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Rejecting peace for an entire century. Israel’s legendary Foreign Minister Abba Eban had famously quipped that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” It is the most fitting attribute for the Palestinians. Historically, they have said no to the British Peel Commission of 1937, which promised them a state on 75% of mandatory Palestine. The Yishuv, Palestine’s Jews, who were originally called Palestinians during the British Mandate (1920-1948) said yes, despite of being offered a small piece of the second partition of Palestine. In the first partition of Mandatory Palestine, in 1922, Winston Churchill, then British Colonial Secretary, sliced off...

Transcript THE MIKE WALLACE INTERVIEW Guest: Abba Eban 4/12/58 WALLACE: Good evening... Tonight we go after a story that has been thousands of years in the making, the story of Israel, a country which celebrates its Tenth Anniversary this month. Our guest... Abba Eban, Israel's Ambassador to the United States and its Chief Delegate to the United Nations. If you're curious to hear Ambassador's Eban's views on the recent mergers by Arab nations which are hostile to Israel, his views on on Egypt's President Nasser and the Arab refugee problem, on American Jewry, and the charge that Israel threatens world...

In June 1967 I became a passionate partisan of Israel just when it seemed likely that the Jewish state would be wiped off the map forever. Taking all my impressions from the American news media, I saw it as a valiant little outpost of civilization besieged by hordes of savage Arabs. Its victory in the Six-Day War seemed miraculous. For me, as for countless others, the noble soul of Israel seemed to be embodied in one man: its UN representative, Abba Eban. Eloquent and mellifluous, exquisitely diplomatic yet very tough, Eban projected the image of Israel as civilized, heroic, and...