Description:

DAVID BEN GURION
(1886 - 1973) Israeli politician, proclaimed the independence of Israel in 1948, headed the provisional government, and was later Prime Minister. Phenomenal content T.L.S. as Defense Minister, 1p. 8vo., Tel Aviv, May 29, 1955, on State of Israel letterhead to Jerusalem mayor Moshe Dayan. In Hebrew, in part: "...I have to tell you about the meeting...with the French Ambassador Pierre Zelber and...the French Defense Minister, Borziah Monrey [Bourges-Manoury] and...Exterior Minister Christian Pino; they are worried about Egypt's interference in Algeria. Egypt is giving back munitions to the Algerian rebels - weapons that she received in the last weapons deal with Czechoslovakia. I told him that I was also worried about the weapons deal and also for the State of Israel...". This letter represents a profoundly important moment in modern Middle East history, when Israel's very existence was in doubt. Before the meeting described in this letter, Israel had been unable to find Western military backing. France, struggling against an Algerian guerrilla movement, realized they shared a common enemy with Israel in Egypt, who had both threatened Israel with war and supplied Algerians with Soviet weapons. Three months after this letter, Bourges-Manoury and Shimon Peres concluded a secret agreement of cooperation between France and Israel, under which a once reluctant France would supply arms to the Israelis. The 1956 Protocol of Sevres - a secret agreement between France, Israel and Britain to respond militarily to Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal - soon followed. In addition, France and Great Britain agreed to help Israel build nuclear capabilities in Negev. In less than a decade, a Soviet-supplied and Egyptian-led coalition would clash with a Western-backed Israel during the Six-Day War, laying the foundation for decades of Middle East conflict. Minor folds, else fine.

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May 14, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
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