Page 138 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

A reporter from "HaBoker" Newspaper added details: "Most of the searches were conducted in the Aliya Department and the Political Department. The Hebrew specialists (non-Jews) of the police and military conducted this search." The reporter could also tell that the searchers displayed special diligence when scanning through the collections of the Central Zionist Archive, located in the building's basement. The search there was meticulous, one file at a time. The entire great archive of the founder of Zionism, Dr. Theodor Herzl, was placed in crates and taken from there. According to the reporter, the Zionist Archive was completely "cleaned out" of everything that was in it.
The journalistic reports of that day reveal that the searches on Saturday, June 29, were only conducted in the offices of the Jewish Agency. For now, the searchers had not reached the offices of the Jewish National Council, KKL-JNF and Keren Hayesod. Everything that was taken, was sent to the headquarters of the CID in Jerusalem and stored there in six rooms that had been cleared out specifically for this purpose. And another interesting detail: When the military forces arrived before dawn of that day, they arrested the three guards that guarded the building, disarmed them and released them.
Several hours later, the High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham published a special announcement that also addressed the seizure of the Jewish Agency Building. The Commissioner initially explained that due to increased Jewish violence against the British forces, the government was required to exercise force in various arenas: "In light of the Jew's harsh provocation, the means that the government has taken were of a local nature and were carried out with a large degree of tolerance and forbearance," the Commissioner noted. He warned that the government was firm in its position to uproot the terrorism and violence wherever it may be. As part of these actions, it was necessary to seize – temporarily, he emphasized – the buildings of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, in order to verify the proof already in the government's possession which indicates that the Agency plays a key role in managing and organizing the Jewish terrorist activities. However, he added, "currently, the government has no plans to outlaw or shut down the Jewish Agency." The Commissioner concluded his announcement in the hopes that common sense, which most residents of the Land of Israel possess, will overcome the violence, in order to allow the situation to return to what it was as quickly as possible.
During the night, the curfew was removed from most of Jerusalem's neighborhoods, including Rehavia, and most of the Jews of the city and the residents of the neighborhood had come as close as they could to the National Institutions Building in order to discover what had been done in it after its "capture." The British however, had allowed no one to come within a reasonable distance of the building. British soldiers and policemen were seen the entire time entering and exiting it. A powerful projector was directed at the square in front of the building.
136