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Soldiers
on the Battlefield Hear the News
Israel's
Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in the midst of a war.
There was little time to celebrate. Within hours, the country
was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and
Jordan. In the following passage, future Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin, then commander of an elite combat brigade, recalls where
he was at the moment that Israel's independence was proclaimed.
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An
ancient radio in Kibbutz Ma'ale Ha-Hamisha, a few miles
outside Jerusalem, conveyed Ben-Gurion's voice to us as
he proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel.
Our weary troops strained to catch the portent of his words.
One soldier, who was curled up in a corner in a state of
complete exhaustion, opened a bleary eye and pleaded, "Hey
men, turn it off. I'm dying for some sleep. We can hear
the fine words tomorrow."
Someone got up and turned the knob, leaving a leaden silence
in the room. I was mute, stifling my own mixture of emotions.
None of us had ever dreamed that this was how we would greet
the birth of our State, but we were filled with an even
stronger sense of determination now [that] the State existed.
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