Dauod rolled unmolested into the Agency courtyard and parked his car directly in front of the Haganah headquarters
The burgeoning Yishuv of the early 20th century developed institutions to centralize its activities and establish forms of governance that would serve as infrastructure for a state in the making. These included the offices of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemet, and Keren Hayesod. An impressive structure to house the offices of the various organizations was built in Rechavia on the corner of King George V and Keren Kayemet streets, and completed between 1930 and 1935.
On the morning of March 11, 1948, a Christian Arab named Anton Daoud who was employed as a driver by the nearby US consulate drove his Ford toward the compound.
A platoon of the Haganah stood a discreet but constant guard on the building. Yet now a timid Christian Arab from Bethlehem was about to drive a quarter of a ton of TNT into the heart of the Agency’s compound under the approving eyes of those Haganah guards. … He was so familiar a figure that the building’s Haganah guards had suggested he sell them arms.…
Dauod rolled unmolested into the Agency courtyard and parked his car directly in front of the Haganah headquarters. —O Jerusalem
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