosque, Puller then took the time to assess the situation and, consulting his tactical map of Haifa, distributed orders by radio to his marines who had been landed on the docks. As the transport helicopters were taking off to return to the U.S.S. BOGUE in order to be loaded with more marines and vehicles, their escort AH-4T attack helicopters continued to roam over Haifa’s Arab Quarter, targeting every bulldozer or suspect vehicle they could find. The Jewish fighters, armed only with a motley collection of old rifles, submachine guns, pistols and revolvers and with little to no formal military training, fared badly against the heavily armored and armed machines and were soon fleeing wholesale from the Arab Quarter.

 

15:18 (Jerusalem Time)

Haifa Central Police Station, near the port’s docks

 

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Bosworth grinned with satisfaction as he scanned with his binoculars the surrounding buildings around the Haifa Central Police Station.

‘’I can’t see a single Jewish sniper left in the buildings around us: they all fled. Thank God for those American helicopters!’’

His operations officer, standing next to him on the flat roof of the station, then pointed down at two vehicles approaching the fortified compound housing their unit.

‘’Sir, an American armored car and one jeep are approaching the main gate.’’ Quickly pointing his binoculars at the two American vehicles, Bosworth then gave an order to his subaltern.

‘’Major Kitchener, have the main gate opened for these Americans. I will now go down in order to be ready to receive those visitors.’’

Bosworth was stepping out of the main entrance of the police station when the M20 armored car and the jeep stopped in front of it. A tall and beautiful young woman wearing the ranks of a lieutenant-general then jumped down from the M20, while a stoutly-built colonel stepped out of the jeep. While surprised by the nature of his visitors, Bosworth did come to attention and saluted as the young woman stopped in front of him and returned his salute before exchanging a handshake with him.

‘’Colonel, I am Lieutenant-General Ingrid Dows, Plenipotentiary Envoy to Palestine of American President Thomas Dewey. To my right is Colonel Lewis Puller, commander of the U.S. Marine Corps landing force supporting me. I believe that we need to have an urgent conversation...in private.’’

‘’Then follow me, General.’’ said Bosworth before inviting her inside the police station. With Lewis Puller following close behind, Bosworth looked sideways at Ingrid as they climbed a large staircase.

‘’Uh, aren’t you the fighter pilot known during World War 2 as ‘Lady Hawk’, General?’’

‘’That’s me! I am now a reserve officer of the United States Air Force but President Dewey recalled me into active service in order to put me in charge of this Palestine problem. To be frank, what I have seen since my arrival two days ago truly displeased me about the actions and inactions of the various parties to this conflict.’’ Understanding that she was not going to praise Great Britain’s role in Palestine, Bosworth nonetheless didn’t protest at once and invited her and Puller into his private office, closing the door behind them before showing to them a pair of sofas and a low tea table.

‘’Please, have a seat, General, Colonel. Would you like some hot tea?’’

‘’Thank you but no, Colonel: there are still a lot of urgent things for us to do here in Haifa. Then I will return to Jerusalem in order to get in contact with President Dewey. I will however have a glass of cold water.’’

‘’Right away, General!’’ replied Bosworth before going to the door, opening it long enough to ask his aide to bring a pitcher of cold water and three glasses. He then went to sit facing Ingrid and Lewis Puller.

‘’First, General, Colonel, thank you for forcing those Jewish irregulars to raise their siege of my garrison. My men have not been able to leave this compound and patrol Haifa for over a week now.’’

‘’That is in fact one of the main reasons why I wanted to speak with you, Colonel Bosworth.’’ said Ingrid before her tone of voice noticeably hardened while she looked straight into the eyes of the British senior officer. ‘’Great Britain has been acting in a most negligent and irresponsible way here in Palestine for quite a few years in my opinion. Now, it has withdrawn so many of its troops in this country that you are now reduced to near impotence and, worst of all, are unable to protect innocent civilians from intimidation, attacks and acts of ethnic cleansing. American soldiers are now fighting and dying to do something you should be doing: protecting the civilians and preserving order in Palestine. And you still pretend to be a great imperial power? With power comes responsibilities and, in this, Great Britain has utterly failed. Know that President Dewey gave me full powers and freedom of action to me, so that I could restore at least some peace to Palestine and protect the civilians on all sides, be they Jewish, Muslims, Christians or atheists. President Dewey will also soon address the United Nations, which frankly has been as culpable via its inaction and complete ineffectiveness in this conflict. He will then announce that the United States is ready to act as a temporary protector of Palestine and to guide this country on a path to peace.’’

‘’But, the Soviets will certainly not agree to this, General.’’ protested Bosworth. ‘’They will most assuredly veto that in the Security Council.’’

‘’Let them! Since the United Nations has been proved to be next to useless, and this for many years already, the United States will tell it to either help or stand aside. The same will apply to Great Britain, unless your politicians will finally show some sense of responsibility and help us reestablish order in Palestine. As for those who intended to profit from the misery and violence they created here, they better brace themselves, as I am more than ready to distribute lumps to those who deserve them. Now, about Haifa and the region around it: are you going to help us restore order and protect Arab civilians from Jewish extremists’ attacks?’’

‘’Please, General, understand that I have a mere 200 men left in the whole of the Haifa area, while all our border units have already left the country. All my attempts to push out patrols during the last few weeks hit snipers and roadblocks and, just last week, I lost five men to attacks and ambushes.’’

‘’Did you ask for reinforcements, Colonel?’’ asked Ingrid in a barely polite tone.

‘’Yes, repeatedly! I was however told from Jerusalem that none would come and that I should ready my unit for a pullout from Palestine in the next two weeks. Know that two-thirds of my unit is composed of conscripts and that I am loathe to sacrifice those young men in a now hopeless task.’’

‘’Colonel Bosworth, there is a popular saying in the United States: if you can’t stand the heat, then leave the kitchen! On my part, I will concentrate the efforts of my force into protecting civilians and restoring order and I will not waste more time protecting your soldiers: either you take care of yourselves properly or you leave, but don’t ask or hope for our help from now on. I will now leave, as there is much left to do.’’ Ingrid and Puller then got up, making Bosworth also get up from his sofa and salute her before the two American officers left his office. While Ingrid’s words had deeply hurt Bosworth’s pride, he also unfortunately realized that he and Great Britain fully deserved her criticisms.

 

09:15 (Jerusalem Time)

Monday, September 03, 1951 ‘C’

Headquarters of the Jewish Agency

Rehavia District, Jerusalem

 

‘’Come in!’’ said David Ben Gurion when someone knocked on the door of his office. Golda Meirson then opened the door partly and stuck her head and torso inside, apparently a bit disturbed.

‘’David, this General Dows bitch is here and demanding to see you and General Yadin.’’

‘’Demanding?’’

‘’Yes! She is also refusing to disarm before seeing you.’’ Ben Gurion let out a breath in exasperation, then looked at Golda.

‘’Let her in...with her weapons, and tell Yigal to come here. I will also want you to be present for this discussion.’’

‘’Very well, David!’’ replied his political assistant, who then closed back the door. Now alone again, Ben Gurion mentally reflected on the news of the last few days. That Ingrid Dows may have been a true pain in the ass but he couldn’t deny the fact that she had shown some redoubtable resolve and decisiveness since her arrival in Palestine. Her amphibious marine force, while relatively small, did enjoy very powerful support from both American attack helicopters and heavy warship gunfire. That naval fire support had in fact utterly wiped out an Arab Liberation Army unit which had tried to take Kibbutz Hanita, on the border with Lebanon. Gunfire from the mighty U.S.S. NEW JERSEY, directed by a patrolling attack helicopter, had then made that Arab irregular unit flee in utter panic after those Arabs had received fourteen sixteen-inch high-explosive fragmentation shells, each weighing over a ton and fired from twenty kilometers away. Only a few of those Arab irregulars had survived to return to their base in Lebanon, where their stories had probably spread like wildfire, sending a cold chill to other Arab units operating in the northern areas of Palestine. Then, a unit of the Haganah which was trying to chase away the inhabitants of a small Arab village near Atlit, south of Haifa, had then been set upon by both American helicopters and cruiser gunfire and had to retreat, losing nineteen men in the process. All those actions had also not escaped the attention of the World press, which was now full of stories about the fighting in Palestine. Whatever he thought of her, Ben Gurion understood that he couldn’t underestimate the young woman who was about to arrive in his office.

 

Someone again knocked again on his door a few minutes later, with Golda Meirson, Yigal Yadin and Ingrid Dows then entering the office. Forcing a polite smile on his lips, Ben Gurion came to Ingrid and briefly shook hands with her before telling her to sit with him, Golda and Yigal in two sofas, with all three Jews sitting on one sofa facing the one taken by Ingrid. She was wearing a combat uniform and a gun belt, plus had a small, compact radio with a light headset connected to it. Ben Gurion eyed her critically before opening the discussion.

‘’So, General Dows, what is the goal of your visit this morning?’’

‘’I am here to announce to you a few decisions and actions taken by President Dewey after I briefed him by telephone yesterday about what I found in Palestine. He in turn spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Churchill, taking with him a couple of mutual decisions concerning this country’s situation. First off, President Dewey will announce this morning, Washington time, a complete arms embargo against all the parties to the fighting in Palestine, save for British forces. That embargo will touch among others the Arab countries who are either supporting or tacitly allowing the Arab irregulars attacking the Jews living in Palestine. The Jordanian Arab Legion, which has agreed from the start to my requests to keep to its defensive positions in Transjordan and to ensure the security of Arab towns and villages west of the Jordan River, will however be exempt from that arms embargo. The Arab Legion will also refrain from attacking the few Jewish kibbutzim established in the Negev Desert and will not block anymore your resupply convoys to those Kibbutzim. As for your Jewish Agency and its Haganah, all sales and deliveries of weapons and ammunition, either legal or clandestine, are now blocked by presidential executive order. The American warships now cruising along the Palestinian coast will also enforce a maritime blockade against any ship trying to deliver weapons or ammunitions to any Jewish or Arab party to this conflict. Our warships will also stop and turn around any ship trying to bring in more illegal Jewish immigrants into Palestine. The British, on their part, will greatly tighten their control of the shipping from Cyprus and other Mediterranean ports. Jewish immigration to Palestine will from now on be severely restricted and regulated, including that coming from the Soviet Union, which was warned by President Dewey not to interfere in Palestine.’’

‘’BUT YOU ARE GOING TO KILL THE DREAMS OF THOSE JEWISH IMMIGRANTS TO COME LIVE IN A NEW STATE OF THEIR OWN!’’ shouted a furious Golda Meirson. Ingrid’s response was to eye her hard.

‘’And what about the Arabs already living here in Palestine. This is their land, as well as that of the Jews and Christians already legally living here. I know full well what those Jews from Europe who endured at the hands of the Nazis but two wrongs won’t make a right. You, Madam Meirson, may not consider Arabs as of persons of equal human value but I do! I will have no sympathy nor pity towards those who want to commit ethnic cleansing while claiming this land to be a God-given gift to them.’’

‘’We have a lot of political support in the United States, General.’’ hotly replied Golda Meirson. ‘’You and your precious president will very soon feel the effects of that political support.’’

Ingrid in turn threw a hard warning look to her.

‘’Don’t dare threatening me or my President, Madam Meirson: you and the Jewish Agency may regret it pretty quickly. Know that, as a result of the discussion by telephone between President Dewey and Prime Minister Churchill, the British government is now reversing its intention to take its troops out of Palestine and will instead send in a large number of fresh troops, not to resume its governance of Palestine but strictly as a security and peacekeeping force which will establish checkpoints, observation posts and security posts across Palestine, in conjunction with American forces, which will also provide naval and aerial support to both American and British troops. Anybody found with weapons or ammunition will be disarmed on the spot, while members of the Irgun, Lehi and Arab Liberation Army identified by our outposts will be arrested as members of a terrorist organization. ’’

Ingrid then concentrated her attention on a now tense Yigal Yadin.

‘’General Yadin, your units will have to stay in their present garrisons and will refrain from harassing or attacking Arab civilians, and this anywhere in Palestine. Limit yourself to the local defense of Jewish settlements and urban districts. Any Haganah member or unit caught with weapons outside of recognized Jewish settlements or towns will be disarmed and turned around. If your members then resist their disarming and shoot at British or American soldiers, then they and their garrisons will be subjected to naval and air firepower.’’

‘’And who will politically control this country if you won’t allow my Jewish Agency to create a Jewish state here in Palestine, General?’’ asked an exasperated Ben Gurion.

‘’The United States will on a temporary basis, with the consent of its previous mandate owner, Great Britain. The western half of Palestine, where all Jewish settlements and population are to be found, will be put under American guardianship, along with the Negev. An American governor will direct that guardianship and will also help coordinate and support the various local village, district and town’s duly elected authorities, be they Jewish, Arab or Christian. Our goal is to create what you refused to do or even contemplate yourselves: a country at peace for all of its legal inhabitants, whatever their ethnic origins or religions are. The amount of intolerance, hatred and racism I found in this country was shocking to me and I strongly believe that your God couldn’t possibly approve of all the evil things you have committed and are ready to commit while invoking his name.’’

‘’HOW COULD YOU EVEN INSINUATE TO PRESUME TO KNOW WHAT GOD WOULD THINK?’’ raged Golda Meirson, her face red from outrage. Ingrid’s response to that wasn’t verbal. Instead, her voice strongly resonated directly inside the heads of the three Jews in the office, stunning them into silence.

‘’I CAN BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY THE ONE YOU CALL ‘GOD’. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SHOW KINDNESS AND TOLERANCE TOWARDS OTHERS. INSTEAD, YOU ARE READY TO DO TO THE ARABS LIVING IN PALESTINE WHAT YOUR PEOPLE ENDURED IN EUROPE. THE ONE HAS NOW HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR HYPOCRISY AND SELFISHNESS. AS FOR THOSE WHO ARE CLAMORING FOR A SO-CALLED ‘HOLY WAR’ AGAINST THE JEWS, THEY WILL EQUALLY FEEL MY WRATH AND THAT OF THE ONE IF THEY DON’T LEARN THEIR LESSONS. YOU NOW HAVE 24 HOURS TO PASS MY DIRECTIVES TO YOUR PEOPLE AND MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO COMPLY WITH THEM. LIVE IN PEACE AND LET THE OTHERS AROUND YOU ALSO LIVE IN PEACE, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.’’ Ingrid then got on her feet and left the office, leaving the stunned Ben Gurion, Golda Meirson and Yigal Yadil to look at each other with consternation.

‘’How...how did she do that?’’ asked Yigal Yadin. ‘’How was she able to speak like this directly into our heads. And who is that ‘One’ she invoked?’’ Golda, confronted with something that contradicted about everything she had believed in up to now, couldn’t answer him. As for David Ben Gurion, he took a moment to try to answer Yigal’s questions.

‘’She has been known for years already to possess a number of supernatural powers, starting with her ability to remember her past incarnations. It appears that telepathy is also one of those powers. As for who is this ‘One’, she may have been referring to whoever gave her those powers.’’

‘’That ‘One’ could be God?’’

‘’I don’t know, Yigal, I just don’t know.’’ said Ben Gurion while shaking his head.

 

Once out of the building, Ingrid stopped and closed her eyes for a moment, mentally reflecting on her last twelve hours. Last night, as she was taking a shower before going to bed, a powerful voice had echoed inside her head, speaking to her and revealing to her how she had started gaining powers over ten years ago while still a young prisoner of war held in the Tower of London. It then started with her gaining the ability to remember her past incarnations, and this at the same time Nancy had also gained the same power. She also knew now who, or rather what, had given her those powers and why. As a result, she now had a clearer picture of her destiny and of her goals, something that was going to help guide herself in the coming future. Opening her eyes again, Ingrid walked to her jeep, where Denise Bateman had been waiting for her, and sat in it.

‘’Back to the consulate, Denise: we still have a lot to do today.’’

‘’Right away, General!’’