Plans for the second celebration of Israel’s Independence Day–which will be marked this year on Saturday evening, April 22 and on Sunday, April 23–were announced here today by Z. Sharef, head of the celebration arrangements committee.
The “Voice of Israel”–the government broadcasting station–will feature music for street dancing throughout the celebration period. Open-air stages will be set up in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa for the presentation of special performances. Free entertainment will also be provided by 30 Israel motion picture theatres. Fireworks displays will be arranged by the Israel Army in the nation’s three major cities.
On Saturday night, Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker of the Knesset, will light a bonfire on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. Simultaneously, members of the Gadna–the youth battalions–will kindle bonfires on hilltops throughout the country. The bonfires will revive a custom dating back 2,000 years when fires heralded the beginning of the new month to isolated villages.
President Chaim Weizmann will open the festivities Saturday night with a nation-wide broadcast. Premier David Ben Gurion will then broadcast a message to the people of Israel. Sunday, April 23, will be proclaimed a national holiday, with only communications facilities, post offices and restaurants permitted to remain open. Dr. Weizmann will receive members of the diplomatic corps stationed in Israel at Hakirya Sunday afternoon. An official reception will also be held by Premier Ben Gurion at the Rose Garden in Jerusalem that same afternoon. Four hundred runners will participate in a relay race on April 23 which will terminate at the Rose Garden.
Special festivities for children have been arranged at the Tel Aviv zoo. A reception will be tendered war invalids at the Garden of the Prophets in Tel Aviv. A huge military parade will take place in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon, while units of the Israel Air Force will converge over Tel Aviv.
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