Moshe Sharett

Moshe Sharett (born Moshe Shertok, 1894-1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1954-1955) , serving in between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.

Born in the Ukraine, Moshe Sharett emigrated to Palestine in 1908. His family was one of the founders of Tel Aviv.

Fluent in Arabic, he was employed as a official within the nascent Histadrut labor union. From 1933 to 1948, he guided negotiations between the Zionists and the British Mandate of Palestine, which led to the creation of the State of Israel.

Due to this experience, Moshe Sharett became the first Foreign Minister of Israel. His pivotal achievement was the cease-fire agreements of 1949, which ended official hostilities between Israel and the Arab states.

Sharett became Prime Minister following the retirement of Ben-Gurion. Considered to be a moderate, he advocated diplomacy with neighboring states, but was quickly displaced again by Ben-Gurion.

Moshe Sharett served as Foreign Minister (1956), and then became the Chairman of the Jewish Agency until 1960.