Summary
The American ultimatum, in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, that Israel concede the Negev and leave the entire territory south of the 31st Parallel, including Beersheva, outside the borders of the State — a “diktat”, the book says, to which the government of Israel nearly submitted, and whose rejection was made possible by Israel’s practical dependence on the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.105-106).
Details
- The book introduces the episode under the heading “The cease-fire rescued the enemy from total defeat”, as the heavy pressure the Western powers exerted on Israel in territorial and military matters: “The “Line 31” affair is hardly remembered any more” — the American ultimatum according to which Israel was to concede the Negev and leave all territory south of the 31st Parallel, including Beersheva, outside the State, the government nearly submitting to “this diktat” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.105).
- The episode surfaced in the Knesset discussion of Israel’s support for the US position on Korea, when MK Zizling (then Mapam, now Unity of Labour) flung at Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett: “In the Provisional Government the foreign minister did not find strength of spirit when there was American pressure to set line 31 as the border of our country; others decided to reject the pressure and the ultimatum” (Knesset Records Vol.7, p.108, 31/10/50, quoted at PDF p.105-106).
- Zizling explained what made rejection possible: the Provisional Government’s policy “included in practice dependence on the USSR in the UN” and the search for, and reception of, support from Poland and Czechia, with a Soviet veto expected if the General Assembly resolutions of 29/11/47 were threatened with annulment (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.106).
- The authors’ verdict on the episode, in their own words: “If US extortion failed in this episode, things turned out differently in others” — the contrast drawn is with the December 1948 Sinai withdrawal, where American-transmitted British pressure succeeded (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.106).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, United States, Soviet Union, Yitzhak Sadeh, Czechoslovak arms deal