Racing Against History by Rick Richman

Author:Rick Richman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594039751
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 2017-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

President Truman and President Weizmann at the White House, May 25, 1948

We can say with some certainty, however, that at a critical point in history, there was no other Zionist figure who could have had the impact that Chaim Weizmann did.

BEN-GURION

While Weizmann was working in the United States to generate American support for a Jewish state, the situation in Palestine was also fraught with uncertainty.

On May 11, 1948—four days before the British were to leave—Ben-Gurion’s own party, the Mapai (the Workers’ Party of the Land of Israel), was deeply divided. Its leaders had increasing doubts about declaring independence; several were unalterably opposed to doing so. Of the four Mapai representatives in the provisional government, only Ben-Gurion actively supported a declaration. The others—knowing a Jewish state would be attacked from all sides, and having been warned by the State Department that a declaration would be dangerous—counseled caution. In any event, it was clear that no arms or other military assistance would be forthcoming from the United States government.36

The debate within Ben-Gurion’s party extended, inconclusively, far into that night.37 The next day, May 12, the Arab Legion launched a large-scale attack on a bloc of Jewish settlements near Jerusalem.38 Ben-Gurion spent the day in an eleven-hour meeting, deliberating how to proceed. Jewish military commanders warned him that the Arabs held a considerable military advantage, with heavy weapons exceeding those then available to Jewish forces. The group split 6–4 on statehood. That night, the Mapai Central Committee met for a third time, and finally decided to declare a state.

On May 13, the provisional government held its final meeting to draft a Declaration, to be released on Friday, May 14, before the Sabbath began. On the evening of May 13, Ben-Gurion rewrote the draft, substituting more powerful language. The 1,000-word Declaration read in part:

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