Still not a formal government, Jewish Agency officials, led by Eytan seek a foreign office with geographic and functional divisions. Born in Munich, Germany in 1910, Walter (Ettinghausen) Eytan and his family family settle in England where he becomes an Oxford don and then serves in the British Naval intelligence during WWII. He comes to Jerusalem in 1946 and becomes a spokesman for the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. After establishing the Israeli Foreign Ministry with Gideon Rafael and Moshe Sharrett, he heads the Israel delegation to the 1949 Rhodes talks, and is joined by Yigal Yadin, Reuven Shiloah, and Eliyahu Sasson. In April 1949, he heads the Israeli delegation to the Lausanne Conference talks. From 1948-1956 he is Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and then serves as Ambassador to France from 1959-1970.
January 9, 1948
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