Feb. 9, 1994 — Israel, PLO Sign 2nd Agreement
Five months after signing the Declaration of Principles for the Oslo peace process on the White House South Lawn, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat meet in Cairo and sign an agreement on Palestinian self-rule and security cooperation in Gaza and Jericho. The signing comes four days after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin outlined the obstacles to the interim plan during a CNN interview.
Feb. 10, 1913 — Air Force Builder Charles Winters Is Born
Charles Winters, who helps Israel build its air force in 1948, is born in Massachusetts. Winters, who is not Jewish, is a government purchasing agent during World War II and runs an air transport service delivering produce in the Caribbean after the war. Recruited to help obtain surplus U.S. aircraft for secret shipment to Israel, Winters purchases and helps deliver three B-17s, Israel’s only heavy bombers in the War of Independence.
Feb. 11, 1995 — AJC Adopts Israel-Diaspora Policy
AJC President Jacob Blaustein, flanked by Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Labor Minister Golda Meir, announces the signing of the first AJC-Israel agreement Aug. 23, 1950.
The American Jewish Committee announces a new policy statement on Israel-Diaspora relations in light of growing differences between the Jewish communities. Unlike the original 1950 agreement between the AJC and Israel, which emphasized the independence of the U.S. and Israeli Jewish communities, the new statement focuses on interdependence to strengthen connections and Jewish continuity.
Feb. 12, 1994 — Israel’s First Winter Olympian
Michael Shmerkin awaits the judges’ scores at his second Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in 1998. He finished 18th; four years earlier, he was 16th in Lillehammer, Norway.
The Winter Olympics open with an Israeli team for the first time, consisting entirely of figure skater Michael “Misha” Shmerkin, who competes in Lillehammer, Norway, on Feb. 17 and 19 and finishes 16th. Shmerkin, 24, is a native of the Soviet Union who immigrated to Israel with his family in 1991. When he arrived, Israel had only four ice skating rinks, none of which was the size of an Olympic rink.
Feb. 13, 1931 — British PM Rejects White Paper
British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald sends a letter to Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann in which MacDonald disavows the threats to Zionism posed by the Passfield White Paper. The policy proposal, issued in October 1930 in response to the Arab violence of 1929, raises the possibility of restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine. MacDonald’s letter reassures Zionists and angers Palestinian Arabs.
Feb. 14, 1896 — Herzl Publishes ‘Jewish State’
Theodor Herzl’s “Der Judenstaat” (“The Jewish State”) is published in Vienna with a print run of 500 copies. French and English translations soon follow. With the subtitle “An Attempt at a Modern Solution to the Jewish Question,” the pamphlet calls for Jews to organize themselves to gain their own territory, oversee immigration and settlement, and eventually form their own state. He organizes the First Zionist Congress in 1897.
Feb. 15, 1975 — Cairo Jewish Leader Salvator Cicurel Dies
A former leader of Cairo’s Jewish community, 1928 Olympic fencer Salvator Cicurel, dies. As a national sports figure and the head of a retail empire whose flagship store covered two city blocks in Cairo, Cicurel retained his position during Israel’s War of Independence, when the Egyptian government seized many Jewish-owned businesses. But he was forced to sell his store after the 1956 Suez war and left Egypt in 1957.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.