Tension was high. The British were leaving the next day. Egyptian bombers were expected over the skies of Tel Aviv. The next day the land would be invaded by a number of Arab armies. At this precise moment the leader of the Jewish community understood he had to act. David Ben Gurion called a meeting for Friday afternoon, May 14th, 1948. During the meeting which lasted 22 minutes, The modern State of Israel was declared. When you come to Independence Hall you are treated to some of the best guides in Israel who will set the scene for you. The rest is pure emotion.
On the Coastal Plain and Lowlands
Ayalon Institute (bullet factory)
After World War II in 1945 and before Israel’s creation in 1948 the pre-state Jewish defense organization known as the Haganah established a secret bullet factory in order to prepare for the inevitable fight between Arabs and Jews which would occur following the withdrawal of the British from the land. Here an underground factory produced munitions but it was all done in secrecy in order to avoid British knowledge of the operation. Members of the local Kibbutz worked above ground in a bakery and laundry to hide the factory below their feet. Even members of the kibbutz did not know of the factory’s existense until after the War of Independence in which some two million bullets that were produced here were used to help establish the modern Israeli state.