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was in Jerusalem, did not go on behalf of the Jewish Agency to meet with Cunningham
personally; he sufficed with the telegram, which – to the view of Cunningham's biographer,
Prof. Motti Golani, included at least one ironic sentence: "We are confident that despite
the unstable situation in which you leave Palestine, you will maintain fond memories of
the country and its people."
U ndoubtedly, this irony was an eloquent expression of the feelings of the Jews in Eretz
Yisrael towards the disintegrating British rule, which they perceived as hostile and as
willing to leave the country, in anticipation of their evacuation, in a state of complete
chaos.
Dobkin listened to the declaration ceremony in the building of the National Institutions,
where some of the signatories had gathered. There was no electricity in Jerusalem, and the
first direct broadcast of Kol Yisrael (the Voice of Israel radio) was barely picked up by a
portable wireless radio. Afterwards, each of the participants at the gathering went home, or
returned to his occupation. Throughout that day and through the night, gunshots echoed
in the city, with the Jewish forces seizing control of most of the positions abandoned by
the British a few hours previously.
On the tenth anniversary of the declaration of the state, Dobkin told a reporter from
Maariv about what he had done and how he had felt on that historic Friday, when the joy
over the establishment of the state had mingled with sadness over the fall of Gush Etzion.
Dobkin remembered that that morning the Jerusalemite members of the People’s Council
had gathered at the building of the National Institutions and had decided to convey to
Ben-Gurion their unanimous support for the declaration of the state. Thereafter, he had
made himself available for the painful task of receiving the bodies of the fighters from
Gush Etzion, which had been brought to Jerusalem by the Red Cross, and taking care of
their burial before the commencement of the Sabbath.
In 1961, in another interview with signatories on the Scroll, Dobkin added further
details: "I was a member of the Jewish Agency executive. In accordance with an executive
decision, two members had remained in Jerusalem – Yitzhak Grüenbaum and myself – to
deal with routine as well as urgent issues. And these were numerous. We were under siege.
We also had to deal with the residents of the communities around Jerusalem, both living
and dead; those who had fallen in battle and those who had been evacuated in the days
just prior to May 14 or immediately afterwards. The entrances to the city were starting to
close. We saw the tanks of the Arab Legion approaching. If I were to sum up those days, I
feel obliged to note the resilience of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem, who – despite all the
troubles that had befallen them; despite hundreds of casualties and thousands wounded;
despite the fall of communities around Jerusalem – despite all of this, they withstood it all
valiantly and with a sense of hope that victory was on its way."
Mordecai Naor, HaHotem HaAsiri (the Tenth Signatory)
– Eliyahu Dobkin, Sifriyat Yehuda Dekel, 2012, pp. 147-150
118 The Friday That Changed Destiny
personally; he sufficed with the telegram, which – to the view of Cunningham's biographer,
Prof. Motti Golani, included at least one ironic sentence: "We are confident that despite
the unstable situation in which you leave Palestine, you will maintain fond memories of
the country and its people."
U ndoubtedly, this irony was an eloquent expression of the feelings of the Jews in Eretz
Yisrael towards the disintegrating British rule, which they perceived as hostile and as
willing to leave the country, in anticipation of their evacuation, in a state of complete
chaos.
Dobkin listened to the declaration ceremony in the building of the National Institutions,
where some of the signatories had gathered. There was no electricity in Jerusalem, and the
first direct broadcast of Kol Yisrael (the Voice of Israel radio) was barely picked up by a
portable wireless radio. Afterwards, each of the participants at the gathering went home, or
returned to his occupation. Throughout that day and through the night, gunshots echoed
in the city, with the Jewish forces seizing control of most of the positions abandoned by
the British a few hours previously.
On the tenth anniversary of the declaration of the state, Dobkin told a reporter from
Maariv about what he had done and how he had felt on that historic Friday, when the joy
over the establishment of the state had mingled with sadness over the fall of Gush Etzion.
Dobkin remembered that that morning the Jerusalemite members of the People’s Council
had gathered at the building of the National Institutions and had decided to convey to
Ben-Gurion their unanimous support for the declaration of the state. Thereafter, he had
made himself available for the painful task of receiving the bodies of the fighters from
Gush Etzion, which had been brought to Jerusalem by the Red Cross, and taking care of
their burial before the commencement of the Sabbath.
In 1961, in another interview with signatories on the Scroll, Dobkin added further
details: "I was a member of the Jewish Agency executive. In accordance with an executive
decision, two members had remained in Jerusalem – Yitzhak Grüenbaum and myself – to
deal with routine as well as urgent issues. And these were numerous. We were under siege.
We also had to deal with the residents of the communities around Jerusalem, both living
and dead; those who had fallen in battle and those who had been evacuated in the days
just prior to May 14 or immediately afterwards. The entrances to the city were starting to
close. We saw the tanks of the Arab Legion approaching. If I were to sum up those days, I
feel obliged to note the resilience of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem, who – despite all the
troubles that had befallen them; despite hundreds of casualties and thousands wounded;
despite the fall of communities around Jerusalem – despite all of this, they withstood it all
valiantly and with a sense of hope that victory was on its way."
Mordecai Naor, HaHotem HaAsiri (the Tenth Signatory)
– Eliyahu Dobkin, Sifriyat Yehuda Dekel, 2012, pp. 147-150
118 The Friday That Changed Destiny
