Eban, Abba

▪ 2003

Aubrey Solomon Meir 

      South African-born Israeli politician and diplomat (b. Feb. 2, 1915, Cape Town, S.Af.—d. Nov. 17, 2002, Jerusalem, Israel), was a key figure in the founding of the state of Israel and served as that country's first permanent representative to the UN (1949–59), first ambassador to the U.S. (1950–59), and longest serving foreign minister (1966–74). Eban was educated in England and studied the classics and Oriental languages at Queens' College, Cambridge. While serving in the British army during World War II, he worked for the Middle East Arab Centre in Jerusalem. After the war he was a political information officer with the Jewish Agency in Palestine, liaison officer with the UN Special Committee on Palestine, and a member of the delegation that lobbied the UN for the partition of Palestine and Israel. Eban was a member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) from 1959 to 1988, and before being named foreign minister he served as minister of education and culture (1960–63) and deputy prime minister (1963–66). A resolute dove, he supported peace with the Palestinians, though he publicly championed Israel's military actions during the Six-Day War. Eban was an eloquent public speaker and wrote several highly regarded books, notably The Tide of Nationalism (1959), The New Diplomacy (1983), and Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (1984), which was based on the nine-part documentary he wrote and narrated for American public television.

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▪ Israeli statesman

in full  Abba Solomon Eban,  original name  Aubrey Solomon  

born February 2, 1915, Cape Town, South Africa

died November 17, 2002, Tel Aviv, Israel

 foreign minister of Israel (1966–74) whose exceptional oratorical gifts in the service of Israel won him the widespread admiration of diplomats and increased support for his country from American Jewry.

      Brought up in England, Eban studied Oriental languages (Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian) and classics and lectured at the University of Cambridge. In 1941, as a British army major, he served as an aide to the British minister of state in Cairo. In 1946 he worked with the Jewish Agency as a political information officer to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. He also served as the liaison officer with the United Nations (UN) Special Committee on Palestine in 1947 and as a member of the delegation to the General Assembly that played a critical role in the passage (1947) of the UN resolution to partition Palestine.

      When the new state of Israel was admitted to membership in the UN in 1949, Eban became its permanent representative and served in that post until 1959. From 1950 to 1959 he served concurrently as ambassador to the United States.

      First elected to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) in 1959, Eban was minister of education and culture under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion, David) from 1960 to 1963, and from 1959 to 1966 he was also president of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He served as deputy prime minister in 1964–65 and later was Israel's foreign minister from 1966 to 1974. As foreign minister, he sought to strengthen relations with the United States and to bring about Israeli association with the European Economic Community. When Israel was threatened with an Arab blockade in May 1967, Eban traveled to Paris, London, and Washington, D.C., to seek a peaceful solution. When diplomacy proved fruitless, Eban supported the military decisions in the Six-Day War (Arab-Israeli wars) in June. His eloquent defense of Israel's actions before the Security Council and the General Assembly of the UN was widely admired. He sat in the Knesset as a member of the Israel Labour Party until 1988.

      Eban's published works include Voice of Israel (collection of speeches, 1957), The Tide of Nationalism (1959), My People (1969), a history of the Jews, An Autobiography (1977), Personal Witness (1992), and Diplomacy for the Next Century (1998).

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