Page 144 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE
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In an improvised press conference that was held after the tour of the rooms, in which General Secretary Eisenberg and Members of the Executive Horovitz and Schmorak participated, it was announced that it was difficult at present to estimate the damages and to know what was taken and what was returned, and that this would be clarified in the coming days.
"Davar" Newspaper reported that the Agency's Executive was unwilling to receive the building from the British in an orderly fashion, as a sign of protest that throughout the 12 days of the searches no one acting on its behalf was allowed to accompany the soldiers conducting the searches. Now, it was reported, each one of the rooms would be examined in order to assess the damages caused. Dr. Emil Schmorak, the Head of the Economic Department, discovered that a file cabinet had disappeared from his room and that he did not know whether it could be found somewhere else in the building or that the British took it with them. General Secretary Eisenberg also discovered that many documents disappeared from his office.
"Haaretz" described in detail the final moments of the evacuation and the first minutes in which the building was back in Jewish hands.
Officials of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Council and the national funds had gathered on the pathways around the building and the moment the last soldier left the courtyard, the Agency Executive Member Dr. E. Schmorak, the General Secretary S. Eisenberg and several officials of the Political Department and the other departments entered the building. Along with them entered the General Secretary of Keren Hayesod Leo Hermann, the Secretary of the Jewish National Council Mr. Atias and the KKL-JNF member Mr. Ezrahi. Near the entrance a chain of Jewish Agency guards were stationed, who prevented the large crowd gathered around from entering the Agency courtyard. Only a group of journalists, representatives of the local and foreign press, were granted permission to enter.
The first impression – the newspaper continued – it was dirty. The stories published in the previous days, that the British had invited nuns from a nearby monastery to clean the building, were apparently incorrect. Everywhere they walked they saw garbage, refuse and cigarette butts. The newspaper reporter estimated that the offices of the national funds and the Jewish National Council would already be opened to the public by the following day, while the Jewish Agency's offices, which were more damaged, would only return to use during the following week.
At a late-night hour, the Mandate Government published an official announcement on evacuation of the Jewish Agency building. The announcement stated that the building was returned to the agency and that since July 4, a government committee dealt with an "examination of the conditions" following the seizure of the building. According to the announcement, the committee invited the General Secretary of the Jewish Agency to join it, but that he refused to come. He also refused to receive the keys to the building in the final hour of the evacuation. It further stated that
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