The Only Woman in the Room by Pnina Lahav;

Author:Pnina Lahav; [Lahav;, Pnina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780691201740
Publisher: Princeton UP
Published: 2022-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

The Battle of the Diplomats

In New York Golda presented Israel’s diplomatic defense: if Israel were to withdraw from Gaza it needed assurances that Egypt would stop its guerrilla warfare along Israel’s southern border, which inflicted violence on Israel’s population in the Negev. Moreover, any withdrawal from the Straits of Tiran must be accompanied by international guarantees that Israel would have continued access to shipping routes.19

At her side during the negotiations was the formidable Israeli ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, Abba Eban, a former Cambridge don who was an expert in history and international law, versed in ten languages, and a bon vivant.20 The two diplomats were like oil and water. Golda knew that Ben-Gurion admired Eban’s abilities and resented the fact that following her appointment as minister of foreign affairs Ben-Gurion appointed Eban to be her personal adviser at the ministry. Eban, too, did not harbor much affection or admiration for Golda. Their public attitudes toward one another generally remained cool and aloof. In private, however, neither hesitated to take a swipe at the other. It may well be that Ben-Gurion had adopted a deliberate “divide and conquer” policy, exacerbating the tension between them. Be that as it may, the two rose to the occasion and put the interests of the state ahead of self-interested calculations.

In addition to the staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Golda and Eban had a variety of reinforcements in New York: two public relations firms—Kenmore Associates and Edward Gottlieb and Associates—and scores of friends in high circles, including journalists, media leaders, senators, and members of the House of Representatives. Clearly, “it took a village” to fend off Israel’s many detractors and reverse the anti-Israel climate.

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