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Sharett, Moshe (Shertok; 1894-1965)
 Israel
statesman and Zionist leader.
Born in the Ukraine, Sharett grew up in a Zionist atmosphere and studied
Hebrew from early childhood. In 1906, his family emigrated to Palestine
where he finished high school. He studied law in Constantinople, and during
the first World War acted as an interpreter for the German army operating
in Turkey; later he studied economics in England.
After returning to Palestine, Sharett became secretary of the Jewish
Agency's political department in 1931, and in 1933, after the murder of
Chaim Arlosoroff, he became head of the department and held the post until
the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. His function was to
maintain day-to-day contacts with the British mandatory authorities in
Palestine and to conduct a wide range of public relations activities furthering
the Jewish cause before the long series of British commissions of inquiry.
Together with other leaders of the Jewish Agency and of the yishuv, he
was arrested by the British in 1947 and detained for four months at Latrun
prison.
Sharett was active in achieving the majority needed in the United Nations
for the acceptance of the Palestine Peartition Plan in 1947. When Israel
was declared an independent state, he Hebraized his name from Shertok
to Sharett, and became its first foreign minister. In January 1954, he
succeeded David Ben Gurion as prime minister when the latter resigned,
but returned to the post of foreign minister in November 1955, when Ben
Gurion resumed the premiership. Eventually, as a result of sharp disagreements
with Ben Gurion, Sharett resigned from office. In 1960 he was elected
chairman of the executive of the Zionist Organization and of the Jewish
Agency, and devoted his last years to Zionist and literary activities.
Sharett's central achievement was the development of the methods and
machinery of Zionist and Israel diplomacy. 25 years of his life were devoted
to the task of training men for diplomatic work, in particular with the
developing nations among whom Sharett believed Israel could play a special
role. He was not only a deft politician, but also a keen translator of
poetry, a powerful public speaker and a master of the Hebrew language.
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by C.D.I. Systems 1992 (LTD) and Keter.
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