Excerpt from Ben-Gurion’s diary recording Israel’s first Independence Day, presented to the public for the first time

“In the afternoon, at four o’clock, Jewish independence was declared and the state was established,” Ben-Gurion wrote. “Its fate is in the hands of the security forces.” 

The precious page of Ben-Gurion’s diary is being presented to the public on the anniversary of Israel’s first Day of Independence, the Jerusalem Post reports. However, despite Independence Day being a joyful celebration, the diary records the somber mood of Israel’s first prime minister on the day the country was founded.

Sharing his concerns about the immense challenges the new Jewish state was up against, Ben-Gurion cataloged the threats from surrounding Arab armies and also internal disputes about how to secure the road to Jerusalem.

“Almost all the General Staff opposed my opinion to attack more forcefully and aggressively to capture the areas around the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem road. I feel they missed and are missing the decisive conquest that would determine the fate of Jerusalem – and possibly the outcome of the entire campaign,” he wrote.

Revealed on Monday for the first time, the original diary fragment from May 14, 1948, describes reports of armored legion columns and the bombing of Tel Aviv, giving a window into the mood of Israel’s leadership as the country was reborn 77 years ago.

The diary itself has not yet been presented, but this page, part of an original copy handwritten by Ben-Gurion, has been released for publication separately by the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute and the Ben-Gurion Archives.The page was located as part of a joint archival project between the two institutions, according to the Jerusalem Post. 

Previously, Ben-Gurion’s pocket diary from the year before, 1947, along with his historic “shopping list” from the UN vote have also been found and made public.

The conflicting emotions at the time of Israel’s reestablishment were recorded by Ben-Gurion in an earlier volume of the diary, where he wrote, “The land rejoices and there is profound joy – but again I am mourning among the celebrants, as on November 29,” in reference to the historic 1947 UN vote to partition the land and create a Jewish state. 

Conscious of the very real and imminent threats, Ben-Gurion carried the weight of the realities facing the new state. He saw trouble on the horizon, even as others were overjoyed about Israel’s reestablishment after a 2,000 year long exile. He committed to pen and paper his understanding that though the rebirth of the state was a dream fulfilled, the battle was far from over. On that momentous day, Israel’s fight to survive had just begun.

David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula later moved to the Negev Desert, committed to the zionist vision to restore Israel and make the desert bloom. The hut where they lived in Sde Boker is now open to the public and is part of the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, along with archives and exhibitions relating to his life and legacy, along with their graves nearby at the national memorial site. The institute hopes to be able to present his original diary to the public for next year’s Independence Day.

Eitan Donitz, CEO of the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, said the diary entry captured “history in its purest form” as we are able to see Ben-Gurion’s anxiety about the survival of the new state even in the midst of the celebrations. “Reading his words from that moment is not just encountering a historical document – it is a living human experience,” he said in a statement.