Abba Eban

(1915 - 2002)

 

A brilliant orator, Eban served as diplomat, government minister and Member of Knesset. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he sought to consolidate Israel's relations with the United States and secure association with the European Economic Community. Before and after the Six-Day War, he led Israel in its political struggle in the UN.

•  1946-47 Political information officer for the Jewish Agency in London

•  1947 Liaison officer of the Jewish Agency with the UN Special Committee on Palestine and a member of the Jewish Agency delegation to the UN General Assembly

•  1948 Representative to the UN

•  1949 Permanent representative to the UN

•  1950-59 Ambassador to Washington and permanent representative to the UN

•  1952 Vice President of the UN General Assembly

•  1958-66 President of the Weizmann Institute of Science

•  1959 Elected to the Knesset

•  1959-60 Minister without Portfolio

•  1960-63 Minister of Education and Culture

•  1963-66 Deputy Prime Minister

•  1966-74 Minister of Foreign Affairs

•  1974 Guest professor at Columbia University

•  1974-91 Chairman of the Board of Governors of Beit Berl

•  1974-84 Member of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security

•  1984-88 Chairman of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security

Abba Eban was a member of the American Academy of Sciences. His books include Heritage: Civilization and the Jews, Promised Land, My Country: The Story of Modern Israel, Abba Eban, Voice of Israel, The Tide of Nationalism, My People, the New Diplomacy, Maze of Justice, Personal Witness, and, in 1998, Diplomacy for the Next Century. He was chief consultant and narrator of the nine-part television program Heritage, and editor-in-chief and narrator of the five-part television series Personal Witness: A Nation is Born. He completed The Brink of Peace, a film on the Middle East peace process for the PBS television network in the U.S. He received the Israel Prize in 2001.

He died in Israel on November 17, 2002.

Courtesy of:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Eban.html