Page 125 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

who arrived with the cantor and choir and remained in in the square of the National Institutions Building until the Mussaf Prayer, of the holiday afternoon.
Word-of-mouth disseminated the rumor among the thousands of congregants that the hunger strike was approaching its end, since efforts were being made in London and Jerusalem to find a solution for the immigrants of La Spezia.
The British were apparently concerned by the large concentration of Jews in the courtyard of the Institutions, and military and police vehicles approached up to a distance of about a hundred meters in order to follow the developments. Jews who passed by near them shouted cries of rage at the soldiers and policemen.
Around noon, the President of the Jewish National Council Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and several other fasters came out to the thousands of congregants. The heads of additional fasters could be seen in the windows above the main entrance, and calls of encouragement were made when they
were identified.
In the noon hours of the holiday, Chief Rabbi Herzog made efforts to resolve the problem of the immigrants and bring the fast to an end. Despite the sanctity of the holiday, he called the High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham by telephone, and asked to speak to him in person along with several heads of the Yishuv. The Commissioner consented, and Rabbi Herzog set out on an hour-long trek on foot, accompanied by his son Ya׳akov. He was joined by the President of the Jewish National Council Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Bernard Joseph (Dov Yosef), the Acting Head of the Political Department.
The Commissioner was friendly and showed sympathy for the hunger strikers. He said he understood the step they took, seeking to assist their Holocaust survivor brethren. The Commissioner informed his guests that the government in London decided to authorize the Jewish Agency to use some of the Certificate (visas for Aliya) allocation in order to bring the "La Spezia refugees" as he called them to the Land of Israel. After several hours, the official announcement was issued: ״It was agreed to permit the Spezia refugees to immigrate to Palestine according to the Certificates approved for the Jewish Agency.״ The Commissioner expressed his wish that the hunger strike end.
The audience of thousands did not know of the meeting or its outcomes, however the news passed quickly between the rooms of the fasters. They convened in the meeting hall upon the arrival of David Ben-Gurion, Chairman of the Jewish Agency, who waited with them to hear the details from the delegation that met with the High Commissioner.
About an hour later, the three men had returned to the building, and in the office of Jewish Agency Chairman Ben-Gurion, a joint meeting of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Council and the Chief Rabbis was held.
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