MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Israel
Index
In August 1986, the Soviet Union renewed contacts with Israel
for the first time since severing diplomatic relations immediately
following the June 1967 War. The Soviet Union had been an early
supporter of the 1947 UN Partition of Palestine Resolution, and in
1948 it had recognized the newly established State of Israel.
Relations between Israel and the countries of Eastern Europe,
however, markedly worsened in the 1950s. The Soviet Union turned to
Egypt and Syria as its primary partners in the Middle East, and in
the early 1960s it began to support the Palestinian cause and
supply the PLO and other Palestinian armed groups with military
hardware. But in the mid-1980s, Soviet-Union turned its attention
to improving relations with Israel as part of its "new diplomacy"
and a change in its Middle Eastern strategy.
Soviet and Israeli representatives held talks in Helsinki,
Finland, on August 17, 1986. Although the talks did not lead to
renewed diplomatic relations between the two countries, they
indicated Soviet interest in improving ties with Israel. Israel
viewed the Soviet initiative as an attempt to obtain Israel's
agreement to participate in an international peace conference to
resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict and to increase Soviet
involvement in the Middle East as a counterweight to the United
States. The Soviets raised three issues: the activity of the Soviet
section based in the Finnish legation in Tel Aviv; consular matters
connected with the travels of Soviet citizens to Israel; and Soviet
property, mainly that belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, in
Israel. In talks with the Soviets, the Israelis demanded that
greater numbers of Jews be permitted to emigrate to Israel, that a
radical change take place in official Soviet attitudes toward its
Jewish community, and that Moscow cease publishing virulent
anti-Zionist tracts. Soviet and Israeli officials held a number of
additional meetings in 1987.
A major group influencing improved relations between the two
countries was the active Israeli lobby, the Soviet Jewry Education
and Information Center. This lobby represented about 170,000 Soviet
Jews living in Israel, who pressured the government not to restore
diplomatic relations with Moscow until the Soviet Union permitted
free Jewish emigration.
Despite its renewed contacts with Israel, the Soviet Union
continued to support the PLO and the Palestinian cause through
military training and arms shipments. Moscow also used various
front organizations, such as the World Peace Council, to wage
propaganda campaigns against the Israeli regime in international
forums.
Data as of December 1988
|
|