Page 28 - big friday
P. 28
The Big Day
The same day – 5th Iyar, May 14 – as viewed by two historians who
researched Ben-Gurion and the tempestuous events.
M eir Avizohar and Avi Bareli
At 8am the last British High Commissioner, Sir Alan Cunningham, left in a final convoy
that drove from Government House in Jerusalem to the airport in Kalandia. From there
he took off with his escorts in a plane headed to Haifa, where, in a military ceremony, he
boarded a Royal Navy ship. The ship remained anchored near the coast until midnight,
when the Mandate was due to end.
The other Mandatory officials followed the High Commissioner out of Jerusalem, along
with the commanders of the British forces who had remained, until then, in the capital.
They left in two convoys: one headed southward, to Egypt; the other northward – to the
Haifa port. The same morning a British unit left Jaffa. Foreign rule had ended.
In Jerusalem, the Etzioni Brigade launched Operation Pitchfork, its name evoking the
three prongs pursued by the Jewish forces: in the center – towards the Russian Compound
and the Jaffa Gate; in the south – towards the Allenby Camp and the Commissioner's
Palace; in the north – towards Sheikh Jarrah and the police training school, on the way to
Mount Scopus. Not all of the objectives were achieved on that day.
A fierce battle was being taking place on the road to besieged Jerusalem. In the Efraim
hills, to the north, there were operations to clear the road from Zichron Yaakov to
Yokne'am. Further north, Carmeli Brigade forces bypassed Acre to seize the road leading
to Nahariya and the western Galilee communities.
W hile these and other battles were going on, the People’s Council was summoned
at 1:30pm in Tel Aviv, to discuss the wording of the Declaration of Independence and
to establish the government and law order. Eleven of the thirty-seven members of the
Council were absent: they were Jerusalemites, under siege and unable to reach Tel Aviv.
D avid Ben-Gurion started off by saying, "My friends, today is a day of promise and risk
– great promise, and grave risks, the likes of which we have not seen for generations: a.
the Mandate is over, the foreign regime is gone, and we must establish Jewish rule; b. war
has been waged against us. It is possible that the war that has been waged against us will
intensify through an invasion by regular Arab armies."
Ben-Gurion went on to read the wording of the declaration. The participants in the
26 The Friday That Changed Destiny
The same day – 5th Iyar, May 14 – as viewed by two historians who
researched Ben-Gurion and the tempestuous events.
M eir Avizohar and Avi Bareli
At 8am the last British High Commissioner, Sir Alan Cunningham, left in a final convoy
that drove from Government House in Jerusalem to the airport in Kalandia. From there
he took off with his escorts in a plane headed to Haifa, where, in a military ceremony, he
boarded a Royal Navy ship. The ship remained anchored near the coast until midnight,
when the Mandate was due to end.
The other Mandatory officials followed the High Commissioner out of Jerusalem, along
with the commanders of the British forces who had remained, until then, in the capital.
They left in two convoys: one headed southward, to Egypt; the other northward – to the
Haifa port. The same morning a British unit left Jaffa. Foreign rule had ended.
In Jerusalem, the Etzioni Brigade launched Operation Pitchfork, its name evoking the
three prongs pursued by the Jewish forces: in the center – towards the Russian Compound
and the Jaffa Gate; in the south – towards the Allenby Camp and the Commissioner's
Palace; in the north – towards Sheikh Jarrah and the police training school, on the way to
Mount Scopus. Not all of the objectives were achieved on that day.
A fierce battle was being taking place on the road to besieged Jerusalem. In the Efraim
hills, to the north, there were operations to clear the road from Zichron Yaakov to
Yokne'am. Further north, Carmeli Brigade forces bypassed Acre to seize the road leading
to Nahariya and the western Galilee communities.
W hile these and other battles were going on, the People’s Council was summoned
at 1:30pm in Tel Aviv, to discuss the wording of the Declaration of Independence and
to establish the government and law order. Eleven of the thirty-seven members of the
Council were absent: they were Jerusalemites, under siege and unable to reach Tel Aviv.
D avid Ben-Gurion started off by saying, "My friends, today is a day of promise and risk
– great promise, and grave risks, the likes of which we have not seen for generations: a.
the Mandate is over, the foreign regime is gone, and we must establish Jewish rule; b. war
has been waged against us. It is possible that the war that has been waged against us will
intensify through an invasion by regular Arab armies."
Ben-Gurion went on to read the wording of the declaration. The participants in the
26 The Friday That Changed Destiny
