Acquired in 1948, when Ben Gurion announced to the whole world about the proclamation of an independent sovereign state of Israel.
Ben Gurion read this statement in the museum building on Rothschild Street in Tel Aviv. Israel's independence was proclaimed one day before the end of the British mandate to rule Palestine.
Then, when Israel was created, the Declaration of its Independence wrote that in November 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution according to which the Jewish independent state of Israel was created in Eretz Israel.
The same declaration of the United Nations Organization stressed that, like any other people, the Jewish people can be independent, have the right to liberties and independence, as well as to sovereignty in their independent and sovereign state.
Immediately the sovereign independent state of Israel opened its borders for repatriation Jewish people from all countries of the world, and the only goal is to unite all Jews scattered around the world. The Declaration of the Founding of Israel also said that the new state will make every effort to develop the new Jewish state and the welfare of the Jewish people. The main postulate of the declaration was the words that from now on political structure the state of Israel is aimed at the development and preservation of such main democratic foundations as freedom and justice, peace and tranquility, and will also fully comply with all the teachings of the Hebrew prophets.
The main state principles will be: full rights of citizens of the country, both in political and social issues, regardless of his religion, gender and race. The Declaration on the founding of Israel said that every citizen of the State of Israel will be guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, the right to speak native language, right to a good education, for the preservation of culture and, for decent development.
And yet, the Declaration clearly stated that the new state will sacredly preserve monuments and all three religions on the territory of Israel, and will also adhere to and observe the principles of the UN Charter.
Immediately in 1948, after the proclamation of the independence of the State of Israel, it was announced that the new independent state would be and ready to cooperate with the United Nations, with its bodies and missions on the implementation of the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 1947 ...
And, in addition, the new state will take all possible steps to implement the economic unity of Israel.
At the same time, during the creation of Israel, after the proclamation of the formation of a new Jewish state, the Arab population living on the territory of Israel was put forward an appeal to maintain peace and take part in the construction and revival of a new sovereign state, which will be based on equality. Everyone living in Israel was promised equal representation in all institutions and organizations of the state.
In the year of the proclamation of independence of the State of Israel, he stretched out his hand for good-neighborly relations with all neighboring states, their peoples, appealed to cooperate with the people of Israel, with the people who had been striving for independence on their land for so long.
The declaration also said that Israel will definitely contribute to the speedy development of the Middle East.
The first state that de facto accepted Israel was the state - the United States of America. President Truman announced this in 1948 on May 14, immediately following Ben Gurion's Declaration of Independence. The country that was the first to recognize Israel de jure was the Soviet Union. This happened in May 1948, after the founding of Israel and the proclamation of a sovereign Israel. A year later, the sovereign independent state of Israel became a member of the United Nations.
The creation of Israel was painful and rather difficult. After the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence, on the second day of the existence of the new independent state, the armed armies of the Arab states entered its territory: Syria, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt. They started a war against Israel. The purpose of the attack was one - the destruction of the Jewish state, since the countries of the Arab world did not recognize the new state of Israel.
The Israeli army won its independence with honor, in the future the war of 1948 will be called the War of Independence. It should be added that the Israelis not only defended their independence, but also conquered part of the Arab lands, thereby expanding the territory of Israel. The war ended in June 1949, only a year later a peace treaty was signed, which referred to the cessation of hostilities.
In a difficult time, a time of war, the formation and creation of Israel as a state took place. In 1948, Ben Gurion, who became the first prime minister in the history of an independent state, signed a decree on the creation of the Shai special service, the main function of which was to conduct all types of intelligence: counterintelligence, intelligence.
Later, from one service, three intelligence directorates were made at once: military intelligence, political and counterintelligence. All three special services were created in the new state on the basis of the British special services. Today these special services have names - service Military intelligence Israel AMAN, General Service security "Shabak" - this was the name of the counterintelligence, and "Mossad" - this is the name of the political intelligence.
When Israel was created, a political and state structure country.
The head of state of Israel is the President. He is elected by members of the Knesset for seven years by secret ballot. The first president of the new state of Israel was Chaim Weizmann. According to the President of Israel, he has no powers of power, but rather is a representative figure in the political hierarchy. The president is a symbol of the state, his task is to perform representative functions. What can a president in Israel do? In addition to his representative functions, he approves new composition government after the next elections, and also grants amnesty to convicts.
At the founding of Israel, the highest the legislature power was determined - the Knesset. It is a parliament with 120 members, elected by party lists through direct voting. The first Knesset became operational after the first elections in 1949. Central executive agency- government. At the head of the government is the Prime Minister, who is actually the head of state of Israel. The first prime minister was Ben Guriron.
The highest judicial authority of the state - Supreme Court, which in Israel is called the Supreme Court of Justice. All major government and state institutions and the organizations are in.
Executive power when Israel was created, it was also determined - these are the mayors of cities who are elected locally through direct voting. And yet, it is not separated from the state, and therefore in the cities there are also religious councils, consisting of the clerics of Israel. The services provided by religious advice relate mainly to religious rituals and services, the conclusion of acts of states: marriage, divorce, birth or death.
The history of the formation of Israel as a state is long-standing and tragic. We can say with full confidence that it began at least three thousand years ago. The long-suffering Jewish people had to go through many trials on the way to create their own state.
Ancient history
For the first time, the formation of Israel as a state took place in the 10th century BC in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was called the Kingdom of Israel. But his independent existence was very short-lived. Since the 7th century, it has undergone numerous conquests. Since the year of Israel's founding as a state is considered 1948, it turns out that the Jewish people have lost their homeland for more than 26 centuries!
In 63 BC, the mighty Roman Empire took over. The captured territory brought the Romans a lot various problems... One of the most acute is religious: Judaism forbade the exaltation of the Roman emperor as a deity and, accordingly, the worship of him. But this was a necessary condition for the citizens of the empire.
The path of the formation of the State of Israel was not short. In 135 AD, an unsuccessful uprising of the local population against the Roman authorities took place in one of the provinces. This event radically influenced further destiny people who lived there. The Roman emperor decided to evict the Jews from his territory as a punishment. Other peoples came to the province previously inhabited by them. This is how the first Jewish communities, and not only on the territory of the Roman Empire, but also far beyond its borders. Over the years, they began to arise in the Slavic lands.
After the split of the Roman Empire in 395 into Eastern (Byzantium) and Western part Palestine went to the first, remaining its province until 619. From 614 to 629, Persia conquered Palestine. After it again became a province of Byzantium. Due to the constant massacres and persecutions that the emperor Heraclius began, the size of the Jewish population has greatly decreased.
In the Middle Age
By 636, Muslims had conquered Palestine from Byzantium. And for the next six centuries, this territory was controlled by the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasids, then the Crusaders.
The year 1099 was marked by the foundation that arose thanks to the efforts of the crusaders. But by 1260, Palestine was completely conquered by the Mamluk dynasty. Relatively peaceful times reigned for several centuries. However, already in 1517 the territory of modern Israel was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Under the rule Ottoman Empire the country was 400 years old, until 1917. In that historical period Jews had the status of "dhimmi". They had certain civil rights and freedom of religion, but at the same time there were a number of restrictions. For example, a ban on riding horses, carrying weapons.
Prerequisites for the formation of Israel - a Jewish state
Only in late XIX centuries, Jews began to strive to return to their historical lands. After 1881, the first settlers left for Palestine. The next massive wave of immigration occurred in the lead-up to World War I. In the territories that belonged to the Ottoman Empire, Jews began to establish their settlements without claiming independence. Basically, people moved to Palestine, guided by their religious beliefs. But there were many Jews planning to build socialist communes on the territory of this country.
Balfour Declaration
The formation of Israel as a state was also facilitated by the fact that on November 2, 1917, Arthur Balfour - British Foreign Secretary - wrote an official letter to Lord Rothschild, who at that time was a representative of the British Jewish community. It said that the government of the state was seriously thinking about creating a national home for Jews in Palestine.
What was the purpose of this declaration? Firstly, this is the acquisition by Great Britain of the right to control the lands of Palestine after the war, on which the creation of a zone of international control was originally envisaged. Secondly, it is the hope that the Jews living in America will force the government of their country to enter the First World War, thereby supporting the dwindling forces of the Allies. Thirdly, this is pressure on Jews living in Russia in order to prevent the spread of Bolshevik ideology and exit Russian Empire from the war.
Consequences of the declaration
When the First ended World War, Palestine has become a British Mandate. Jews began to emigrate to it en masse, which was the first step towards the formation of the state of Israel. By the time the Second World War began, there were 500,000 Jews in Palestine, and by the end of the war another 100,000 were added.
And they continued to move to these lands, which caused violent discontent among Arab Arab demanded that the government stop it. The government went to meet them, despite the fact that the world community during the war years accused the British of hindering the flight of Jews from the Nazi regime to the countries of the Middle East. In Great Britain, it was decided to introduce entry quotas for foreign Jews, but these quotas were not always respected. The situation became extremely tense towards the end of the thirties, when a huge number of immigrants from Germany sparked an uprising of Palestinian Arabs. And then, since 1939, Great Britain categorically banned the migration of Jews to the territories controlled by it.
During the Second World War
The path of the formation of Israel as a state was long and arduous. David Ben-Gurion, who was the leader of the Jewish community, decided to start aggressive protests against British control of Palestine. Since 1944, Jews began to openly show their disobedience and commit audacious Act of terrorism.
International Zionist societies, as well as the United States, did not stand aside. The pressure on London began to intensify. The British government was accused of the deaths of Jewish refugees who tried to illegally cross the sea to Palestine, but were intercepted by British border guards who returned the unfortunate to Europe, where they died at the hands of the Nazis.
After World War II
When World War II finally ended, the formation of Israel as a state became a truly pressing issue. Britain's mandate to govern Palestine continued. In August 1945, the World Zionist Congress, and then the President of the United States, H. Truman, succumbed to pressure from the Jewish communities of his country, proposed to Great Britain to allow the resettlement of more than a million Jews to Palestine. But London did not accept this offer, as politicians foresaw unrest in Arab countries.
As early as October, representatives said that US attempts to make Palestine a Jewish state would inevitably lead to war.
Meanwhile, the attacks continued. In July 1946, the headquarters of the British military administration was blown up by Zionist terrorists. Nearly 100 British citizens died.
UK government decision
Great Britain was economically dependent on the United States and did not want to quarrel. But London did not need a conflict with the Arabs either. Therefore, in 1947, Great Britain refused to control Palestine.
On November 29, 1947, the UN assembly reached a consensus on the Palestinian issue: it was decided to divide the lands into three parts (42% - to Arabs, 56% - to Jews, and 2% of the lands, which included Jerusalem and Bethlehem - by the UN). This resolution was not adopted by the Arab countries.
Bloody clashes between Jews and Arabs became more frequent. The situation has reached its climax. The Arabs began to leave the country en masse. Great Britain, not wanting to get involved in the war, on May 14, 1948, withdrew its troops from Palestine and announced the termination of its mandate.
Long-awaited event
The date of the formation of Israel as a state is considered May 14, 1948. On this significant day, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the interim Jewish government, announced to the world the creation of an independent Jewish state. The President proclaimed the capital - the city of Tel Aviv.
Already on May 17, the USSR and the United States recognized Israel. Unfortunately, diplomats from other countries were unable to translate the Arab-Jewish dialogue into a peaceful channel. Soon after the day of the formation of the state of Israel and the declaration of its independence, several Arab states at once unleashed a war with it. But gradually Israel was recognized by almost all countries of the world.
The role of the USSR in the creation of the Jewish state
The USSR, together with the United States, assisted in the formation of the state of Israel. The most significant role among the Jews of Palestine belonged to emigrants from the Russian Empire. They spread the ideas of socialism. Ben-Gurion was also a native of Russia. A few years after October revolution he came to the USSR on a friendly visit. Once upon a time, Jews contributed to the spread of Bolshevik ideology in the Russian Empire. And at that moment, Stalin expected support from the Russian Jews of Palestine in his plans to increase the influence of the USSR on the affairs of the Middle East and oust Great Britain from there.
But loyalty Soviet leader was short-lived. Anti-Semitic sentiments were encouraged in the USSR, and Jews were no longer allowed to leave the country. After the collapse of the USSR, Jews began to leave for Israel en masse. permanent place residence.
Among the historical accomplishments of the twentieth century, a significant act is that which became fateful for the Jewish people: after two thousand years of dispersion in May 1948, the United Nations decreed the creation of the State of Israel.
I think there will be readers, even knowledgeable enough, who would be interested in learning (or remembering) about the events in the Middle East around the creation of the Jewish state and its struggle for its existence. Moreover, we all know the foreign policy situation that prepared this act, and we know much less about the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that took place in those years on the sidelines of the UN.
All these events are seen in a new light thanks to the unique edition: significant date two-volume collection of documents "Soviet-Israeli relations", prepared jointly by the ministries of foreign affairs of Russia and Israel.
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved a plan for the creation of two independent states in Palestine - a Jewish and an Arab.
Documents show that of all the great powers at that time, the Soviet Union took the most definite and clear position on the question of the partition of Palestine.
Initially, the Soviet leadership was in favor of the creation of a unified Arab-Jewish state, but then inclined to the opinion that the division of the mandated territory would be the only reasonable option for resolving the conflict between the Yishuv and the Arabs of Palestine.
The position of the USSR
Defending Resolution No. 181 at the Second Special Session of the UN General Assembly in April 1948, A. A. Gromyko emphasized: “The partition of Palestine makes it possible for each of the peoples inhabiting it to have their own state. Thus, it makes it possible to radically settle relations between peoples once and for all. "
Both the USA and the USSR in November voted for Resolution No. 181. The position of the USSR remained unchanged. The United States sought to postpone and modify the text of the resolution before the vote. The "adjustment" of US Middle East policy took place on March 19, 1948, when at a meeting of the UN Security Council, an American representative expressed the opinion that after the end of the British mandate, "chaos and a major conflict" would arise in Palestine, and therefore, he said, the United States believed that temporary custody should be established over Palestine. Thus, Washington actually opposed Resolution 181, which it voted for in November.
The Soviet representative SK Tsarapkin spoke out against: “No one can dispute the high cultural, social, political and economic level of the Jewish people. Such people cannot be patronized. Such people have all the rights to their independent state. "
UK is against
Great Britain was consistently anti-Jewish at this crucial moment. Forced to renounce the Palestine mandate, it voted against Resolution 181, and then pursued an essentially obstructionist policy, creating serious obstacles to the settlement of the Palestinian problem. Thus, the British government did not fulfill the decision of the UN General Assembly to open a port in Palestine on February 1, 1948 for Jewish emigration. Moreover, British authorities detained in neutral waters Mediterranean Sea ships with Jewish emigrants and forcibly sent them to Cyprus, and even to Hamburg.
April 28, 1948, speaking to the House of Commons British Parliament, Foreign Minister E. Bevin said that, in accordance with the Transjordan agreement, concluded in March, Great Britain "intends to continue to provide funds for the maintenance of the Arab Legion, as well as send military instructors." The maintenance of the Arab Legion cost the British two and a half million pounds a year; it was headed by the English General John Glubb ("Glabb Pasha"), command staff was manned by the British.
Why did the USSR defend the Jews' right to their statehood and why did the USA want to at least postpone the adoption of Resolution No. 181?
The USSR wanted to remove imperialist Great Britain from the Middle East, to strengthen its positions in this strategic region.
It is possible that Stalin saw in the struggle of the Jews for their statehood a "national liberation movement", hoped that the socialist settlers would establish in Palestine a democratic (atheistic) state, friendly to the Soviet Union.
Fighting "cosmopolitanism" in the United States
There is an opinion that the US government, long before the events of the 40s, took an unequivocally pro-Zionist position on the Palestinian question. This is not true. In fact, in the approach to solving this problem, the United States showed serious hesitation due to strong pro-Arab and anti-Jewish sentiments in the country's ruling circles.
Anti-Semitic sentiment prevailed in the United States at that time. Suffice it to recall the anti-Semitic campaign of Henry Ford, who replicated the "Protocols wise men of Zion". Anti-Jewish sentiment intensified even more when, in 1947, the famous “Hollywood Ten” film-writers and directors were accused of “anti-American activities” - eight of them were Jews. So in the United States, too, they fought against "cosmopolitanism" in their own way.
In these conditions, two powerful lobbies clashed: the oil monopolies with multi-billion dollar investments in Arab countries and the Jewish lobby not only in the United States, but also internationally.
The White House is facing difficult choice... The United States was approaching presidential elections... The five million Jewish electorate could not be ignored.
And finally, the United States could not afford to remain isolated when it became clear that the majority of countries would vote for Resolution 181 at the UN General Assembly.
The British Mandate officially ended at 12:00 noon on May 14, 1948. At 4 pm in Tel Aviv, at a meeting of members of the Jewish National Council, the creation of the State of Israel was proclaimed. On May 15, the Arab League declared that “all Arab countries from that day on, they are in a state of war with the Jews. " On the night of May 14-15, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen invaded Palestine from the north, east and south, and King Abdullah hastened to issue new banknotes with his portrait and the inscription: "Hashemite Arab Kingdom".
The foreign policy situation of Israel at that time was difficult: a hostile Arab environment, an unfriendly position of England, unstable support for the United States and changing attitudes. worst attitude with the Soviet Union.
Israel's Western orientation
The latter was inevitable. Democratic politic system Israel and its pro-Western orientation, which did not meet the hopes of the Stalinist leadership.
In 1951, Israel was visited by a correspondent for the "Novoye Vremya" magazine. He wrote: "Israel's three years of existence cannot fail to disappoint those who expected that the emergence of a new independent state in the Middle East would help strengthen the forces of peace and democracy."
And in 1956 in the magazine " International life"It was said:" Israel launched a war against the Arab countries literally the next day after the English flag was lowered in Jerusalem on May 14, 1948, and the formation of the State of Israel was proclaimed. "
And the United States signed a Mutual Security Assistance Agreement with Israel. And they provided Israel with a $ 100 million loan, which indicated that young state has contact not only with American Jews, but also with the government of this country.
It became increasingly clear that Israel's future would increasingly depend on friendly relations with the United States. But, on the other hand, it was necessary to maintain positive relations with the USSR. Not only the government, but also a significant part of the population of the revived Jewish state were interested in the development of economic, cultural and military cooperation with a powerful power, which also had great authority in the world after the victory over Nazi Germany.
On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the October Revolution, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion sent congratulations to Stalin. In Tel Aviv on November 8, 1952, the House of Friendship between Israel and the USSR was inaugurated.
US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in a personal conversation with British Ambassador MacDonald in November 1948, said: “England turned out to be an unreliable guide in the Middle East - her predictions so often did not come true. We must strive to maintain Anglo-American unity, but the United States must be the senior partner. "
It was precisely this division of roles that developed in the future - the United States gradually became the “guide” in the Middle East.
The first kingdom of Israel appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 10th century. BC. However, this country did not last long as an independent. From the 7th century it was under the control of various conquerors until it was captured by the Roman Empire in 63 BC. This territory has always given the Romans a lot of problems, including because of the Jewish religion: the canons of Judaism forbade worshiping the Roman emperor as a deity, which was a prerequisite for loyalty local authorities in the eyes of Rome.
In 135 A.D. an unsuccessful uprising against the Romans took place on the territory of the Israeli province. These unrest had a serious impact on the fate of the Jewish people. By the decision of the emperor, the Jews were expelled from the territory of their province as punishment, and other peoples occupied it. This marked the beginning of the emergence of Jewish communities throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.
Over time, Jewish communities appeared on the Slavic lands.
The emergence of the modern Israeli state
At the end of the XIX century. among the Jews, a desire arose to return to the historical lands of Israel. The first settlers went to Palestine after 1881, another wave came in the period before the First World War. Jews created settlements in the territories belonging to the Ottoman Empire, and for the time being did not claim independence.
The bulk of Jews moved to Palestine for religious reasons, but there were those who planned to build socialist communes on the territory of the country.
After the First World War, Palestine became a British Mandate. The resettlement of Jews to these lands continued, but it caused discontent among the Arab population. Britain introduced entry quotas for foreign Jews, but they were not always respected. Most acute situation developed in the late thirties, when a large influx of Jews from Germany triggered an uprising of Palestinian Arabs. As a result, Great Britain has banned Jewish migration to its controlled territories since 1939.
After the Second World War, the problem of creating a Jewish state became truly urgent. Since 1947, Great Britain has relinquished control of Palestine. The USA and the USSR came to an agreement on the Palestinian issue - it was decided to divide the land between Jews and Arabs. Thus, the date of the founding of Israel can be considered May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the creation of an independent Jewish state. However, diplomats from other countries failed to translate the dialogue between Arabs and Jews into a peaceful channel. Soon after the declaration of Israel's independence, several Arab states began a military conflict with it. Nevertheless, gradually Israel was recognized by almost all countries of the world.
And Stalin's anti-Semitism, which can be read about in almost all of his biographies, was neither religious, nor ethnic, nor everyday. It was political and manifested itself in the form of anti-Zionism, not Judeophobia. In Georgia, where Stalin grew up, there were no Jewish ghettos, and the Georgian Jewish diaspora was assimilated into Georgian culture. Jews have lived in Georgia for centuries. They appeared in Transcaucasia from Palestine and Persia, and not from Europe, spoke Georgian and had Georgian names. Stalin's anti-Zionism manifested itself most noticeably after the war, when the "Jewish question" became acute an international problem... Social and legal position Russian Jews have radically improved precisely after the October Revolution. This was primarily facilitated by the abolition of the Jewish Pale of Settlement and the support of the Jewish intelligentsia for socialist ideals. However, the USSR was an anti-religious state, and therefore Jewish religious communities continued to be oppressed, but no more than Orthodox, Muslim or Catholic. Buddhism was completely banned. In the USSR there were no days off or vacations tied to any religious holidays, and not only Christmas and Easter, traditionally celebrated in Russia, were considered working days, but the seven-day week was canceled in the 1920s and in the 30s - until 1936 of the year. Plants, factories, schools and other institutions worked on the basis of "six days", five working days and the sixth day off. This provided two days off at the end of those 31-day months. All these anti-religious and calendar reforms were carried out in the "Leninist" period Soviet power, that is, until 1924. The peak of anti-religious decrees was observed in 1921, coinciding with the onset of the famine, the more liberal economic policy(NEP) and the end of the Civil War. Islam and Judaism find it harder to get along with communist regime, how Orthodox Christianity since they are related to a large number ritual duties and contain elements of legislation. The legalization of the church, carried out by Stalin in 1943, concerned only Orthodox religion and did not apply to Islam, Judaism and Catholicism. During the war and after the war, especially brutal repressions fell on the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus and Crimea and on Catholic communities in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and in Western Ukraine... State anti-Semitism was hidden and disguised as a fight against cosmopolitanism. It emerged as an inevitable government response to the rise of Jewish nationalism that emerged from the Nazi genocide of the Jews. It was the extermination of Jews in Europe, carried out with unprecedented cruelty in the history of civilizations, that led to the need to create an independent Jewish state. This was possible after the war only on the territory of Palestine, which did not have international legal status even in 1945. The Crimean project of the JAC could not be an alternative, since the creation of a truly independent Jewish state on the territory of the USSR was impossible.
The political nature of Stalin's attitude to Jewish problems is evident from the fact that he proved to be an active supporter of the creation of the state of Israel. Even more can be said - without Stalin's support for the project of creating a Jewish state on the territory of Palestine, this state could not have been created in 1948. Since Israel could actually appear only in 1948, since it was at this time that the British mandate for the administration of this territory ended, Stalin's decision directed against Great Britain and its Arab allies was of historical significance.
Until 1918, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, and the establishment of Jewish settlements in Palestine, funded by Zionist organizations, was extremely difficult. After the defeat of the central powers in the First World War and the collapse of the two empires, Austrian and Ottoman, a large number of new states were formed, the borders of which, often very arbitrarily, were determined by the victorious countries. Palestine remained simply a "territory", the mandate for which the newly created League of Nations handed over to Great Britain. In 1919, this territory was home to 568,000 Muslim Arabs, 74,000 Christians and 58,000 Jews. The British government, unlike the Turkish sultan, did not prohibit the immigration of Jewish settlers, but introduced a strict quota of no more than 10,000 people a year. The Arabs strongly opposed the settlement of Palestine by Jews, and the entire period of the British mandate on this territory was full of conflicts between the Arab and Jewish populations. During the Second World War, illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine increased sharply. These were mainly refugees from Europe and North Africa, where battles were fought between the German and British armies. Continuous conflicts between armed groups of Jews and British garrisons became commonplace. By 1946, Britain was unable to maintain stability in Palestine and decided to abandon its mandate. By February 1947, when the United Nations created a special commission on Palestine, 1,091,000 Muslim Arabs, 614,000 Jews and 146,000 Christians were living in the Mandatory Territory.
The Palestinian problem turned out to be very difficult for the UN as well. Great Britain, whose mandate expired in May 1948, insisted on the creation of a single multi-ethnic Palestinian state. According to this principle, the neighboring independent republic of Lebanon was created in 1943, which was also ruled by France since 1919 under the mandate of the League of Nations. In Lebanon in 1943, Christians, Orthodox Greeks, Armenians and Maronites made up just under half the population, about 7 percent were Druze, and the rest were Muslims, Shiites, and Sunnis in roughly equal proportions. Other UN members, given the conflicting relations between Arabs and Jews, proposed the creation of a federal state like Yugoslavia or Switzerland. This project was difficult to implement, since the three main religious and ethnic groups in Palestine did not have enough isolated territories and were mixed.
The third project, which was supported primarily by the United States and the USSR, assumed the division of Palestine into two independent states - Palestinian and Jewish. The Jewish state could include areas with a predominance of the Jewish population with a center in Tel Aviv; most of the rest of the territory was withdrawn into the Palestinian Arab state. Jerusalem was supposed to be declared an "open city" under international control. It was impossible to discuss the problem of Palestine in the UN Security Council, since Great Britain had the right to veto in this case. The solution to the problem could be reached only by voting at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly. To prepare the draft for voting, a special commission on Palestine was created. This commission, which worked for several months, recommended for voting in the UN exactly that project of the two states, which was supported, first of all, by the USA and the USSR. Great Britain and all Arab and Muslim countries were against it. The main difficulty the adoption of the recommended draft was that, according to the UN Charter, not a simple majority should vote for it, but two-thirds of the countries that were members of the UN. Under these conditions, the position of the USSR, that is, Stalin, was critical. Stalin practically controlled the votes of five UN member states: the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia and Poland. In 1947, the UN had only 60 members. The countries that were considered aggressors in the recently ended war - Germany, Japan, Austria, Romania, Hungary and some others have not yet been admitted to the UN. Most of African and almost half Asian countries still belonged to the category of colonies.
The second session of the UN General Assembly, which opened in September 1947, assumed the responsibilities of the interim committee on Palestine and discussed all aspects of the problem in great detail, having heard not only the report of the subcommittee, which included the USA and the USSR, but also the subcommittee of Muslim countries. The atmosphere in the debate before the preliminary vote on 25 November 1947 was very tense. In support of the creation of two independent states in Palestine, 25 countries voted, 13 countries opposed the project and 17 countries, including Great Britain and Yugoslavia, abstained. Yugoslavia, although it was part of the Soviet bloc in 1947, supported the idea of a federal Palestine. The USSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Czechoslovakia and Poland supported the plan to divide Palestine into two independent states.
But for a qualified majority of two-thirds, one vote was not enough. The delegations of the Philippines and Paraguay did not attend the UN Assembly. These countries were US satellites in 1947, and their representatives were rushed to New York. The disappointment for Jewish and Zionist organizations was too much big number abstained. Even a two-thirds majority with 27 votes from 57 countries attending the General Assembly still provided a very weak mandate. Debate and intense lobbying in the days leading up to the final vote on November 29, 1947, was very active.
The chairman of the Soviet delegation to this UN session was Andrei Gromyko, the first permanent representative of the USSR to the UN. In Moscow, at the Foreign Ministry, the work of the Soviet delegation to the UN was monitored mainly by Andrei Vyshinsky, in the past Attorney General, and since 1946 Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Vyshinsky, in turn, received instructions not so much from Molotov as from Stalin, with whom he had friendly ties since the period 1908-1909, when they were both serving sentences in a prison fortress in Baku for revolutionary activities - Stalin as a Bolshevik, Vyshinsky as a Menshevik. It is appropriate to cite excerpts from Gromyko's speeches so that the arguments of the Soviet delegation are clear. Before the preliminary vote, Gromyko spoke in general terms:
“The essence of the problem is the right to self-determination of hundreds of thousands of Jews and also Arabs living in Palestine ... their right to live in peace and independence in their own states. We must take into account the suffering of the Jewish people, to whom none of the states Western Europe could not harm during the period of their struggle against Hitlerism and with Hitler's allies in protecting their rights and their existence ... The UN must help every people to obtain the right to independence and self-determination ... "
“... The experience of studying the question of Palestine has shown that Jews and Arabs in Palestine do not want or cannot live together. A logical conclusion followed from this: if these two peoples inhabiting Palestine, both with deep historical roots in this country, cannot live together within united state, then nothing else remains but to form instead of one two states - an Arab and a Jewish. In the opinion of the Soviet delegation, no other practically feasible option can be invented ... "
In a decisive vote of the UN General Assembly, 33 countries supported the resolution on the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states; Thirteen countries voted against the draft, and the number of abstentions dropped to 10. The five countries of the Soviet bloc provided the required two-thirds majority. If these countries supported the Arab position, the ratio of pros and cons would be 28 to 18. This would not provide a two-thirds majority, and therefore the creation of Israel would not receive a UN mandate. Muslim countries were against the creation of Israel in this vote; Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. India, Greece and Cuba also voted against Yugoslavia and Great Britain, which in the debate opposed the creation of an independent Jewish state, abstained from voting. Yugoslavia could not oppose the USSR, Britain against the United States. Changed their position from the first to the second vote: Belgium, France, Holland, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Liberia, Haiti. All of these countries in 1947 were heavily dependent on American economic aid through the Marshall Plan. Outraged by the decision in favor of Israel, the Arab delegations left New York before the end of the UN. Britain's mandate for Palestine expired on May 14, 1948. In the months leading up to the formal proclamation of the State of Israel, Jews began rapidly building up government infrastructure and an army. All the Arab countries surrounding Palestine at that time began to prepare for war.
When Israel was formally proclaimed on May 17, 1948 independent state, then the next day the United States recognized this state, but only de facto, which did not imply full diplomatic relations. The USSR recognized Israel two days later and immediately de jure. The USSR was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. The United States took the same step only in 1949.
On the day of the proclamation of Israel as an independent state regular armies Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan invaded its territory. The first Arab-Israeli war began. In this war, it was the Soviet Union that provided Israel with prompt and effective military assistance. Sent to Israel via Czechoslovakia and Romania by sea a large number of weapons of all kinds. Most of these weapons were from stocks of German captured equipment. The deliveries included machine guns, mortars, artillery and German Messerschmites. Great Britain, on the other hand, supplied arms to the Arab countries dependent on it. All of these countries, except Lebanon, were in 1947 year monarchies created by Great Britain after the First World War. The United States has declared an arms embargo on the region.
Along with weapons from the countries of Eastern Europe, a large number of Jewish soldiers who had experience of participating in the war against Germany arrived in Israel. Soviet military officers also went to Israel in secret. There are great opportunities for Soviet intelligence... According to General Pavel Sudoplatov, the use of Soviet intelligence officers in combat and sabotage operations against the British in Israel began as early as 1946.
Golda Meir, Israel's first ambassador to Moscow and subsequently Israeli Prime Minister, writes in her memoirs:
“No matter how radically the Soviet attitude towards us changed over the next twenty-five years, I cannot forget the picture that presented itself to me then. Who knows if we would have resisted if not for the weapons and ammunition that we were able to purchase from Czechoslovakia and transport through Yugoslavia and others Balkan countries in those dark days of the outbreak of war, until the situation changed in June 1948? In the first six weeks of the war, we relied heavily on the shells, machine guns and bullets that Haganah [**] managed to purchase from Eastern Europe, while even America declared an embargo on the sending of weapons to the Middle East, although, of course, we did not rely only on this ... The past cannot be crossed out because the present is not like it, and the fact remains: despite the fact that the Soviet Union subsequently turned so violently against us, the Soviet recognition of Israel on May 18 was of great importance to us. This meant that for the first time since the Second World War, the two greatest powers came to an agreement on the issue of supporting the Jewish state, and we, although we were in mortal danger, at least knew we were not alone. From this consciousness - and from the harsh necessity "- we drew that, if not material, then moral strength that led us to victory"
It has often been suggested that Stalin assumed that he would be able to annex Israel to the Soviet bloc. Stalin had no such intention. Israel's pro-American orientation was all too clear. New country was created with the money of wealthy American Zionist organizations, which also paid for the weapons that were purchased in Eastern Europe. In 1947, many in the USSR and Israel believed that the USSR's position in the UN was determined by moral considerations. Gromyko on short term became the most popular person in Israel. Even Golda Meir in 1947 and 1948 was convinced that Stalin was helping Jews out of some lofty moral reason:
"Confession Soviet Union that followed the American had other roots. Now I have no doubt that the main thing for the Soviets was the expulsion of England from the Middle East. But in the fall of 1947, when the debates were taking place in the United Nations, it seemed to me that the Soviet bloc supported us also because the Russians themselves paid for their victory at a terrible price and therefore, deeply sympathizing with the Jews who suffered so badly from the Nazis, they understand that they deserved your state "
In fact, according to Stalin, the creation of Israel at that time and for the foreseeable future was in the foreign policy interests of the USSR. By supporting Israel, Stalin was driving a wedge in US-UK relations and in US-Arab relations. According to Sudoplatov, Stalin foresaw that the Arab countries would subsequently turn towards the Soviet Union, disillusioned with the British and Americans because of their support for Israel. Molotov's assistant Mikhail Vetrov recounted Stalin's words to Sudoplatov:
“Let's agree with the formation of Israel. It will be like an awl in the ass for the Arab states and make them turn their backs on Britain. Ultimately, British influence will be completely eroded in Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Iraq. "
Stalin's foreign policy prediction was largely justified. In arabic and many others Muslim countries the influence of not only Britain, but also the United States was undermined.
Official Records of the General Assembly of UN. Second Session. 12th Meeting. - P. 69-70.
Ibid. 125th Meeting. - P. 1359; A.A. Gromyko's speech at the Plenary meeting of the General Assembly on November 28, 1947 // Foreign policy Soviet Union. 1947 year. Part II. - M .: Gos-politizdat, 1952 .-- P. 241.
Official Records ... 128th Meeting. - P. 1424-1425.
Pavel Sudoplatov. Decree. op. - S. 345; Sudoplatov ... - P. 293.
Meir Golda. My Life. - London: Wpidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975. -P. 188-189; Meup Gold. My life. Autobiography. - Jerusalem: B-ka Alia, 1990 .-- S. 258.
Ibid. - P. 188; in the same place. - S. 257.
Pavel Sudoplatov. Decree. op. - S. 349; Sudoplatov ... - P. 296.
