July 13, 1948 The War of Independence |
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more speeches:
The Exodus 1947 in the port of Hafia, where the British navy removed its immigrant passengers - most of them Holocaust survivors - and sent them back to Europe.
In the War of Independence, Israel's army consisted largely of inexperienced civilians
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WHEN ISRAEL DECLARED its independence on May 14, 1948, and the British flag was lowered for the last time, Abba Eban declared that "the long Jewish exile has ended." This speech was delivered before the United Nations two months later, in Lake Success, New York—a temporary early headquarters of the world body. It came about six months after the crucial UN decision, in November 1947, approving the partition of Palestine into two separate states, Arab and Jewish. Eban had played a critical role in that outcome. Earlier that year he had expertly led UN decision-makers on a tour of kibbutzim, factories, and schools and also showed them heart-rending scenes of Holocaust survivors coming into port on overcrowded ships such as the Exodus and being turned away from Palestine by the British Navy.
But while the partition plan was accepted by the UN and the Jews, it was rejected by the Arabs in Palestine and throughout the Middle East. Immediately after Israel's declaration of statehood, the new nation came under attack, with Israel's army, consisting largely of inexperienced civilians, facing the much better equipped and far larger military forces of five Arab states. (Two others sent token expeditionary forces.) Despite widespread predictions of a quick Arab victory, the Israelis in heavy fighting managed to clear the key roads, enlarge the borders of their fledgling state so as to make it contiguous and defensible, and gain the upper hand militarily. On May 29 the UN declared a truce, which went into effect on June 11 (and would be violated repeatedly) and appointed a mediator to supervise the cease-fire. While Israel agreed to a proposal to extend the cease-fire, the Arab governments rejected it. In this speech, Eban appeals to the Security Council to condemn Arab acts of aggression, while responding to the mediator's proposal to restrict Israeli immigration—a proposal that, Eban states, would unfairly infringe on national sovereignty. Two days after this speech, he achieved diplomatic success. The Security Council determined that Arab actions were a threat to peace, and a second truce went into effect in July. Fighting resumed in October, and the war ended in early 1949, with a cease-fire but no peace treaty. |