By J. Zel Lurie
DELRAY BEACH, Florida — November 29, 1947 is the name of an important street in Jerusalem. In Hebrew it is called Kaf Tet November.
It marks the date when the General Assembly of the United Nations voted by a two-thirds majority to partition the small state of Palestine into two smaller states of about equal size, one Arab and One Jewish. Jerusalem was to remain under international rule.
The United Kingdom announced that it would give up its Mandate to govern Palestine and sail away on May 15. 1948.
The Jews were ecstatic. They had worked hard to achieve the majority. A couple of small countries, such as Haiti and the Philippines, which had voted against partition in the Political Committee, fell in line only at the last moment.
I remember the headline which I plastered in big bold type across the front page of the Hadassah Newsletter, which I was editing on a part-time basis: U.N. DECLARES A JEWISH STATE.
A sovereign Jewish State, the first in 2,000 years. The joy in the tiny Jewish community of over half a million in Palestine, known as the yishuv, was boundless. They were glued to their radios as the votes were counted on November 29.. Because of the 7-hour time difference, it was way after midnight when the majority was announced. They poured into the streets, shouting, dancing and drinking lehayim, to life. One percent, 6,000 young men and women were destined to give their lives in the war that began that morning.
Palestinian Arabs were not willing to abide by the U.N. decision and allow half of Palestine to become a Jewish State. Backed by the armies of six Arab states, the Palestinian Arabs declared war on their Jewish neighbors on November 30, 1947.
The Haganah was ready for them in most of the country but the Jews in Jerusalem were vulnerable. The two-lane highway leading up to Jerusalem was cut. The water line bringing water into Jerusalem was stopped at the Bab el Wad pumping station.
Jewish Jerusalem was under siege. Food and water were strictly rationed. I had family living there, my aged parents, my brother, the managing editor of the Palestine Post, his wife and two small children.
Many years later my niece, Tami, who had been 5 in 1947, showed me the tiny weeds that sprouted at the side of the road. “This one was bitter, but we could eat it. That one was poisonous,” she said.
I had two part-time jobs December 1947 and I had just given up a third, the executive director of Americans for Haganah,which I had founded in July. I hired a permanent executive director and left in November.
My two jobs were the Hadassah Newsletter, an 8-page monthly, which occupied me for about a week. The second was the American correspondent of the Palestine Post, which was a daily chore.
Gershon Agronsky, the founder and editor of the Palestine Post, had sent me a cable congratulating me on my coverage of the partition Assembly.
This cable, which I received on December 1, was the last I heard from the home office. The siege of Jerusalem had cut the line from Tel Aviv. RCA informed me that they had lost contact with their Jerusalem office.
I still went to the U.N. at Lake Success daily hoping for some breakthrough. The news at the U.N. was disheartening. The State Department had abandoned partition and was proposing that the British be asked to continue the Mandate.
I had no way of transmitting this news to Jerusalem. To my rescue came a beautiful young lady, a Jewish war survivor named Vera who had been seconded to the U.N. by the Yugoslav delegation.
Vera arranged for me to use the short wave radio station of the United Nations, which was broadcasting to the whole world. The Palestine Post could pick up my broadcasts.
Each day I sat in a little booth at the U.N. I faced a large record which recorded my broadcast.
The debate on America’s proposal of a Mandate for Palestine droned on and I remember one broadcast which began: “Here at the United Nations it’s talk, talk, talk while Jerusalem remains under siege.”
The next day the head of communications berated me. He said: “We are allowing you to use our facilities. You might be kinder to us.”
Vera assured me that the U.N. radio was broadcasting my messages at a good time, which was not in the middle of the night in Jerusalem.
It was all in vain. After the war, Gershon Agronsky gave me the sad news. Not a single one of my broadcasts was heard in Jerusalem.
The siege of Jerusalem was not broken until the battle of Kastel in April. Erev shabbat on May 14, David Ben Gurion declared a Jewish State to be called Israel in accordance with the U.N. Resolution.
At the U.N. they were still debating the American resolution when they received word that President Truman had recognized Israel and the American delegation abandoned the hall.
On May 15 the British sailed away and the armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria invaded the country with contingents from Iraq and Morocco. The British-officered Jordan Arab Legion had not waited for the British government to leave. They were ensconced in the Old City of Jerusalem and the 18 percent of Palestine which they called the West Bank of Jordan.
The armies of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon were roundly defeated by the better organized, trained and motivated Haganah. All four counrtries negotiated armistice agreements in 1949 leaving Jordan in the West Bank and Egypt in the Gaza Strip on 22 percent of Palestine.These are now called the 1967 lines.
What happened to the beautiiful Vera from Yugoslavia? In the early 50s Vera made aliya to Israel. She had lived in Israel for a few months when the violinist, Isaac Stern, came to Israel on tour. He met Vera, fell in love,married her, and took her back to New York, where as Mrs. Isaac Stern she played a major role in New York society. She helped found and was the president for years of the American Israel Cultural Society.
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Lurie is a freelance writer based in Delray Beach, Florida. He may be contacted at jzel.lurie@sdjewishworld.com