Page 165 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

Following the all-Arab invasion immediately after the establishment of the state, Jewish Jerusalem was heavily bombarded by Arab Legion-Jordanian artillery
Two of the Institutions' employees, who are mentioned only by their last names, Lachover and Yudkes, were among the first to travel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on the "Burma Road", which had only recently been made suitable for vehicles. They appeared in the offices of the Histadrut and demanded an urgent discussion on the status of the institutions' employees in Jerusalem. The discussion took place on June 20, 1948, during the first truce declared by the UN. The two explained that the employees of the National Institutions Building are concerned, since the state mechanism being established in Tel Aviv "discounts them" and that they are highly concerned that they will find themselves unemployed shortly. In the decision made, it was determined that the state organs must give priority to Jerusalem while ensuring the position and status of the employees and civil servants in Jerusalem in general and in the National Institutions Building in particular, and to integrate them in the mechanism of the state being established.
In the following weeks, important developments were evident, which seemed to restore the National Institutions Building to its senior position. On 20 of Tamuz 5708 (June 27, 1948), a commemoration was held in the "Herzl Room" in the KKL-JNF Wing in the National Institutions Building, for the prophet of the State, Dr. Theodor Herzl, on the 44th anniversary of his death. This was the first time such a commemoration was held in an independent State of Israel, which Herzl
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