Cambridge Archive Editions

These 4400 pages are the collected British government political and economic reports on the state of Israel from its creation in May 1948 to the end of the first premiership of David Ben Gurion. Ben Gurion, regarded as the 'Father of Israel', held the post of Defence Minister as well as Prime Minister during the first 5 years of the Israeli state, throughout the War of Independence, the first wave of immigration, the implementation of mass settlement, development projects and the signing of a reparations agreement with Germany. This was one of the most important periods in the history of the Middle East and the Jewish people in particular. The documents are written by British civil servants working in Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem and show the difficulties faced by the new administration in its relations with its Arab neighbours, the US and UK governments and international bodies like the United Nations.