Page 131 - big friday
P. 131
"That day began with great tension. The previous night we had gone to sleep with five
things still unclear – or, at least, not clear with certainty: would the British indeed be
leaving? There was some doubt that accompanied us right up to the last moment. Would
there be a proclamation of Israel's independence? I was confident that there would be, but
still there were doubts. Would the Arab governments decide to fight, to invade? Would
we succeed in preventing the UN from accepting a resolution that would legally nullify
the existence of the State of Israel, through the establishment of some sort of international
trusteeship? And lastly – would we be able to bring our efforts to attain US government
recognition of Israel to a successful close?
A great question mark hovered over each of these questions, and the wonder of May
14 was that over the course of that day, all of these uncertainties were decisively resolved:
the British left; Israel's independence was declared; the Arabs invaded and attacked;
we prevented the adoption of the proposal for a UN trusteeship; and we obtained US
recognition of Israel."
Mordechai Bentov: I didn't even have a telephone
Mordechai Bentov, soon to become the Minister of Labor and Construction
in the Provisional Government, discovered a free hour on his schedule.
"At 3pm the meeting of the Provisional State Council ended, and I saw that I had a
'window', until 4, when the ceremony at the Tel Aviv Museum was supposed to begin. I
used that hour to pay a quick visit to HaKirya (government offices). Until then, this had
been the German colony of Sarona. Each government ministry was assigned one house. I
went over to see the house in which I would be establishing the new ministry.
They had obtained a few vehicles for us from the Jewish Agency, and I chose from
among them a big car with 6 places, calculating that there would be space for other
members of Mishmar HaEmek, too. It was a way of helping them to get a ride with me
when I drove to work on Sunday morning.
The house I saw had belonged to a farmer. There were four or five rooms that were
almost completely empty. The room that was meant for me held only a desk and two chairs.
There wasn't even a telephone. It took a week until they organized a single telephone for
the minister's office. I had to put together all the fragments from which a new government
office would have to be built up, from scratch – the Ministry of Labor and Construction.
F rom there I drove to the Tel Aviv Museum, for the ceremony of the proclamation of
the state."
The Same Day, in... 129
things still unclear – or, at least, not clear with certainty: would the British indeed be
leaving? There was some doubt that accompanied us right up to the last moment. Would
there be a proclamation of Israel's independence? I was confident that there would be, but
still there were doubts. Would the Arab governments decide to fight, to invade? Would
we succeed in preventing the UN from accepting a resolution that would legally nullify
the existence of the State of Israel, through the establishment of some sort of international
trusteeship? And lastly – would we be able to bring our efforts to attain US government
recognition of Israel to a successful close?
A great question mark hovered over each of these questions, and the wonder of May
14 was that over the course of that day, all of these uncertainties were decisively resolved:
the British left; Israel's independence was declared; the Arabs invaded and attacked;
we prevented the adoption of the proposal for a UN trusteeship; and we obtained US
recognition of Israel."
Mordechai Bentov: I didn't even have a telephone
Mordechai Bentov, soon to become the Minister of Labor and Construction
in the Provisional Government, discovered a free hour on his schedule.
"At 3pm the meeting of the Provisional State Council ended, and I saw that I had a
'window', until 4, when the ceremony at the Tel Aviv Museum was supposed to begin. I
used that hour to pay a quick visit to HaKirya (government offices). Until then, this had
been the German colony of Sarona. Each government ministry was assigned one house. I
went over to see the house in which I would be establishing the new ministry.
They had obtained a few vehicles for us from the Jewish Agency, and I chose from
among them a big car with 6 places, calculating that there would be space for other
members of Mishmar HaEmek, too. It was a way of helping them to get a ride with me
when I drove to work on Sunday morning.
The house I saw had belonged to a farmer. There were four or five rooms that were
almost completely empty. The room that was meant for me held only a desk and two chairs.
There wasn't even a telephone. It took a week until they organized a single telephone for
the minister's office. I had to put together all the fragments from which a new government
office would have to be built up, from scratch – the Ministry of Labor and Construction.
F rom there I drove to the Tel Aviv Museum, for the ceremony of the proclamation of
the state."
The Same Day, in... 129
