Page 188 - big friday
P. 188
O n Friday, a few hours before the proclamation of independence, the new Police
Commissioner of the newly-established state, Yehezkel Saharov, met with journalists and
offered some preliminary details about the organization of the Jewish Police Force, as
the Israel Police was known at the time. Inter alia, he said: "We have received a difficult
inheritance from a colonial police force. The relationship between the policeman and the
public was not a normal one. The policeman's role is not to catch the criminal, but rather
to prevent the criminal from carrying out the crime. The Hebrew Police Force must be
built up on a modern European basis."
Restrained joy
In Tel Aviv, as in other towns and rural communities, the joy over independence was
expressed in restrained fashion. In later publications the joy of November 29 became
muddled with the weekend of the establishment of the state. But while many of the
residents of Tel Aviv did indeed adorn their homes with flags, there was no dancing in the
streets and no free drinks were distributed, as had been the case on the night of the UN
resolution.
A reporter for Al HaMishmar, E. Kolb (later the director of Tel Aviv Museum), describes
most eloquently the festive but restrained atmosphere in the streets of Tel Aviv at
midnight, as the British Mandate came to an end: "People wished each other 'mazal tov',
but there was no singing that night in Tel Aviv. The real joy would wait for the final victory.
"In the middle of the night, our defenders stood at their posts and their positions,
ready for any surprise – from the Galilee down to the very tip of the Negev. The citizens'
appreciation that night was directed first and foremost towards those who would remain
awake at night – and to those who were already at their eternal rest, following the valiant
battle for Jewish honor and the Jewish state."
186 The Friday That Changed Destiny
Commissioner of the newly-established state, Yehezkel Saharov, met with journalists and
offered some preliminary details about the organization of the Jewish Police Force, as
the Israel Police was known at the time. Inter alia, he said: "We have received a difficult
inheritance from a colonial police force. The relationship between the policeman and the
public was not a normal one. The policeman's role is not to catch the criminal, but rather
to prevent the criminal from carrying out the crime. The Hebrew Police Force must be
built up on a modern European basis."
Restrained joy
In Tel Aviv, as in other towns and rural communities, the joy over independence was
expressed in restrained fashion. In later publications the joy of November 29 became
muddled with the weekend of the establishment of the state. But while many of the
residents of Tel Aviv did indeed adorn their homes with flags, there was no dancing in the
streets and no free drinks were distributed, as had been the case on the night of the UN
resolution.
A reporter for Al HaMishmar, E. Kolb (later the director of Tel Aviv Museum), describes
most eloquently the festive but restrained atmosphere in the streets of Tel Aviv at
midnight, as the British Mandate came to an end: "People wished each other 'mazal tov',
but there was no singing that night in Tel Aviv. The real joy would wait for the final victory.
"In the middle of the night, our defenders stood at their posts and their positions,
ready for any surprise – from the Galilee down to the very tip of the Negev. The citizens'
appreciation that night was directed first and foremost towards those who would remain
awake at night – and to those who were already at their eternal rest, following the valiant
battle for Jewish honor and the Jewish state."
186 The Friday That Changed Destiny
