Posted on 08/13/2010 12:59:36 PM PDT by Ari Bussel
Israel’s Declaration of Independence by Ari Bussel
It was Friday, and the next day the British forces were due to leave Israel. An attack by the Arab countries was imminent. The United States has urged against any action, “Don’t proclaim the State – you could be destroyed.” David Ben Gurion decided otherwise.
Invitations were sent, asking the dignitaries to arrive wearing dark dress clothes, at exactly 3:30 P.M. at Meir Dizingoff’s home. The Dizignoff’s home was then a museum bequeathed as a present to the City he helped create.
Paintings of Jewish motifs were brought in, a stage erected and 37 chairs placed for the dignitaries.
The event was supposed to be secret, but as anything else – then or now – the secret was out.
The house was filled to capacity, people crowded the streets and everyone else was glued to the few available radios.
It was an historic moment.
The only ones absent were the representatives of the National Council in besieged Jerusalem. They sent a telegraph they were unable to join. It was for this reason that the declaration of independence ceremony, just hours before the Brits were to leave and the just-re-born Israel was to be attacked by her neighbors, took place in Tel Aviv not in Israel’s eternal capital Jerusalem.
People gathered at 3:30 P.M. and took their seats. Golda Meir sat just across the table from where David Ben Gurion was to make the historic announcement.
At precisely 4 P.M. David Ben Gurion banged the table three times with his gavel. He was about to read the final sentences of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Before he did, someone in attendance stood and started singing the Tikva, the Hope, a song sang so many times but not yet declared Israel’s national anthem.
Noting the enormity of the moment, everyone joined. As the singing ended, David Ben Gurion read from the papers in his hand:
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
* Published in the Official Gazette, No. 1 of the 5th, Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).
As David Ben Gurion finished, hearts elated, throats choked and tears in their eyes, those gathered recited the prayer “Blessed are Thou, our God, Lord of the Universe, that made us, kept us and enabled us to arrive to the present.”
The blessing was followed by the orchestra playing Hatikva to close the ceremony.
It only took 32 minutes to change the face of the world once again.
It was Friday afternoon, May 14, 1948.
Now on Friday afternoon, August 13, 2010, the effects of that monumental event have not lessened. They are as strong as ever.
We were seated in the very same seats, as a good friend and I attempted to explore the many faces of Tel Aviv. The Independence Museum happened to be open (most other museums are closed on Friday). Also there were some one hundred young men and women from across the United States. One humbly said: We are “Christians United for Israel.” He needed say no more.
CUFI, Pastor Hagee’s organization, with its steadfast support of Israel and Nights to Honor Israel across the great American continent, is one of Israel staunchest supporters.
As we heard the voices from sixty-two years before, we all stood as the Tikva was sang. The enormity of the moment has not faded.
Israel’s neighbors and enemies are poised to invade her once again. The hatred against Jews has pinnacled to heights unseen since before World War II, now impregnated with the leavening agent of delegitimization. The Jewish people themselves are in denial and refuse to see or acknowledge the imminent danger.
Many Israelis have not read the words of their Declaration of Independence. Take the time to do so now, “By virtue of our natural and historic right ….” As the Shabbat is about to be received, remember this day not so long ago, and look forward to and pray for the future, here in Eretz (the Land of) Israel.
### The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.
The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover.
This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.
© “Postcards from Israel—Postcards from America,” August, 2010 Contact: aribussel@gmail.com
I can hardly wait and PRAY this IS the times spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39.
Lord, come quickly !!
Amen !!
“The United States has urged against any action, “Don’t proclaim the State – you could be destroyed.”
As usual with regard to the Middle East, the State Dept.
was wrong...
Of course, this was back when Israel actually had some pro Israel leadership!!
The biggest mistake Israel made in the wake of the 1967 War was to NOT expel all non-Israelis from their homeland, re-take ALL the land God Promised Abraham in Genesis, and implode the Mosque desecrating the land on the Holy Temple. The leaders of Israel at that time were secularists, and didn't realize the Biblical implications of NOT driving the Caananite heathens from the land.
Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, wrote that in a conversation about "the Arab problem" in 1956, Ben-Gurion stated: "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country ... There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance. So it is simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army."
It was Friday, and the next day the British forces were due to leave Israel. An attack by the Arab countries was imminent. The United States has urged against any action, "Don't proclaim the State -- you could be destroyed." David Ben Gurion decided otherwise. Invitations were sent, asking the dignitaries to arrive wearing dark dress clothes, at exactly 3:30 P.M. at Meir Dizingoff's home.Thanks Ari Bussel.
“the Brits were to leave and the just-re-born Israel was to be attacked by her neighbors”
Israel’s not re-born yet, but she will be. When her Messiah appears in the sky and destroys the armies surrounding her, she will “look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son” and “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” (Zechariah 12:10 & 13:1) and then Israel will be re-born.
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