band of the clock came aroand tea point that marked a dee is ion in history) Six o'clock _!&stern !!.tandard time - ja midnight in Jerusalem. At that mo ■ ent, 7 ~ the BritishAm&ndate legally expired· - &nd British ~igh Coa■ issioner Sir Alan Cunningha■ was on his way home aboard a cruiaer, officially terainating British control. At tnat ■■ ea■e ■oment, ~he Jewish 1tate be1 a ' . for ■ al existence - after having been proclaiaed _,,,,,, Athit afternoon) At that i■ hour likewise ■artlial law went into effect in Egpt, Iing F&rouk naaiag a military governor. Thi ti last ila i te11. ■artial law in lgjpt. point• to the world 1uapenae - ~~~. to see what the P -~•ill do. 1, a8 ~•erybody waita Puah into Paleatine they will. But what are their ulti ■ ate plana? ,~l~~ Will they be content with merely occupyingAArab areaa of the Holy Land? Or will they invade Jewiab •- eection""s __ thereby bringing about i ■■ ediate war with the Ne• Jewish st~tA?) illD - 2 At th i s hour, we don't know. It is only clear that the aiai military power of the Arab League is intervening. The dispatch from Cairo tells ua that thirty thousand trained troops fro ■ the · Arab state ■ are on three frontiers of Palestine - the Syria- Lebanon border, the River Jordaa facing Trana- Jordania" and Egypt on the 1 aouth. &e continue to h e ~ e ■echanhed Arab Legto of Iing Abdullah of Trana-Jordania is already in Palestine - and that other ■ ilitary unita of that J - ~ ~ ~ ■oaa~are croaaing the Rher Jordan,/ - - 0 - Much attention tonight is directed toward• those borders of Palestine -- the fronti e rs acroas which invading forces m u a t make their drive. Your mental picture of the landscape may be one of deserts, of Palesti~ext door te the burning '7 _,,,...t:l..~fMt-4-~Js"'- An d , so it is -- in par~ But let's tat mostly. We thin k aanda of Arabia. a further look ae this new day of history opens. I•ve travelled over auch of that hietoric corridor, f" different seaeona, and I know i t • • a land of contras. ln the north, beyond Galile~ the trontier . ia aoantaiaoua - in the eprin1ti ■e a region of green Yalleya and · •••••xi eparkling atre•• -- not deaert at all. Bight no•, that border between Palestine and Syria and Lebanon, 11 oarpeted with , flowers, hillsides aglow with bloaaoa1. To the East, along the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, the frontier with Trana-Jordani•• is wild, --4 - a fierce rocky country, the land of Easau. A It as» . I Nlhe:_:; z~~ ~~;:c;.;q,a+fk wild honey Ravinee, drJ,...!!t~ours~.~~•~ and n _n "- oO ..... <t-' · ' 4 - ~ ~ .... ~ • forbidding, . ~ : : : & . . ~~ lthough there too, at this time of year, .a,f,ring works its magic, and there are flowers in profusion. To the south, beyond Beersheba and Gaza, there you do enter the region of eternal sands, the wilderness of Sin, •~ere Moses aad the Israelite• - wandered for thoae forty years - where the ar■ y of Egypt is tonight. But even there - in tbi1 •onth of May, it's like it is in our o•n ••* weatera deaerta, flower• everywhere. For the desert i■ in 1pringti■e, ia a place of extre ■ e beauty. Haying apent ■ aay ■ onthe in the desert regi•• in and around . Paleatine one tlain1 that strikes ae at, this ■ o ■ ent is the dra ■ atic fact that this day of hiatory coaee to that ancient land at a \lae whea even the burning sands, when even the wilderness of , Sinai and Arabia Petrea ia fair. The official procla ■ ation of the Jewish 1tate waa aade at four o'olock b t h 1L,afternoon _ Pale s t~ne ti ■ e.The cereaony.,... held in the Tel Aviv lluaeu ■, on Rothschild Boulevard - an avenue naaed atter the kotbacbild dynast1 of bankers, which contributed ■uch to the developaent of Zionia ■• woaen. Four hundred people w••• gathered, ■•• and So■e .,__.__ were aged veteran■ --~teaded t.h• first Zienist Congress held in Switserland fift:, year• ago. That waa when Theodore Herzl, t.ha fo•nder of the Ziooiet aove ■ eot, brought together the firat aathering of Jewiah repre1eotative1 to launch a oa■pal1a for the resurrection of the long loat Jewieh state. Other■ i*He■bly at the Tel A'f h laaeu■ had 1uftered in po1ro■e •nder the Bu1aiaa, Ciara, *• and at.ill others were 1uTvivora ot lfazi conoentratioo caapa. The.speaker •~s Davia Ben Gur t on, tit11 white- haired sixty-six . year old Polish Jew, •ho now becoaes the first Pri ■ e Miniater of the Jewiah state. He read the proclaaation a l~gally worded docuaent, the llll~B il!Il_.::..J2r2.Rl11•tiQ.1L=-2 ~~ gist of which w a s ~ declaration: "le hereby proclaim the establishaent of a Jewish state in Palestine, to be called laa Israel". The response of the audience wa ■ intensely eaotional. lany wept, other ■ prayed • • Aaong the people of Tel AviY, the proolaaation ••• greeted with alaoat hysterical joy. The city wa• bla1oned with the new Jewi ■ h flag - blue and white ■ tripes and the Gola Star of Da•id. ~n the 1treeia eaotion was diaplayed wit~out restraint - weepin1, praying, ainging. Baited Pre•• oorre1pond~n~;ir;;,.,. tel11 ot a wrinkled-faced cleaning-wo ■ an in a Tel •~t• hotel - a Jewiah wo ■ an fro ■ aouthern Arabia who ■ till pr.eters to go barefoot than to wear aboes. To the newaaan 1he aaid: •thia is the coaing of the lee1iah tor which I set out fro ■ the te ■ en twenty-ti•• yeara ago.• · r lttlISB_ilA ' l'E - Bl STQBl Today's news of cours e■ phaaizes the angle - of a Jewish s ta tea:, once again,_ aft.er nearly two tbouaand years. It all puts a focus of history on ewenta of today - history which as it happens, is not buried deep in libraries, but ■ ay be found in al ■ oat any A ■ericaa · hoae; in the book with the greatest circulation ot all ~ books --- the Bible. f•• ,ke eto•1 ef ,1te Jew1 ie, The biblical account gi••• ua the ■ oat powerful ot aacred literature, though th~i•torioal thread l lk•■aalis aoaeti ■ ea bard to tollowc:: '~••••it~••• ~ • • • • • • , ••• , •• , · · · · - · . . . i ••••••••• •• . ••il :; . ( l ) _ ~ ~~ ••li.-1,'tien ~ i,ti, • • " " w - e , , H - , t . - e e ~ i ~ - - - k • the fa ■ iliar story of ho• ai ■ pM!l •a4'Lwc ■~~ no Moses led the Children of I•rael fr•• bondage in l11pt Of the Pro.i aed Land, and ho• Palestine to the border ••• then conquered by the tribes of Iarael, led by JEWIIB STATE - 8ISt0BI - 2 ■ ighty warriors like Joshua, who leveled the walls of Jericho. And then, M ■■ the period of the Iings:- - saul, ,... David, Solomon - who built a powerful Jewish state, with a glorious te ■ ple at Jeruaale ■, the site of w~ich ~ N todayAoccupied by a great Moel• Mosque -- the Mosque oi' O ■ ar. For the average Bible reader,thinga beco ■ e confuaed in the co ■ plexitiea of trouble that tollowet •• •• the days of Solo ■ on in all his glor,. But, brieflJ, \ -U1h h wha, happeaeolt-aader tlle ■OD and IUOOHIOI' of Soloaon, there was rebellion and a ■ f sece1aion. The Jewish nation brok~n two: the northera kin1do■ - I1rael; the 1outhern iingdoa - Judah. In the turaoil of the centurie ■, the northern kingdo■ ••• cruahed by the A117riana, and the people were carried 1I1rael away, never to return -The Loat Tribe• o~ l12aalA •I'll ' ' 1oae of who■ I ••Y h ~ h e n I, -7\ ~ Jew• in southern India, a-nd In China. The aoutherA [ingdoa, with ita capital at Jerusale■, lingered on ~ - and then waa overthrown bJ ~EIISH StATE, UIS?OBI - 3 Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, its people carried ott. But they survived in exile, and after forty years ot tiabylonian capitivity, Cyrus the Persian let t•e■ go hoae]there to re-establis• th e Jewish nation at fa Jerusalea. It was then that ,he Teaple was rebuilt. 'l ' his revival ot' the Jewish itate went through complications of turmoil and oppression, until tho1e great warriors, the Macabees, made it powerful once again. B1 then the ■ ight of Bo ■ e was zi•t■1,riain1, and the Jewish itate beca■ e a Roaaa tributary. The SaYioulj the Child Jeaua, was born during the r•l• ot Caesar Augustus. 'l ' hen came the J ' ewish rebellions nich led to .ft,, the tinal catastrophe in year .,,. Se•enty A.D:;tbe~~ A · A T ~destruction of Jeruaale■-aad-the-Te■ple by the Ro■u •· h .., General Titus, who left not one stone upon anot er. Thia was the day of exile and dispersion of the Jewish peo pl e - a day that has gone on aad on, for nearly J8RP8f ~ 9 he preeiae. And now, today, atter that great length of time, a Jewish state is once again proclaiaed, ~El!Sl i~ATE * BIS%QB1 - 4 --- ~ for■ ally and officially A. in thi&A_!to11ic ,!_ra. _..,.any are wondering tenigbt-juut what A does lestiny hold in store tor the new Israel, after that background of history1 . ~~'"itWin-.l:ho4oe~ee•g•h• u~e en ,ew,ei.. ew••· ..l•llt. . /ba Hillel Silver, leader of the Jewia&ou~~~DI for Palestine before the United lationa, tell• ae that, Jew• are not ■ t aR fearful or the outco■ e •••• it full 1oale war does deYelo~ ~~• · upPlltft, · 111tetr llttn•• ia.e ._.. . . ,et .. •••• lowl ■ ll , ◄ •7 t.11•• fighting power of the loal••I!,_. ,bat I i ot SJria TraaaJordaD~,.,. ha1 beea I,, • ., oYer-ratel.a"I(. ~~J.,,4.:7:!"k:;. ~ ~ a : : : : o ~ t Pale■tiae, ~~ ~ .... .a.-ti- bow / ■ ' an7 ~• thiaka it can ~• ll'X a inc• it' 1 a t tny couatr~..-!iJJ u bi& H Yer■oat. Babbi Biber / ' . 1, told ae that in round nuabers there are now ••••n hundred thouaand Jew•J•k•••• and that he belie••• it will accoa•odate a ■ illion ■ore. I reainded bia of how, at the end of Allenby'• oa■paign in lineteen IABBI SlLYEU - 2 . Seventeen, when I was with the Ara7 of Liberation that ~ drove ~ out the TurksAthirty years ago; at ~ba4 there were less than thirty-fiYe thousand Jews in the Holy Land. Uew, 11.addee ttaMsi &ilter, ,. ,a.en-et ♦ •••• • Jaa••••• ~heaaaud in Je1c1aln •lane, ••drznt••• hpnd•ea tbou1and •••• ia t.he new cit:, at Tet Ari.,, Ai i ·* •~i•h • few reera •1n ••• JEl . a ■ere ••••i•• •••••19 el latffl. ' ~>~ Aa for the present Moalea population, Illa "/\ . spoke of the exodu1 that has been taking place, large au■ber'of loaleaa I■ fleeing tr• auch citiea aa Jatta ., to~ ~ . and Batra; d ~ ••4o~ ah se S7ri1, ~ Trana-Jordania1 and Iraq. Th• latter two"-~ aaall C•f,•B 2 ~J' - acoo■■odat.~ -I.rt.~ populati~na/.and pr~bab 1/~ ••••••••••xzadwiciu■, ~ » ~ " t f ~ ~ w ~ "to ~ 4 ' W \ ~ . I then asked abbi ' SilYer whether he tllougbt. it aight not be poaaible to aake Jeru1alea, and nearbJ Bethlehea, an international . religious center - under no flag. To which he replied, enthusiastically, that be thought Jeruaale ■ sboald be aade international - neither under the rule of the Jews or the Arab ■• Here's the latest drama in the alestine story, just off t e wire: ." ith the British mandate expired legally at six o'clock, and the new Jewish state a1nounced, and a Moslea ' invasion of Palestine launched -- with all this happening, the General s~eably was taking a vote on that questioD of a il.N. regime for Jerusalem. I t aeeaed to aatter little, because the march of eventa, the dictates of reality, were settling matters. But the Tote went on - and tbia was shortly after six. Then there ias a sound of shouting. People broke in with jubilant outcries. They were Jew• at the D.N. who bad just heard the bulletin flashed froa Wasbinaton, and now they shouted the news -- American recognition of the new Jewish state. (A f•• minutes aft the si ~ o'clock deadline, President T~aan had taken action, the White House announcing that the Onited ~tat recognizes the new nation, Israel.)