Moshe Sharett - the Second Prime Minister
Selected Documents (1894 - 1965)
Editing and historical notes: Louise Fischer
The selection of documents by Moshe Sharett
presented in this volume, the sixth in the commemorative series on the
presidents and prime ministers of
For those who take an interest in the history of the establishment of
Nonetheless, Moshe Sharett remains a somewhat shadowy figure, remembered
only as
In this volume we have tried to paint a fuller and more complex picture
of Moshe Sharett's personality and ideas. We have selected 167 documents and
added historical introductions covering all periods of his life, from childhood
in Kherson in Russia, through his family's arrival in Palestine in 1906, their
stay in the Arab village of Ein Sinya and his schooldays in the Herzliyya
Gymnasium in Tel Aviv, to his rise to the first rank of the leadership of the
Yishuv, the Jewish settlement in Palestine, and later of the state of Israel. We
have attempted to show the development of his political thought and activity
from 1919, when he joined "Ahdut Ha'avoda", an early Zionist
socialist party, through his work as a journalist on the Histadrut daily
"Davar”, to his long career in the Political Department of the Jewish
Agency where he represented Mapai, the Zionist Labour party. We have laid
particular emphasis on his attitude towards the Arabs, which moved from the
suspicion and hostility expressed in his early writings to the clearsighted statement
in his letter to Ben-Gurion of 24th September 1921, that there might be no
possibility of co-operation with the Arabs for many years and no other way
forward for the Zionist movement but that of immigration, fortification and
defence of its positions. Thus, Sharett's work in the Political Department, at
first as the assistant of Chaim Arlozorov and later, after Arlozorov's
assassination in June 1933, as the head of the department, focused on
strengthening the Yishuv, in the hope that one day agreement with the Arabs
would be possible.
Sharett had to steer a course between the needs of the Yishuv, the
policies of the British mandatory government and the hostility of the
Palestinian Arabs. During the Second World War Sharett's senior colleagues
Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion were frequently absent from
From 1945 on Sharett supported the policy of armed struggle against
British immigration policy, even though he was seen by many as "the most
moderate of the radicals". He was held in the Latrun internment camp for
over four months. After Weizmann was deposed as president of the World Zionist
Organization in 1946, Sharett became the Zionists' most important international
spokesman. The high points of Sharett's activity were the struggle to pass the
partition resolution at the UN General Assembly on the setting up of a Jewish
state and the defence of the resolution and of the gains of the 1948 war. This
activity culminated in the admission of
On becoming foreign minister in 1948, Sharett, with the help of his
director-general, Walter Eytan, laid the foundations for the structure of the
ministry, developed its code of practice and coined many diplomatic terms in
Hebrew. His influence was not limited to foreign policy, and Sharett also
played an important part in internal policy-making, in areas such as
determining the powers of the government and the ministers, and the state's
treatment of the Arab minority. One of his major achievements was his role in
bringing about the agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany on the
payment of reparations to the State of Israel for Jewish property stolen by the
Nazis. This agreement helped to place the Israeli economy on a solid footing and
enabled the state to absorb the mass of Jewish immigrants.
In 1953
in a number of documents dealing with the policy of retaliation for
border incursions and the question of a preventive war against
Sharett never returned to government office, but remained active in
public life as a man of letters and a statesman. He worked to advance causes
close to his heart, particularly helping new immigrants and improving ties with
world Jewry. In 1961 he became chairman of the Jewish Agency, a post which
provided an outlet for his talents and his great capacity for hard work.
Sharett continued to devote himself to this task, despite his failing health,
almost to his last breath. He passed away on 7th July 1965.
Sharett was a much-loved figure in his time because of the warmth of his
personality and his deep interest in the lives of others. His close ties with
both public figures and ordinary Jews are shown in the many letters received
after his resignation and appreciations written after his death. Up to this day
people in
Unlike other leaders of his time who left their families and came to
This volume presents only a small part of the documents and speeches
produced by Sharett during his career. From the tens of thousands of documents
we selected nearly 5,000, of which 167 were included in the book. The documents
come from many sources, in particular the Central Zionist Archives, the Israel
State Archives, the Israel Labor Party Archives and the Sharett family
archives. In order to arrive at the selection we were forced to limit our
search and to concentrate on certain aspects of Sharett's activities; as a
result others are covered in part or not at all. We have laid special emphasis
on the period of Sharett's tenure as prime minister in the spirit of the Law
for Commemoration of Israel's Presidents and Prime
We hope that this volume will provide a fitting platform for Sharett's
views, many of which are still relevant today, and will help to restore Moshe
Sharett to his rightful place in the history of Zionism and of