Author Bio: The speaker Abba Eban had the history of being a Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was fascinated by Arabic literature and history, and believed Arabs were intellectually superior. He referred to himself as the "father" of the modern state of Israel.
Date/context: As noted in the title the time was 1967. During the late 20th century there was a fierce feud between the Palestinians and Israelis over territory and religion. After Israel claimed its statehood, and the "Six Days War" broke out the fighting only intensified. The speech by Abba Eban was to show the United Nation's position on the conflict.
Summary: Abba Eban starts his speech by mentioning all the wonders Israel has provided the Mediterranean world, but now it is the home of people being killed and attacked. The attacks are the true origin of strains in the Middle East. Israel's very existence is being attacked by the near by Arab states. Abba wants the United Nations to do all it can to help, because Arab governments are trying to obliterate Israel. Israel is strong, and holding its own, and it should not be punished for fighting back. Visions of peace were being made, the Arab states could not recognize Israel only to plan to attack it. The Security Council needed to take actions and create ways for peace. The council wrote an agreement contract-like document that encouraged to leave Israel alone, for the stake of the stabability of the middle east. The council continue to write a charter for the Palestinians listing their basic rights.
Key quotation: "The Middle East tired of wars, is ripe for new emergence of human vitality. Let the opportunity not fall again from our hands."
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ReplyDeleteOverall your summary was coherent and identified many of the issues discussed in the article. To begin, you examined Abba Eban's speech in great detail. For example, you addressed how Eban believes that Israel is unfairly under attack by surrounding Arab countries and that they are the "origin's of strains in the middle east." Furthermore, I believe that you provided an efficient and effective summarization of the date/context. In other words, you did not litter your writing with unnecessary background details. Lastly, a defining characteristic of your summary was mentioning the main goal of the Security Council's Resolution to create peace within the region. It is crucial that you did not overlook the importance of the resolution and solely discuss the Eban’s speech.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would do to further strengthen your summary is include some of the deeper ideas alluded to in the document. To start, I would mention how Eban feels that the Soviet Union failed to acknowledge the Arab-Israeli conflict. Moreover, you could explicitly state that Eban believes that the only way to resolve the conflict is through international recognition and cooperation. Secondly, I think you could examine the Palestinian National Charter in greater detail. Some important things mentioned in the charter include the belief that the violence is the only way to "liberate" Palestine and that they believe zionism is negative to all progressive movements in the Middle East and a method for Western imperialism to flourish. Lastly, I would suggest mentioning how the speech, resolution, and charter all exhibit different viewpoints on the same issue. For example, the speech shows an Israeli stance, the resolution shows an international response, and the charter displays a Palestinian viewpoint.