Page 89 - big friday
P. 89
H e arrives at his mother's home, the modest house on Rothschild Boulevard.
The crowd applauds, demanding that he show himself.
H e appears, accompanied by his mother, on the balcony and says a few words, concluding
with, "We have embarked on the mitzvah [commandment], and we shall finish it."
"Yabiba! Yabiba!" comes a call in Arabic.
"Yabiba Am Yisrael!" (Long live the nation of Israel!) An old man, of Middle Eastern origin,
bursts into song in Arabic, which is his mother tongue. This is perhaps the only Arabic call
amidst the Jewish celebrations.
D avar, May 16, 1948
Long Friday
I n 1963, Israel celebrated its 15th birthday, and considered itself old
enough to reflect on its first day. Journalist Rimona Dinur gathered
details and data about that historic Friday. Her report looks somewhat
naïve from a perspective of more than 50 years on.
R imona Dinur
It seems that the only grim and angry face to be seen that day was that of Sir Alan
Cunningham, the last High Commissioner in Palestine. And it may be that had it not
been for that highly aggrieved face, which accompanied the "English" salutes, the review
of the honor guards, and the official words of parting, the Jewish residents of the country
would have had no reason to go about on that day with their own faces bright and happy,
since those brief ceremonies – whether they brightened the faces of one side or darkened
the faces of the other – symbolized a modest fact: the British Mandate over the Palestine
had ended.
At 8am precisely, on that warm Friday morning, May 14, 1948, Sir Alan Cunningham
exited the gate of Government House in Jerusalem, with confident, measured steps. These
were his first steps heading out. Thus began the densest, longest, most jam-packed day
that the residents of the country had perhaps ever known. These were the final hours of
the birth-pangs of the State of Israel.
T heairofthatdaywassoakedwithhistory.Everyoneknewandfeltthathewas"breathing"
history. Tens of thousands had not slept that night. Many undertook a "pilgrimage" to the
Jewish city of Tel Aviv, to be present there on the day of the declaration. "It has not yet
A State is Born 87
The crowd applauds, demanding that he show himself.
H e appears, accompanied by his mother, on the balcony and says a few words, concluding
with, "We have embarked on the mitzvah [commandment], and we shall finish it."
"Yabiba! Yabiba!" comes a call in Arabic.
"Yabiba Am Yisrael!" (Long live the nation of Israel!) An old man, of Middle Eastern origin,
bursts into song in Arabic, which is his mother tongue. This is perhaps the only Arabic call
amidst the Jewish celebrations.
D avar, May 16, 1948
Long Friday
I n 1963, Israel celebrated its 15th birthday, and considered itself old
enough to reflect on its first day. Journalist Rimona Dinur gathered
details and data about that historic Friday. Her report looks somewhat
naïve from a perspective of more than 50 years on.
R imona Dinur
It seems that the only grim and angry face to be seen that day was that of Sir Alan
Cunningham, the last High Commissioner in Palestine. And it may be that had it not
been for that highly aggrieved face, which accompanied the "English" salutes, the review
of the honor guards, and the official words of parting, the Jewish residents of the country
would have had no reason to go about on that day with their own faces bright and happy,
since those brief ceremonies – whether they brightened the faces of one side or darkened
the faces of the other – symbolized a modest fact: the British Mandate over the Palestine
had ended.
At 8am precisely, on that warm Friday morning, May 14, 1948, Sir Alan Cunningham
exited the gate of Government House in Jerusalem, with confident, measured steps. These
were his first steps heading out. Thus began the densest, longest, most jam-packed day
that the residents of the country had perhaps ever known. These were the final hours of
the birth-pangs of the State of Israel.
T heairofthatdaywassoakedwithhistory.Everyoneknewandfeltthathewas"breathing"
history. Tens of thousands had not slept that night. Many undertook a "pilgrimage" to the
Jewish city of Tel Aviv, to be present there on the day of the declaration. "It has not yet
A State is Born 87
