Translator: Davood Salehan
Source: Rasekhoon.net
Source: Rasekhoon.net
In the context of Khrushchev's new Third World Policy, from 1955the Soviet Union placed its agenda entirely in favor of the Arabs. The new Khrushchev's Middle East policy was in conflict with Israel. During the years 1945-55, when the Baghdad treaty was organized within the framework of controlling American measures against the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union publicly voiced its disagreement. Israel was also concerned about the treaty and received weapons from the West. It seemed like conditions led Israel get closer to the Soviet Union. But with the policies of Jamal Abdel Nasser and the conversion of Egypt to the opposition to the Baghdad treaty, the protection of the Palestinians and their attacks on the Israelis circumstances start to change. Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip for the Soviet Union meant closeness to Baghdad's treaty against Egypt.
The expansion of the dispute between Nasser and Britain over the use of the Suez Canal was accompanied by an intensification of Palestinian federalist activities against the Israelis. The Soviet Union tried to take advantage of the opportunity and be active as a mediator in the region. Israel, along with the United States and Britain, opposed the Soviet role in the region, so the Soviet's proposal was rejected for convening an international conference with the Soviet Union to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflicts. In July 1956, Israel invited the Soviet's Foreign Minister, Dmitry Shapilov to visit the country, but it did not receive a satisfactory response. Through the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Jamal Abdel Nasser, the Middle East was on the brink of war. The Soviet Union strongly supported Nasser's orientations towards the United Kingdom. When the Egypt and Israel did not accept the ceasefire, the Soviet Union threatened to send volunteers to support Egyptians. The United States also put pressure on Israel to end the conflict and evacuate the occupied territories.
In this way, the two superpowers supported the conflict within the framework of their considerations. But the pressure of the United States was effective, not the Soviet's threat. Although the Soviet position has made it find a good place among the countries of the West, it strengthened the internal pressure on the Soviet authorities for immigration to Israel. During the journey of Khrushchev to England in April 1955, the leaders of the World Jewish Congress asked him to provide a facility for the Jews in the Soviet Union. Given that the visit was the first official visit of the Soviet leaders to the United Kingdom, Jewish leaders, using the opportunity and importance of relations with the West for the Soviet Union, they raised their demands. The British public opinion was considered an appropriate tool to exacerbate pressure on the Soviet Union and providing facilities to the Jews. The leaders of the Jewish World Congress were able to convey the Soviet Union that as long as the issue of Soviet Jews is remained unresolved, the achievement of peace between the East and the West would not be possible. The wishes of the leaders of the Jewish World Congress were the ones that were previously reflected by the Israeli foreign minister to the Soviet authorities. In July 1958, Ben Gurion tried to convince the Soviet leadership that receiving Western weapons would not mean being against the Soviet Union. He requested the Soviets to issue arms, but the Soviet Union refused it. In 1960, Ben Gurion's request to meet Khrushchev was also rejected.
From the point of view of the Soviets, Israel was considered an alliance for West, and the Eisenhower's Doctrine adopted in 1958 at the US Congress, created a complete protection for Israel. Ben Gurion said in 1957 in the Israeli parliament that a Jew in the United States could help Israel. A Russian cannot help the Israeli government because this is prohibited in the Soviet Union. Israel had focused on consolidating ties with the West. The Soviet Union's leadership called for its ambassador to protest Israeli actions and annulled the oil agreements between the two countries. After the withdrawal of Israel from the Egyptian lands, the Soviet ambassador returned to Israel. But relations continued to be cold and completely formal. By 1963, relations between the two countries were in a disruptive period in the perspective of Soviet Union. The Soviet Union pursued its support for the Arabs. Khrushchev's speech at Congress 20 of the Communist Party and the disclosure of Stalin's crimes against the people of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party leaders created the expectation for the Jews in the Soviet Union and beyond that, henceforth, more privileges would be considered for the Jews. It soon became clear that the Stalinization process did not include Jews.
The pressure of Israeli leaders to strengthen the process of immigration to this country has been shaped in such content. In the talks between the leaders and officials of both countries, it was argued that the Soviet Union would provide more facilities for the emigration of the Jews. These issues were repeated in the speeches of Israeli leaders in the parliament or in the presence of people in the general community. In international communities and international conferences and in the written requests sent to the leaders of the Soviet Union, the demand was repeatedly raised. These actions showed it well that leaders of Israel were determined to strengthen the process of immigration of the Jews from the Soviet Union. The Russians were flexible on this demand influenced by the pressure of public opinion in the West. The leaders of the Soviet Union knew that the issue of Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union to Israel is a benchmark for the Western public opinion, and a scale for measuring human rights in the Soviet Union.
The communist parties of European countries also called for the implementation of this policy. In the framework of Khrushchev's peaceful coexistence policy and improving relations with Western countries, the process of immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union to Israel improved. Alexei Kasygin, prime minister of the Soviet Union, during his visit to France responded positively to the mentioned issues. In spite of the continuation of relations between the Soviet Union and Israel, during this period, the leadership of the two countries charged each other with various allegations. Soviet Jews, who were linked to the Israeli youth at the International Youth Festival in Moscow, were prosecuted, or lost their jobs. In 1961, the Israeli Foreign Minister accused the Soviet Union of prosecuting the Jews for contact with the Israelis. In 1962, Soviet officials accused Israeli diplomats of being spies, but Jewish immigration to Israel continued. However, in the years 1954 to 1963, 1,500 men were displaced annually to Israel. While the political relations between the two countries were cold and dark, the process of immigration did not stop completely. Israel in order to achieve its goal in Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union focused on three principles: avoiding provocation of West against the Soviet Union, separating this issue from the confrontation between the two camps of capitalism and socialism, and covering its role as the facilitator and coordinator of this effort. Since 1962, with preventing the self-restraint, Israel emerged as a flagship for strengthening the process of Jewish immigration to Israel.
The Israeli government began to mobilize the Jews of the world to carry out regular activities and stimulate the feelings of the Jewish people of the world about the fate of the Jews of the Soviet Union. The stimulation of public opinion about the Soviet Jews was aided by the means of mass communication and the intensification of the activity against the Jews. The Israeli government employed pressure groups in parliaments, socialist and communist parties to ask the leaders of the Soviet Union to respect the rights of the Jews and allow them to immigrate to Israel. Under the influence of these actions, many statements were made at the level of international assemblies and global conferences against the Soviet Union and its policies against the Jews. The resolution of International Socialism, the super contact of Anderasel with Khrushchev, the statement of the President of the United States in October 1964 and the final resolution of the European Parliamentary Council in 1965 are among these actions. The leaders of the Soviet Union reciprocally accused Israel of violating the rights of the Palestinians and Arabs. In 1965, the Soviet Union tried to link Zionism and Nazism with each other the in the third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Soviet leadership followed this policy in the next decade. Follow-up efforts by the country's leadership were aimed at suppressing Israel's anti-humanitarian policies against the Palestinians.
The chauvinistic nationalism of the Israelis against the rest of the people living in Palestine was attacked by Moscow's affiliated sources. The Soviet Union government was in a clear process of opposition to Israel and the United States, which was well understood within the framework of the relationship between the two superpowers and their conflicts globally and in the Middle East. The expulsion of Israeli diplomats from Moscow in the mid-1960s showed a sharp blurry relation between the Soviet Union and Israel. The two countries increasingly intensified hostile policies against each other. In the second half of the 1960s, the strategic relationship between the United States and Israel increased. In 1966, the cultural relations between Israel and the Soviet Union were cut off, and the situation continued after six days war of political relations between the two countries. Moscow's decision to re-cut relations with Israel illustrated the fact that the two countries were unable to continue relations under the influence of the governing conditions in the region. In fact, Israel's efforts to strengthen the process of immigration from the Soviet Union in the context which the encounter of the two camps had formed the basis of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, made it impossible to keep relations.
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