Page 21 - big friday

send about 25 jeeps to the Negev. The machine guns we'll be receiving are earmarked
for the Negev.

‫‏‬At 11:00 Katriel [Katz] announces that Gush Etzion has surrendered. The women have
been sent to Jerusalem (with the help of the army?), the men have been taken captive.

‫‏‬Yisrael announces that a destroyer patrol intercepted a ship carrying arms – the ship
was then led north. Towards evening I heard that at midnight it will be towed into
Haifa port.

A‫ ‏‬t 1pm – the National Council. We approved the wording of the Declaration of
Independence. The declaration of independence took place at 4pm. There is happiness
and profound rejoicing in the Land of Israel – and once again I am a mourner among the
celebrants, as on the 29th of November.

‫[‏‬The same evening Ben-Gurion starts a new notebook of his diary, with the
following words:]

Eleven historical words inscribed in Ben-Gurion’s diary on
the afternoon of May 14th

M‫ ‏‬ay 14, 1948, Friday, 5th Iyar, 5708.
A‫ ‏‬t 4pm Jewish independence was declared and the state was founded. Its fate lies in the

hands of the defense forces.

W‫ ‏‬ar Diary, 5708-5709, eds: Gershon Rivlin and Elhanan Oren.
Published by the Ministry of Defense, 1982, pp. 414-416.

A State is Born‫ ‏‬19