Page 53 - big friday
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. Meir Grabovsky (Argov): "My hands shook as I signed"
A s I approached to sign the Scroll, my hands trembled so hard that it was difficult to
control," recalls Meir Argov (then – Grabovsky). A sense of exaltation filled his heart.
As a member of the People's Council, prior to the historic session at the museum he
had participated in a meeting where the text of the declaration had undergone a final
polishing.
Immediately after the signing, he went out to look for "news".
"I knew that the invasion was about to begin, and I had even been warned that Tel
Aviv would be bombed. I worked throughout that night. I was in charge of post,
railway and port affairs. I went in and out of our offices, which were spread all over
the city.
At 6am I was already at the Tel Aviv port, to welcome two ships of ma'pilim [illegal
Jewish immigrants, not included in the British quotas set in the White Paper], from
the camps in Cyprus – the first [now legal] immigrants to arrive in the state. At
the port we were informed that Gush Etzion had fallen, and we believed that all its
inhabitants had been killed. Soon afterwards, the assault on Tel Aviv commenced.
At that moment, with two immigrant ships in front of me and the echoes of the
bombardment of the city behind me, I asked myself the great question: Which would
prevail – the wave of immigration, or the wave of bombardment
8. Y itzhak Gruenbaum: " I retracted my resignation"
"To my great sorrow, I did not participate in the historic session in which the
establishment of the Jewish state was declared over part of the Land of Israel," says Mr.
Yitzhak Gruenbaum, who was Minister of the Interior in the provisional government.
"At the time I was in Jerusalem, which was already under siege, and the only contact
between it and Tel Aviv was via planes. They would send planes from Tel Aviv on
Hagana business. That was how they brought Rabbi Maimon to Tel Aviv before the
historic session. Unfortunately no plane was sent to bring me to that session, even
though when I heard that in Tel Aviv some members of the Jewish Agency and of the
Jewish National Council had raised doubts as to whether the state should be declared,
I sent a telegram (I had resigned from the Jewish Agency executive), notifying that I
retracted my resignation, in order to participate in the vote and join those in favor of
the decision to declare the state.
I added my signature to the historic document when I came to Tel Aviv during the
first lull in the fighting, as Minister of the Interior in the Provisional Government."
M r. Gruenbaum says that he was chosen as a signatory on the declaration in his
capacity as a member of the Jewish Agency executive, but since he was in Jerusalem,
he did not participate in any of the negotiations preceding the declaration.
A State is Born 51
A s I approached to sign the Scroll, my hands trembled so hard that it was difficult to
control," recalls Meir Argov (then – Grabovsky). A sense of exaltation filled his heart.
As a member of the People's Council, prior to the historic session at the museum he
had participated in a meeting where the text of the declaration had undergone a final
polishing.
Immediately after the signing, he went out to look for "news".
"I knew that the invasion was about to begin, and I had even been warned that Tel
Aviv would be bombed. I worked throughout that night. I was in charge of post,
railway and port affairs. I went in and out of our offices, which were spread all over
the city.
At 6am I was already at the Tel Aviv port, to welcome two ships of ma'pilim [illegal
Jewish immigrants, not included in the British quotas set in the White Paper], from
the camps in Cyprus – the first [now legal] immigrants to arrive in the state. At
the port we were informed that Gush Etzion had fallen, and we believed that all its
inhabitants had been killed. Soon afterwards, the assault on Tel Aviv commenced.
At that moment, with two immigrant ships in front of me and the echoes of the
bombardment of the city behind me, I asked myself the great question: Which would
prevail – the wave of immigration, or the wave of bombardment
8. Y itzhak Gruenbaum: " I retracted my resignation"
"To my great sorrow, I did not participate in the historic session in which the
establishment of the Jewish state was declared over part of the Land of Israel," says Mr.
Yitzhak Gruenbaum, who was Minister of the Interior in the provisional government.
"At the time I was in Jerusalem, which was already under siege, and the only contact
between it and Tel Aviv was via planes. They would send planes from Tel Aviv on
Hagana business. That was how they brought Rabbi Maimon to Tel Aviv before the
historic session. Unfortunately no plane was sent to bring me to that session, even
though when I heard that in Tel Aviv some members of the Jewish Agency and of the
Jewish National Council had raised doubts as to whether the state should be declared,
I sent a telegram (I had resigned from the Jewish Agency executive), notifying that I
retracted my resignation, in order to participate in the vote and join those in favor of
the decision to declare the state.
I added my signature to the historic document when I came to Tel Aviv during the
first lull in the fighting, as Minister of the Interior in the Provisional Government."
M r. Gruenbaum says that he was chosen as a signatory on the declaration in his
capacity as a member of the Jewish Agency executive, but since he was in Jerusalem,
he did not participate in any of the negotiations preceding the declaration.
A State is Born 51
