December 5, 1949 — Ben-Gurion Rejects International Status for Jerusalem
David Ben-Gurion signs the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948. Within 19 months, Ben-Gurion reiterated that Israel would never accept an international status for all of Jerusalem. By Hans Pinn, National Photo Collection of Israel.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declares in a Knesset speech that “Jewish Jerusalem is an organic, inseparable part of the State of Israel” and that Israel rejects any attempt by the United Nations to declare Jerusalem an international city outside Israeli sovereignty. Ben-Gurion speaks amid U.N. debates about how to implement the part of Resolution 181 that calls for establishing an international jurisdiction around Jerusalem.
December 6, 1867 — Zionist Leader Leo Motzkin Is Born
Leo Motzkin received this card as a participant in the First Zionist Congress in 1897.
Leo Motzkin, the chairman of the Zionist Executive from 1925 to 1933, is born into a traditional Jewish family in what is now Brovary, Ukraine. Motzkin becomes interested in Zionism after witnessing the 1881 pogrom in Kyiv. He attends the First Zionist Congress in 1897 and advocates the Basel Program for a Jewish state. While devoting his life to Zionism, he also emphasizes the rights and protection of Diaspora Jews.
December 7, 1953 — Ben-Gurion Resigns, Is Succeeded by Sharett
Prime Minister Moshe Sharett visits his predecessor, David Ben-Gurion, at his Sde Boker home in February 1955. By November, Ben-Gurion was back as prime minister. Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, announces his resignation and his plan to retire to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev. He is succeeded by fellow Mapai member Moshe Sharett, the foreign minister. Ben-Gurion also gives up the role of defense minister, which is taken by Pinchas Lavon. But Ben-Gurion remains in the Knesset. He returns to the Cabinet in February 1955 and becomes prime minister again in November 1955.
December 8, 1932 — 1st Knesset Speaker Sprinzak Is Born
Yosef Sprinzak represented Mapai in the Knesset for a decade. By Teddy Brauner, National Photo Collection of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Yosef Sprinzak, the first speaker of the Knesset and a two-time interim president of Israel, is born in Moscow. He and his Zionist family settle in Warsaw after Jews are expelled from Moscow in 1891. He starts the Zeirei Zion (Youth of Zion) in 1905, makes aliyah in 1910, and helps establish many of the institutions that form the state’s foundation, such as the Histadrut labor federation, the Assembly of Representatives and Bank Hapoalim.
December 9, 1987 — First Intifada Breaks Out
Residents of the Bracha settlement protest the government’s handling of the Palestinian uprising during Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit in January 1989. Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Riots erupt in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in what comes to be recognized as the start of the First Intifada (“uprising”). The immediate cause is the crash of an Israeli army truck Dec. 8 that kills four Palestinians. Instead of an accident, some Arabs suspect that the wreck is retaliation for the stabbing death of a Jewish businessman in Gaza on Dec. 6. The protests unleash anger that has built in Gaza and the West Bank since 1967.
December 10, 2000 — Barak Resigns as Prime Minister
Prime Minister Ehud Barak meets with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat at the Camp David summit July 20, 2000. Barak’s failure to finalize a peace deal with Arafat represented an unfulfilled political promise. White House.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak submits his surprise resignation amid the Second Intifada and calls for a special election for prime minister within 60 days. Barak hopes to win a national vote of confidence against the Likud leader, Ariel Sharon, and to avoid a rematch with Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he defeated in 1999 with unfulfilled peace promises. The ploy does not work: Barak receives only 37% in the election Feb. 6, 2001.
December 11, 1947 — British Announce End of Mandate
British Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones (left) speaks with Moshe Sharett, the Jewish Agency’s representative to the United Nations, in March 1948. U.N. Photo/MB.
Arthur Creech Jones, the British colonial secretary, opens a debate in the House of Commons about Palestine by revealing that the mandate will end May 15, 1948, and that all British troops will be withdrawn by Aug. 1. He expresses the hope that “Palestine and the Arab world … can now proceed to play a larger part in the general pattern of mankind’s march” despite mounting violence between Jews and Arabs.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.