Zionism Without Zion: The Jerusalem Question, 1947–1949

Journal of Israeli History

Volumn 16, Issue 1, 1995, Pages 39-52

  Golani, Motti ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 24944454992     PISSN: 13531042     EISSN: 17440548     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13531049508576051     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. 1 See, for example, Uri Bialer, “Jerusalem 1949: Transition to Capital City Status” (Hebrew), Cathedra, vol. 35, April 1985, pp. 163-191; and
2. Meir Pa’il, “Israeli-Zionist Strategy regarding Jerusalem during the War of Independence” (Hebrew), in Jerusalem in the Modern Period: Yaacov Herzog Memorial Volume, Eli Shaltiel, ed., Jerusalem, 1981, pp. 355–383.
3. 2 David Ben-Gurion, Memoirs, IV (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1974, pp. 230, 237–238. Ben-Gurion’s letter to Wise, June 23, 1937; his letter to Shertok, July 23, 1937 (Hebrew).
4. 3 Ben-Gurion, Memoirs, pp. 260-261; Ben-Gurion’s letter to the Mapai Central Committee, July 1, 1937 (Hebrew).
5. 4 Ben-Gurion, Memoirs, pp. 61–62. Ben-Gurion’s response to Professor Brodetzky’s memorandum on the partition of the Land of Israel (Hebrew), April 12, 1937, Central Zionist Archives (hereafter CZA), S25/5474.
6. 5 For the Zionist leadership’s testimony to UNSCOP, see Official Records of the Second Session of the General Assembly, Supplement No. 2 – United Nations Special Committee to Palestine, III, New York, 1947.
7. 6 Shertok’s speech to the Zionist Executive Committee (Hebrew), August 25, 1947, CZA S25/320.
8. 7 Ben-Gurion, Diary (Hebrew), September 2, 1947, Diary Section, Ben-Gurion Archive (hereafter BGA).
9. 8 Meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive in Jerusalem (Hebrew), Octcober 26, 1947, CZA, 45/1; Ben-Gurion’s letter to Shertok (Hebrew), October 23, 1947, BGA, Correspondence.
10. 9 Eliahu Elath, The Struggle for Statehood, vol. 11 (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1982, pp. 384–385.
11. 10 Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, 181 (II), November 1947, Part III: City of Jerusalem. See, for example, the error in this matter in the article by Netanel Lorch, “Ben-Gurion and Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital” (Hebrew), in Jerusalem in Zionist Vision and Realization, Collected Essays, Hagit Lavsky, ed., Jerusalem, 1989. In general, I accept Lorch’s descriptions, but in the matter of the proposed referendum, he did not, in my opinion, fully consider the significance of the Zionist decision regarding the political future of Jerusalem.
12. 11 See G. Rivlin and E. Oren, eds., The War of Independence – Ben-Gurion‘s Diary (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1982, December 9, 1947, p. 28; and Meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive (Hebrew), Jerusalem, December 14, 1947, CZA 45/1; Minutes of “Meeting on Shem [the Arabs] in Tel Aviv,” December 1–2, 1948 (Hebrew), Hakibbutz Hameuchad Archives (hereafter KMA), Galili Files, Container 1, File C.
13. 12 See, for example, minutes of the D Committee (the Jerusalem Committee) meeting (Hebrew), January 7, 1948, Israeli State Archives (hereafter ISA), 14/279.
14. 13 Memorandum from Ben-Zion Michaeli, President of the Herzliya Local Council, to the members of the Jewish Agency Executive and the National Committee Executive, December 19, 1947 (Hebrew); Ben-Gurion’s reply, December 24, 1947, CZA S25/564. See also letter from Fisher to Shertok (Hebrew), February 18, 1948, G. Yogev, ed., Political and Diplomatic Documents, December 1947-May 1948, ISA, Jerusalem, 1979, Document No. 214, Note 5.
15. 14 History of the Hagana, III, part 2 (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1972, pp. 1330-1331; letter from Ben-Gurion to Ephraim Ben-Zvi (Hebrew), October 6, 1947.
16. 15 Itzhak Levy (Levitsa), Jerusalem in the War of Independence (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1986, pp. 138, 180.
17. 16 See, for example, Ben-Gurion’s speech at the Popular Assembly meeting, May 12, 1948 (Hebrew), ISA, Jerusalem, 1978, pp. 80–81.
18. 17 See, for example, “Meeting on Shem [the Arabs]’” (Hebrew), January 1–2, 1948, KMA, Galili Files, Container 1, File C; Yogev, Political and Diplomatic Documents, ISA, document No. 344; Yitzhak Ben-Zvi’s memorandum to the members of the Jewish Agency Executive (Hebrew), April 5, 1948.
19. 18 Meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive (Hebrew), April 21, 1948, CZA S25/2.
20. 19 For a comprehensive discussion of the contacts with Abdullah, see Yoav Gelber, “The Negotiations of the Jewish Agency with Egypt and Transjordan 1946-1948” (Hebrew), Cathedra, 35, 1985, pp. 152-161;
21. and Avraham Sela, “King Abdullah and the Government of Israel During the War of Independence – Another View,” part 1 (Hebrew), Cathedra, 57, September 1990, pp. 120-162; ibid., part 2, 58, December 1990, pp. 172–193.
22. 20 David Ben-Gurion, When Israel Fought (Hebrew), Tel Aviv, 1975, p. 183.
23. 21 Popular Assembly meeting (Hebrew), May 12, 1948, ISA, p. 102.
24. 22 G. Ridman to M. Shertok (Hebrew), July 22, 1948, Yehoshua Freundlich, ed., Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, vol. 1, Jerusalem, 1981, document 358, note 2; Bialer, in “Jerusalem 1949: Transition to Capital City Status,” pp. 164–170, claims that Israeli deliberations on the question of continued reconciliation with the UN resolution on the Jerusalem question had their beginnings at the end of 1948. It would seem that they had already begun at the time of the first ceasefire. The first informal indications of nonreconciliation with internationalization can be found as early as April 1948, in the light of the gains made on the road to the city.
25. 23 M. Shertok to M. Fisher in Paris, July 30, 1948, Freundlich, Documents, document no. 44. The contents of this cable were transferred to the French foreign ministry; briefing given by Shertok to the foreign ministry staff (Hebrew), September 10, 1948, ISA 2443/4.
26. 24 On the approach that links the Bernadotte murder with the rescinding of his plan, see Z. Zameret’s interview with Meshullam Makover of LEHI, who was a member of the team that assassinated the UN mediator, in The First Year of Independence 1948–1949 (Hebrew), Mordecai Naor, ed., Jerusalem, 1988, pp. 155–156.
27. 25 Speech to the Mapai Council (Hebrew), January 12, 1949. The speech should be viewed in the light of two upcoming events: the armistice talks with Egypt which were to open the following day, January 13 (Egypt was the first Arab state to open armistice talks with Israel and it was important to Ben-Gurion that he set out a clear political line before they began); and the elections to the First Knesset that were held on January 25 and which were highlighted by the contention between Mapai and Mapam on the question of political-security activism.
28. 26 Bialer, pp. 170–180. Bialer’s discussion mainly encompasses the period between September 1948 and December 1949.
29. 27 Ibid., p. 168.
30. 28 See Shertok’s letter to the Israel delegation to the UN (Hebrew), November 4, 1949, ISA 87/11.
31. 29 Ben-Gurion, Diary, December 14, 1949, BGA.
32. 30 Bialer, p. 164.
33. 31 Ben-Gurion, Diary, December 14, 1949, BGA.
34. 32 Shertok to Walter Eytan (Hebrew), December 15, 1949, ISA 2308/16.
35. 33 Zaki Shalom, “Israel’s Struggle to Thwart UN Resolutions on the Internationalization of Jerusalem in the 1950s” (Hebrew), lyunim Bitkumat Israel,3, 1993, pp. 76, 84.