Chapter VIII: A NATION IS BORN
- one Palestine complete
In February 1947, the British government had decided to turn the mandate of Palestine over to the United Nations. The U.N. set up a special commission and finally came to a decision that Palestine should be partitioned.
On May 12th, 1948, the United Nations proposed to take over Palestine when the British left and demanded that the Jews would not declare statehood until an agreement had been worked out between them and the Palestinian Arabs.
Ben-Gurion, "the visionary", urged his colleagues to reject the American plan and proposed instead an immediate declaration of statehood.
This Declaration of Independence which was written in May 1948, states that the State of Israel 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.
Five members of the ten man council feared that the moment statehood was declared, the Arab nations would attack and win.
The operation officers of the Haganah, headed by Yigael Yadin, added that the Haganah had a high level, both of training and determination, which could offset the overwhelming numbers of soldiers and superior arms and equipment of the Arabs.
Ben-Gurion then mentioned that new arms and supplies were arriving shortly from Europe.
The council voted once more, and decided on the Declaration of Independence. They still discussed what the new state should be called - Zion, Ziona, Judaea or Herzliya.
The council finally decided on the name, Israel.
On May 14th, 1948 at 5 pm, Ben-Gurion presided over the signing of Israel's Declaration of Independence in Tel-Aviv.
Two thousand years of prayers and spiritual longings had been fulfilled!
Joshua and I ran out into the streets and joined friends and strangers dancing the horah and singing on Dizengoff Street.
Strangers hugged, kissed and cried - we were all in a frenzy of emotions.
But everywhere in the country the Haganah was on the alert.
News of the massacre of the Jews in the Etzion Block cast a grim pall! As did the fact that 1,200 Jews had already been killed since the U.N. partition resolution, less than six months earlier.
Immediately after Independence was declared, five Arab armies crossed the borders into the former mandate, Palestine.
Ben-Gurion forged immediately the Haganah, Palmach and Irgun into a single Jewish army - The Israel Defense Forces, known as the I.D.F.
On the morning of May 14th, we were awoken by sirens - an Egyptian bombing raid in Tel-Aviv killed 100 Jews.
We stood shattered and frightened - the sorrow followed too soon after our joy.
In the days ahead, Egyptian troops overran two Jewish settlements south of Gaza and captured Yad Mordechai, and advanced to within 25 miles of Tel-Aviv. The Arab Legion, the best trained of the lot, cut the road from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem and occupied the former police fort, at Latrun.
Three attempts were made by the Israelis to reopen it, but each attack was unsuccessful.
In besieged Jerusalem, the battle for the Jewish quarters of the old city lasted two weeks. On May 28th, it surrendered to the Arab Legion.
Among its defenders was a young English girl of 21 years - who was killed. A letter was found after her death, written to her parents:
We had a difficult fight, I tasted hell, but it has been worthwhile because I am convinced in the end we will see a Jewish state. I have lived my life fully, and very sweet, it has been to be in our land!
The mood in the country was somber and grim. Again we faced the threat of total annihilation. I felt trapped in our own country, short of a miracle how could we be saved?
By now, Joshua had been called up to the army and waited every day to join his battalion. I was due to join part-time, in order to work in the military offices.
It has always been said that turbulent times bring about strong leaders. Well, it certainly applied to those dark, difficult days, when a young nation was fighting for its survival.
From the first days of independence, volunteer fighters reached Israel from abroad. One of them was an American Colonel, David Marcus, a graduate of West Point, who parachuted into Normandy and had seen Dachau a few days after its liberation.
Marcus fought in Latrun, and later opened a by-pass road through the hills to besieged Jerusalem. The road was called, "Burma Road."
He would fly the small planes we had for crop-dusting and flying clubs, to deliver mail and medicine to cut-off besieged settlements and kibbutzim.
He also flew the first Israeli "Messerschmitt," delivered from Germany May 28th, 1948. He was our pride and joy and shaped the fledging Israeli Air Force of one!
On June 11 th, 1948, Colonel Marcus left his tent after dark, wrapped in a white sheet. When challenged by a sentry to give the night password, Marcus hesitated for whatever reason. Perhaps he was too sleepy and his Hebrew not good enough; the guards mistook him for an Arab and shot him dead.
He was buried with full honours at West Point, and later portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the film, "Cast a Giant Shadow."
The young nation mourned its heroes - tragedy did strike. We were all shaken by this needless loss!
