THE BALFOUR DECLARATION AND THE WASHINGTON AGREEMENT, SERBIA AND ISRAEL

Abstract

The article presents Serbian-Israeli relations through only two points in history. These are two documents that are crucial for Israeli, but also for Serbian diplomatic history, the Balfour Declaration and the Washington Agreement. One document was adopted in the second decade of the twentieth century, and the other at the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century. The first document speaks of the need to establish a Jewish state in the territory of what was then Palestine, and the second, when it comes to Jewish interests, focuses on the recognition of Israel by another territory with a Muslim majority and its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel comes for the first time in history from а territory with a Muslim majority.

When it comes to Serbia, the Balfour Declaration was a way for exiled Serbia to show solidarity with the Jewish people, apersecuted people who needed to form their own modern state in the area where the Old Testament Jewish state was established. Thus, the Kingdom of Serbia became the first state after Great Britain to agree with the justification of the Israeli goal of forming the state of Israel in the area that was then Palestine. This was a mutual Serbian and Israeli interest. In this way, Serbia strengthened its moral and political reputation in the world at the time, but also strengthened political ties with Britain and the Jewish factor.

When it comes to the Washington Agreement, the realization of Israeli interests is clearly noticeable.

Therefore, the importance of Serbia, when it comes to these documents and their consequences, is in completely opposite positions when it comes to Israeli interests. But also when it comes to Serbian interests.