Czechs, Israelis Renew Relations Ruptured in 1967

This East Bloc nation and Israel on Friday renewed diplomatic relations, rectifying what Prague’s foreign minister called the “nonsense” of rupturing ties in 1967.

“Today, we have taken the first step” toward “very good and very friendly relations,” Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens said after signing the agreement with his Czechoslovak counterpart, Jiri Dienstbier.

Dienstbier and Arens voiced hope that the resumption of ties would lead to trade and increased cooperation between Israel and Czechoslovakia, which was one of Israel’s strongest supporters when it was founded in 1948.

Arens paid tribute to Prague’s supplies of weapons and training of air force pilots then, noting that “Czechoslovakia was one of the few nations that lent important assistance to Israel in its hour of need during the war of independence in 1948.”

That aid--like the later rupture of relations after Moscow broke ties with Israel over the 1967 Six-Day War--was a result of Czechoslovakia’s four decades of following the Kremlin’s lead in foreign policy.

Dienstbier signaled the clean break that he and President Vaclav Havel are trying to make with the Communist past, when Czechoslovakia was isolated in international affairs, by roundly criticizing the 1967 break with Israel.

“I’m very happy that we could meet and remedy that nonsense of cutting off relations with Israel,” Dienstbier told Arens.

Arens in turn said Israel is watching Czechoslovakia’s transition to democracy “with great sympathy and admiration.”

Friday’s agreement for the first time puts relations at the ambassadorial level between Czechoslovakia and Israel. In 1967, neither country had ambassadors at their missions.

Before World War II, there were 240,000 Jews in Czechoslovakia. Today, there are only about 6,000 Jews in the country, most of them in the capital.