This Day - May 15th 1948

The original article in the New York Times read: "In one of the most hopeful periods of their troubled history the Jewish people here gave sigh of relief and took a new hold on life.,

It started on Friday afternoon 14-May-1948, in Tel Aviv, just before the Jewish Shabat, Ben Gurion gathered the Moezet Haam to witness and vote, against all his advisers' recommendations, on establishment of the new State of Israel.

Jerusalem was viewed a centerpiece of the new country and it was under a siege. The whole country was under a threat of invasion (should a new state will be declared), from the Arab countries, including non neighbors like Iraq.

My uncle and many others RIP died defending Jerusalem and the new state. The number of Israelies died in the following war was 1% of the total population. Ben Gurion later (1970's) said that he had feared many more casualties on the Israeli side, while he was speaking and proudly declaring the independence of the new country. Thus, 2000 years of survival, dreams and prayers had come to a crucial moment of "now or never".

In the picture below is a view of the no-man's land area dividing West and East Jerusalem, up until 1967. The photo taken during 1960's shows on the left the public housing the Israeli government built for new immigrants in Israel, while in the background one can see the Citadel of David on the  Jordanian side.

Here is a page from Amos Oz excellent book A Tale of Love and Darkness, giving an eyewitness account of the excitement a few months before the 14-May-1948 Independence Declaration:

Just Before the 67th Independence Day

In the photo the British soldiers are showing off their weapons, in Jerusalem, around 1930.

Some 67 years ago, the British left Palestine and Ben Gurion had declared the independent State of Israel. Today almost 8.5m people live in Israel, and the British legacy is a very distant memory.

So the British built the railroad, going on the left side still today, the police force and the (red color) post boxes. In Jerusalem, stories abound about the British army entering the city in 1917, at the Jaffa Gate, on foot. Starving and war weary residents greeted the victorious army. My grandpa had said that he saw then a British soldier feeding his horse with a perfect cake.