See how it looked in 1948

State of ‘Israel’ Proclaimed; Britain Speeds Historic Exit

New Jewish State

By Francis Ofner | Special Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Tel Aviv, Palestine

Establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine to be known as “Israel” has been proclaimed by the Jewish National Council. This is the first Jewish state since the Roman invasions of nearly 2,000 years ago.

Operation of the new state – for which elaborate preparations have been made – starts as from termination of the British mandate at midnight, Palestine time, May 14.

The Jewish National Council will act as the provisional government of Israel. A constitution is to be drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first of October, 1948, and organs established in conformity with it will constitute the permanent machinery of the Israel Government.

First word of the proclamation came in an announcement over the newly established broadcasting station “Voice of Israel,” about eight hours prior to the midnight deadline.

The long and bitterly debated issue of Jewish immigration to Palestine was covered specifically in the radio announcement. “The state will be open to all Jewish immigrants,” it said.

Social Equality Pledged

Full social and political equality was promised to all citizens “without distinction of race, creed, or sex,” as were “full freedom of education and culture.” Arab inhabitants were called upon to adopt a peaceful course. They were offered full representation in state agencies and institutions.

Peace also was offered to neighboring Arab peoples.

The new state, said the radio announcement, will promote development of the country “for all its inhabitants,” and “will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice, and peace taught by the Hebrew prophets.”

Outlines of the administrative machinery of the new state have become quite clear, and have been widely reported during the formative stages. Probable domestic policies of Israel also are known in considerable degree.

Arabs Massed on Border

But beyond doubt the first and urgent task confronting Israel is a fight for its existence against the armed resistance of middle eastern Arab forces. Arab forces are mobilized on the Palestine frontiers, and the Arab League Secretariat has proclaimed a situation tantamount to a state of war against Palestine Jewry.

So far as broader international issues are concerned, Israel is expected to follow a policy of strict neutrality.

Yet everyone in the Holy Land is trying to answer the question whether this state will become an ally of Soviet Russia or of the western powers.

At present the political orientation of the Jewish state presents a strikingly paradoxical question.

A series of more or less unreciprocated sympathies appears to be involved. The Russians support the Jews, the Jews have many tangible and intangible ties with the Americans, and the American State Department appears to lean toward the Arab cause.

Two months ago, when the Jews found themselves in the most critical stage of their fight, arms from Russian-controlled Czechoslovakia helped to alter the military situation in the Holy Land in their favor.

Recently has come another step: Moscow has given strong propaganda support to foundation of a Jewish state.

The Jews of the Holy Land do not respond to Russian favors with equal sentiments. Nearly 90 per cent of Palestine’s Jewry support western-minded political parties.

Marshall Aid Exponent

The ruling Jewish Labor Party, Mapay, is a member of the Socialist International, which in western Europe became the most active exponent of the Marshall Plan. The key portfolios in the new Jewish government are to be held by members of this party.

Even in outward phenomena, America is nearer to Jews of the Holy Land than Russia. The English language became the second language of the new generation, excluding Yiddish, Russian, and German.

The fact that nearly 7,000,000 Jews are living in the United States and the British Empire also contributes to this Jewish orientation. Nine tenths of the money required for development projects of the future Jewish state have to come from these countries.

As elsewhere, here too one finds groups who turn their eyes eastward. They represent some 10 per cent of the Holy Land’s Jewry.

However, there is one basic fact which students of Palestine always have to remember. Geopolitically, this country, together with some of its neighbors, has a double character. It is a Mediterranean country and at the same time it is on the fringe of immense west Asian deserts. The first connects it with the West, the second with the East. Which of these characters will prevail depends not so much on the small and weak local populations as on the statesmanship of the decisive big powers.