The Birth of Israel

A fascinating story of the events that lead to the birth of the State of Israel in 1947-48. Jorge Garcia-Granados was member of UNSCOP, the body created by the UN to investigate and recommend a solution for the issue of Palestine. The British mandate, initiated at the end of WWI, were to finish in 1948.

In his own words Ambassador Garcia-Granados reveals the insides of the pressures and international intrigues that took place during the labors of the UNSCOP.

The ambassador describes how, during an exploratory trip to Palestine, learns of the bloody repression of the English authorities against the local Jewish population. A highlight of this journey is his meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Begin at that moment was a leader of a terrorist clandestine group fighting against the British who had a price on his head.

He also witnessed the misery and hope of the thousands of European Jews living in post WWII refugee camps trying to reach Israel and repressed at sea by the British Navy. He writes the sad story of the hunt of the wooden ship Exodus told by an eyewitness of the tragedy.

The book is still actual, written seventy-five years ago by Ambassador Garcia-Granados. The facts were updated and revised by his grandson Historian Sergio Garcia-Granados.