Page 147 - big friday
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the US were making efforts to halt
the battles and put a ceasefire in place.
The administration in Washington
pressured the Jewish side to agree to
a three-month truce, and at the same
time to postpone the declaration of
the state. Amongst the Zionist Jewish
leadership, both in Eretz Yisrael and in
the US, opinions were divided: should
the American proposal be accepted,
or should the establishment of the
state be declared immediately upon
the expiration of the British Mandate?
Even amongst Mapai, the dominant
party at the time, headed by Ben-
Gurion - the Prime Minister designate
- both positions were represented.
On Wednesday, May 12, the party's
Central Committee met in Tel Aviv
to establish its stance on this fateful
question: whether to declare a state, or
to agree to the ceasefire, which would
mean postponing the declaration.
This was already the second session of the Central Committee, which had commenced its
discussions the previous day.
According to oral reports, there were members of the Committee, including some
senior personnel, who opposed declaring the state and wanted to accept the American
proposal. However, it is difficult to trace the discussion, since – in contrast to the accepted
practice in Mapai institutions, where debates were punctiliously recorded by stenographers
and copied into protocols - this particular protocol was lost or concealed; only parts of
it remain. In his study of the Mapai Party on the eve of the establishment of the state,
published in 1989, historian Meir Avizohar is forced to declare: "It is most surprising
that in the protocol that has been preserved, we find not a single word of opposition.
This [situation] has led to rumors that someone, from among either the opposition or the
supporters [of declaration of the state], took care that such views would disappear." This
suggests the possibility that, after the fact, the objectors, including such senior individuals
as the designated Minister of Finance, Eliezer Kaplan; Pinchas Lubianiker (Lavon), and
Yosef Sprinzak (later the first Speaker of the Knesset), were uncomfortable with their
previous opposition to the establishment of the state, and it is possible that it was their
associates who caused the documents to "disappear".
A key figure in this drama was Moshe Shertok (Sharett), Head of the Political
Before the Declaration 145
the battles and put a ceasefire in place.
The administration in Washington
pressured the Jewish side to agree to
a three-month truce, and at the same
time to postpone the declaration of
the state. Amongst the Zionist Jewish
leadership, both in Eretz Yisrael and in
the US, opinions were divided: should
the American proposal be accepted,
or should the establishment of the
state be declared immediately upon
the expiration of the British Mandate?
Even amongst Mapai, the dominant
party at the time, headed by Ben-
Gurion - the Prime Minister designate
- both positions were represented.
On Wednesday, May 12, the party's
Central Committee met in Tel Aviv
to establish its stance on this fateful
question: whether to declare a state, or
to agree to the ceasefire, which would
mean postponing the declaration.
This was already the second session of the Central Committee, which had commenced its
discussions the previous day.
According to oral reports, there were members of the Committee, including some
senior personnel, who opposed declaring the state and wanted to accept the American
proposal. However, it is difficult to trace the discussion, since – in contrast to the accepted
practice in Mapai institutions, where debates were punctiliously recorded by stenographers
and copied into protocols - this particular protocol was lost or concealed; only parts of
it remain. In his study of the Mapai Party on the eve of the establishment of the state,
published in 1989, historian Meir Avizohar is forced to declare: "It is most surprising
that in the protocol that has been preserved, we find not a single word of opposition.
This [situation] has led to rumors that someone, from among either the opposition or the
supporters [of declaration of the state], took care that such views would disappear." This
suggests the possibility that, after the fact, the objectors, including such senior individuals
as the designated Minister of Finance, Eliezer Kaplan; Pinchas Lubianiker (Lavon), and
Yosef Sprinzak (later the first Speaker of the Knesset), were uncomfortable with their
previous opposition to the establishment of the state, and it is possible that it was their
associates who caused the documents to "disappear".
A key figure in this drama was Moshe Shertok (Sharett), Head of the Political
Before the Declaration 145
