Report from Desmond Cochrane to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)
'Report on a Visit to Israel on the 22nd of January 1950'

Owing to the state of almost war which exists between Israel and the countries that form the Arab League, it has, until recently, been possible to enter Israel only by flying to Cyprus, obtaining an Israeli visa there and then flying on to Israel. However, within the last few days the position has become easier and holders of Diplomatic passports have been able to cross the frontier at Nakoura on the main road between Beyrouth and Haifa. On Sunday last in company of the Consul of Venezuela, I crossed the border with no trouble and headed for Tel-Aviv.

Under the British Mandate, Palestine appeared always to be just about as depressing as possible, but the Jews have accomplished the almost impossible by making the country even more depressing. Nowhere does one see a happy face. The peasants working in the fields give the impression of being disgruntled 'petite bourgeoisie', which they probably are. If one happens to drive behind a lorry-load of Israeli soldiers one does not see the rowdy, healthy, noisiness found in the soldiers of any other country, but only embittered faces of young men who give the impression that their only form of conversation as they drive along is to mutter to each other Marxist maxims. Almost nowhere does one see any signs of building houses for the constant stream of immigrants which continue to pour in each month. Nowhere does one see much attempt to make good the damage caused by the Arab-Jewish fighting. Nowhere does one see any improvement agriculturally on what was going on ten years ago.

In Tel-Aviv, until recently the capital, there now only remains of the Government Departments, the Foreign Office. Everything else has moved to Jerusalem. In Tel-Aviv, as everywhere else, all notices and street signs are written in Hebrew, which does not make easier for the visitor the task of finding his way about this ugly jerry-built town, nor makes him feel very welcome. Even more unwelcoming are the hotels and even the best restaurant is unable to provide anything better than a fifth rate meal. The shops are full of merchandise but everything is dear. Meat is very scarce, being unobtainable on three days a week and obtainable on the other days in limited quantities and for the holders of tickets. Everywhere one sees nothing but mediocrity which would be supportable if one had the assurance that the inhabitants were happy in their new country and striving to improve it and themselves. But on the contrary the only striving that exists is to find a means of escape from this existence which many of them already frankly compare most unfavourably with the lives they were leading prior to coming to Israel. Even some of those who have been living recently on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain have openly expressed a wish to return. Everyday an Irish Franciscan who runs a school in Tel-Aviv has Jews begging to be baptised in order to enable them to escape. To date there does not exist such a thing as an Israeli passport, although all immigrants are obliged on entering the country to surrender their existing passports and papers of nationality. The explanation for this is simple. No passports: No escape.

My visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was received politely although I was not particularly impressed by the Head of the Consular Section who received me. His name was Loker¹ and he had recently been on the Israeli Commission at some Conference in Geneva where he had made the acquaintance of our Commission, about whom he made suitably flattering remarks. The Section which deals with Irish Affairs is still the Commonwealth Section, and has as its head a South African called Cammay,² who served in the British Army during the war and who proceeded to explain to me the workings of the Irish Foreign Service, which rather amused me. When I made tentative enquiries as to whether they would welcome some sort of Consular Representation in Israel, I got the impression that they were by no means keen on such an idea. Their attitude is that if we had any representation in Israel they would like to have the same in Dublin; but they are, for their own account, against having an Honorary Israeli Consul in Dublin owing to the lack of suitable candidates, and their budget would not allow them to have a career Consul.

At the time of my interview at the Foreign Affairs I was rather mystified by their very apparent 'unkeenness' about us having any representation. This however was afterwards completely clarified by a talk that I had with Father Hand OFM³ who is already known to the Department, and who some months ago addressed a letter to the Department on the subject of Consuls in Israel. Father Hand's point of view is that the last thing that the Israel Government wants is to have too many representatives of Catholic countries. I think myself, as far as I can gather from such a short visit, that Father Hand's conclusion is probably fairly correct. But Father Hand is a man whose great sincerity and devotion to his vocation is somewhat inclined to make him take upon his own shoulders and upon the shoulders of the Irish Government not only the responsibility concerning Irish nationals in Israel but also responsibilities which should more correctly be the burden of the Apostolic Nuncio in Jerusalem. According to Father Hand it is most urgent that every Catholic country should be represented in Israel, not so much for the requirements of our nationals as in order to see that the Israel Government carries out properly the responsibilities that it has taken on itself regarding the Holy Places. Whereas I am sure that Father Hand's reasonings may be perfectly correct, I feel at the same time that if it is really considered that the representation of the smaller Catholic countries is a necessity as regards the preservation of those places that are of such importance to all Christian people, it is through the channels of the Vatican that such important information will be conveyed to our Government rather than by Father Hand OFM of Jaffa.

Furthermore in this connection, I think it would be almost impossible to find anyone who could represent us in an Honorary capacity if the 'raison d'être' for our representative in Israel was by some means to act as a protector of Catholic interests. The question of finding someone who could be appointed Honorary Consul for the purpose of acting strictly in a Consular capacity such as dealing with passports and commercial issues, is one which is comparatively easy to answer; but if there is to be the least suggestion of our representative having anything bordering on a political role, then the whole story takes a very different aspect and it would be necessary to find a very different candidate to fill such a position. To sum up, if the Government wishes to have an Honorary Consul for Consular duties only, it will not be difficult to find one. However at the moment it does not appear that this need is a very pressing one. If the Government wishes to have a representative who is required to play a political part, then it would be necessary to find someone who holds in the country a position different from that of the usual run of Honorary Consuls so that his disinterestedness would enable him to fulfil the functions usually connected with a Chargé d'Affaires or a Minister. I expect to return to Israel within the next three weeks and in the meantime Father Hand is preparing a detailed report concerning those aspects of the Israel Government which he considers conflict with the interests of catholic countries. I will forward the report as soon as it comes to hand.

Unfortunately during my visit I was unable to visit Jerusalem and was therefore unable to call, as I had arranged to do, on Chief Rabbi Hertzog. However I had the opportunity of speaking with him by telephone and I will make a point of visiting him during my next visit. One rather amusing aspect of my tour was when I paid a visit to the Information Centre run by the Government and was greeted by the Manager who has a strong Belfast accent. His name was Cohen and to be quite frank was about the only 'sympathique' character that I met during all my stay.