Page 197 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

thanked the Knesset members for the honor they bestowed upon him and promised to do his best for the country and its residents – "for our people and all the country's residents." At the end of the ceremony, several ministers and Knesset Members rose to the stage and shook the President's hand. Last to approach him was the Speaker Yosef Sprinzak, and the two embraced and even kissed. It was then that the swearing in ceremony ended. The President's flag was raised to top of a special mast, alongside the large flag of the State that regularly flew over the National Institutions Building. At the entrance to the hall, a stand of the Israel Post was placed and special envelopes were sold for the opening of the Constituent Assembly.
This ended the first round of the Knesset's meetings at the National Institutions Building in Jerusalem. The second round would come less than a year later, which was longer – about two and half months.
Time passed and we were at the latter half of 1949. The State of Israel grew up – already a year and half old. It's relationships with the UN knew ups and downs. From the peak of November 29, 1947, through collaborations, disputes and crises, such as that which arose when the UN mediator to the region, Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, was shot and killed on the Jewish side of Jerusalem by former Lehi members on September 17, 1948. After Israel won victories on the battlefield, the UN Security Council made efforts to block it. In May 1949 there is a brief Honeymoon period, and Israel is accepted as a UN member by a large majority. But within several months the tables are turned and the UN General Assembly adopts its previous proposal to establish a Corpus Seperatum for Jerusalem and its surrounding areas.
Ben-Gurion decides, in defiance of this resolution, to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Knesset, which has sat in Tel Aviv ever since it left Jerusalem in February 1949, granted him its full support. "Operation Jerusalem" begins – the transfer of the Knesset and the government ministries from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Foreign Minister Moshe Sharet resigns, since he does not believe in such blatant defiance of the UN. But Ben-Gurion does not accept his resignation.
An urgent question now arises: How and where to house the government ministries, the government itself and the Knesset in Jerusalem, which only recently recovered from a siege, bombardments and terrible war? As for the Knesset, the old solution is presented from the start – The National Institutions Building.
As of mid-December 1949, it seems that the entire country was only dealing with one issue – the transfer of the state institutions to Jerusalem. The Knesset enjoyed the greatest attention. An interesting news item appeared in the media on December 19: The possibility that the government would purchase the house in Rehavia from the Jewish Agency and turn it into the "Government House." According to this proposal, the government would perform "swaps" with the Jewish Agency and the other Zionist institutions: It would receive the large building in Rehavia from them and would purchase and lease for them offices in Tel Aviv as necessary.
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