“The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl, 1896
Eventual founding leader of the World Zionist Organization Theodor Herzl says a Jewish state is need in response to antisemitism.
Assembled here are key sources that have shaped the modern Middle East, Zionism and Israel. We have included items that give texture, perspective and opinion to historical context. Many of these sources are mentioned in the Era summaries and contain explanatory introductions.
Max Nordau Addresses First Zionist Congress, 1897CIE+
Max Nordau’s impassioned speech summarizes the unique Jewish identity of belief, Torah, ritual and community. With those central elements as a people, their state of impoverishment and wretched physical insecurity, he argues, are vital for rebuilding the Jewish national territory.
Faisal-Weizmann Correspondence, Agreement, 1919CIE+
Emir Faisal, on behalf of the Sharif of Mecca, and Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, exchange recognition of cordiality and kinship between a future Arab state and Palestine, where Zionists seek to establish their national home. They offer each other mutual assistance.
Vladimir Jabotinsky, “The Iron Wall,” 1923CIE+
Ze’ev Jabotinsky argues that peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Palestine is impossible until Zionists demonstrate through strength that they are an irreversible presence in the Land of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion, Guideline for Zionist Policy, 1941CIE+
Jewish Agency head David Ben-Gurion emphasizes that a Jewish state will be a place for all, including Arabs, and calls for Jews to be better educated about the elements of a state.
The Biltmore Program, 1942CIE+
In New York, urging American (Jewish) support, Ben-Gurion proclaims the eventual establishment of a Jewish state.
Ben-Gurion and the Status-Quo Agreement: Jewish Laws to Be Protected in New State, 1947CIE+
The Status-Quo Agreement is an understanding reached between David Ben-Gurion, then the chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, and the religious parties in the period before Israel became a state.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 1948
The Declaration recounts the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, the birth of Zionism and U.N. recognition of a Jewish state’s legitimacy. It also promises that the state will be a democracy for all its citizens.
Conclusions of U.N. Mediator for Palestine: Count Folke Bernadotte’s Report, 1948CIE+
Subsequent to Israel’s territorial successes from May 1948 forward, U.N. mediator Bernadotte is assassinated after suggesting smaller borders for Israel. He does not mention Palestinian Arabs in his interim report.
Menachem Begin on Whether to Accept Reparations from Germany, 1952CIE+
In an impassioned Knesset speech, Menachem Begin staunchly opposes accepting $1.5 billion in German reparations for Jewish deaths during WWII. No price, he believes, can be put on the lives lost.
David Ben-Gurion, “Jewish Survival,” 1953CIE+
Israel’s first prime minister was a prolific writer. In this excerpt of a 50-page document, he notes that the Jewish nation’s DNA included relentless challenges marked by dispersal, ostracism and hatred by many people. Despite these adversities, Israel’s establishment symbolizes a remarkable victory against all odds — a culmination of the Jewish people’s tenacity and unyielding spirit. The state and Zionism were not remotely close to being finished, nor having succeeded in the quest for the Jewish people’s normalization.
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan: Eulogy for Ro’i Rothberg, Nahal Oz, 1956
Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan’s eulogy in 1956 for an Israeli guard murdered at a kibbutz next to the Gaza Strip affirms absolute requirements for being an Israeli: vigilance, determination, and not to be fooled by hollow claims for peace.
David Ben-Gurion’s “Vision and Redemption,” 1958
Ben-Gurion elegantly connects modern Israel from messianic redemption to Zionism, building the country through labor and immigration, with dual needs to remain actively linked to the Jewish diaspora and Jewish values through education.
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s Radio Address to the Nation, May 1967CIE+
With tensions on its borders, Eshkol tries to reassure Israeli public. Instead he gives a “painfully faltering” speech. Popular and party disgruntlement follow, opening the way for Eshkol to turn over the Defense Ministry two days later to General Moshe Dayan.
Lyndon Johnson’s Five Principles of Peace, 1967CIE+
President Johnson’s remarks became the philosophical outline for UN Resolution 242 passed in November 1967. Core to his view was that Israel would not need to return to the pre-1967 war borders, and that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states in the region should be protected.
Abba Eban Speech at U.N. Special Assembly, June 1967CIE+
Following the conclusion of the June 1967 War, the Israeli government sent word to Egypt and Syria seeking peace plan that was intended to jumpstart a peace process with Israel’s belligerent neighbors, Egypt and Syria. The messages were sent through the US, but no response was apparently received.
IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin: The Right of Israel to Defend Itself, 1967CIE+
Receiving an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University after the conclusion of the June 1967 War, Rabin delivers a speech on behalf of Israel’s entire military. He highlights the harsh realities of war yet concentrates on commending the extraordinary efforts of Israel’s armed forces.
The Allon Plan, 1967CIE+
Yigal Allon’s plan for handling the areas captured from Jordan during the just-completed Six-Day War reflects Israel’s previous border vulnerability and seeks a West Bank arrangement that is not a strategic or geographic threat.
Galili Plan for Settlements, August 1973CIE+
With less than three dozen Israeli settlements in the territories taken in the June War, the proposal is not for a vast settlement increase, but for economic, infrastructure, and industrial development of the areas.
Prime Minister Begin’s Report on Treaties With Arab States and His Visit to Romania, 1977CIE+
Unknown to the Carter administration and one month before it issued the US-Soviet Declaration to convene an international Middle East Peace Conference, Prime Minister Begin tells the cabinet that he learned from the Rumanian president that Sadat wishes to have Israeli and Egyptian representatives meet in secret talks. That bi-lateral Dayan -Tuhami meeting takes place on September 16. Begin refers to advanced drafts of proposed treaties between Israel and each Arab state; he presents details about Rumanian Jewish immigration to Israel.
Prime Minister Begin’s Knesset Address During Sadat’s Visit, November 1977
Begin welcomes Sadat’s bold initiative, seeking an end to the conflict with other Arab states through negotiated treaties. Begin invites other Arab leaders to negotiate as Sadat was doing.
Egyptian President Sadat’s Knesset Address, November 1977
Sadat tells the Israeli people and world that he seeks a just and durable peace, which is not a separate peace, between Israel and Egypt. He equates statehood for the Palestinians as their right to return.
Memorandum of Conversation Among President Carter, Secretary of State Vance, Prime Minister Begin and Foreign Minister Dayan at Camp David, September 16, 1978CIE+
In this meeting, the contents of which have not been released by the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) but are available from the Israel State Archives (ISA), Begin clearly committed that “perhaps one military settlement” in the Jordan Valley would be established during the three months of the treaty negotiations. The extraordinarily contentious public dispute on the settlements would mar the diplomatic success of the Camp David Accords and add tension to the already fraught Carter-Begin relationship.
Reagan and Shamir on U.S.-Israel Cooperation, 1983CIE+
Areas of bilateral political and military cooperation are noted to fend off Soviet involvement in the Middle East, to assist Israel in building the Lavi aircraft, to support an independent Lebanon and to promote Arab-Israeli negotiations.
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