The Moshe Sharett Heritage Society
The Moshe Sharett Heritage Society was established for the purpose of collecting, publishing and disseminating his written legacy.
Because the views of Sharett differed from those of Israeli political and defense establishments, the man and his thought are almost unknown to Israeli younger generations and to the vast segment of new immigrants who came to the country after his death in 1965. Most of Sharett's writings and speeches are not yet available to the public. A biography in Hebrew is still lacking. Acquainting the Israeli public with Sharett's moderate, peace-oriented political philosophy, especially nowadays, seems essential and urgent. Thus, beside the historical and literary value of making Sharett's legacy available to the reading public, we deem it essential as an efficient tool for the political education of Israeli public towards the understanding that the Arab-Jewish conflict cannot be solved by the sword.
The Moshe Sharett Heritage Society endeavors to rectify this situation. However, its activity is limited to the publishing of Sharett's legacy - it does not aim for the establishing of a permanent memorial institution; it shall dissolve upon the completion of its publishing program.
Five volumes of Sharett's legacy have been published in Hebrew by the Society.
1. Shall We Ever Meet Again, (1998), letters written by Sharett when he served as an officer in the Ottoman army during WWI.
2. Imprisoned with Paper and Pencil, (2000), Sharett's correspondence with his wife while he was imprisoned by the British along with other Yishuv leaders for 4 months.
3. London Days, vol. I (1920-1921): Sharett's letters from his first and second years of studying in the London School of Economics, during which he devoted most of his time to Zionist activity.
4. London Days , vol. II ( 1922-1923): Sharett's letters from his second year of studying in the London School of Economics.
5. Notebook of Poem Translations: poems translated by Sharett from English, French, German, and Russian.
The first four books are penetrating personal and historical documents. They are richly annotated and are furnished with pictures and maps.
Currently the major publication projects on our agenda are:
· Moshe Sharett and the Israeli-German Reparations Agreement (published in July 2007)
· Moshe Sharett's political speeches at the Knesset, 1948-1965, 8 volumes
· Moshe Sharett on the Arab-Israeli conflict
· An English edition of Sharett's condensed diaries, 1953-1957
· Hebrew edition of Moshe Sharett, Biography of A Moderate Statesman by Prof. Gabriel Sheffer, Oxford University Press., 1996, 1,100 pp
· Three more volumes of Sharett’s letters
· Establishing a rich, multi-lingual Moshe Sharett website
The Society operates from a modest two-room apartment in Tel Aviv and is partially funded by a meagre annual government grant. Private and public support is rather limited, thus enforcing the Society to operate in too slow a pace. (In order to fully execute its publishing program, it needs about $130,000 a year.) Consequently, in order to facilitate intensive work as needed, the Society would welcome positive responses by sympathetic contributors.