The declaration was first drafted by
Zvi Berenson, the
Histadrut trade union's legal advisor and later a justice of the
Supreme Court, at the request of
Pinchas Rosen. A revised second draft was made by three lawyers, A. Beham, A. Hintzheimer and Z.E. Baker, and was framed by a committee including
David Remez,
Pinchas Rosen,
Haim-Moshe Shapira,
Moshe Sharett and
Aharon Zisling.
[2] A second committee meeting which included Ben-Gurion,
Yehuda Leib Maimon, Sharett and Zisling produced the final text,
[3] which was approved in a meeting of
Moetzet HaAm at the
JNF building in
Tel Aviv on 14 May, starting at 1:50. It ended at 15:00, an hour before the declaration was due to be made, and despite ongoing disagreements, with a unanimous vote in favour of the final text.
During the process, there were two major debates, centring around the issues of borders and religion. On the border issue, the original draft had declared that the borders would be that decided by the UN partition plan. Whilst this was supported by Rosen and
Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, it was opposed by Ben-Gurion and Zisling, with Ben-Gurion stating, "We accepted the UN Resolution, but the Arabs did not. They are preparing to make war on us. If we defeat them and capture western Galilee or territory on both sides of the road to Jerusalem, these areas will become part of the state. Why should we obligate ourselves to accept boundaries that in any case the Arabs dont accept?"
[2] Its inclusion in the text was dropped after
Minhelet HaAm voted 5-4 against it.
[3] The
Revisionists, committed to a Jewish state on both sides of the
River Jordan (i.e. including Trans
jordan), wanted the phrase "within its historic borders" included, but were unsuccessful.
The second major issue was over the inclusion of
God in the last section of the document, with the draft using the phrase "and placing our trust in the Almighty". The two
rabbis, Shapira and
Yehuda Leib Maimon, argued for its inclusion, saying that it could not be omitted, with Shapira supporting the wording "God of Israel" or "the Almighty and Redeemer of Israel."
[2] It was strongly opposed by Zisling, a member of the secularist
Mapam. In the end the phrase "Rock of Israel" was used, which could be interpreted as either referring to God, or the land of
Eretz Israel, Ben-Gurion saying "Each of us, in his own way, believes in the 'Rock of Israel' as he conceives it. I should like to make one request: Don't let me put this phrase to a vote." Although its use was still opposed by Zisling, it was accepted without a vote.
At the meeting on 14 May, several other members of Moetzet HaAm suggested additions to the document;
Meir Vilner wanted it to denounce the British mandate and military, though Sharett said it was out of place.
Meir Argov pushed for it to mention the
displaced persons camps in
Europe and for it to guarantee freedom of
language; Ben-Gurion agreed with the latter, but noted that Hebrew should be the main language of the state.
The writers also had to decide on the name for the new state.
Eretz Israel, Ever (from the name
Eber),
Judea, and
Zion were all suggested. Judea and Zion were rejected because, according to the partition plan, Jerusalem (Zion) and most of Judean mountains would be outside the new state.
[4] Ben-Gurion put forward "Israel", which was passed by a vote of 6-3.
[5]
Nevertheless, the debate over wording did not end even after the declaration had been made, with
Meir David Loewenstein later claiming that "It ignored our sole right to
Eretz Israel, which is based on the covenant of the Lord with
Abraham, our father, and repeated promises in the
Tanach. It ignored the aliya of the
Ramban and the students of the
Vilna Gaon and the
Ba'al Shem Tov, and the [rights of] Jews who lived in the 'Old Yishuv'."
[6]
[edit] Vote
On 12 May the
Minhelet HaAm was convened to vote on declaring independence. Three of the members were missing;
Yehuda Leib Maimon and
Yitzhak Gruenbaum were stuck in
besieged Jerusalem, whilst
Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the
United States.
The meeting started at 1:45 and ended after midnight. The decision was between accepting the American proposal for a truce, or declaring independence. The latter option was put to a vote, with six of the ten members present supporting it:
Chaim Weizmann, chairman of the
World Zionist Organization and soon to be the first
President of Israel, endorsed the decision, after reportedly asking "What are they waiting for, the idiots?"
[2]
[edit] Proclamation ceremony