ABSTRACT
The War of the Palestine Succession erupted in full force. There was a deep consciousness on the Israeli side that successes on the battlefield could be whittled away without effective international recognition and support. Requests for prompt recognition were cabled round the world, sometimes repeatedly, since fighting disrupted cable traffic. A request reached Canberra on 17 May. Epstein, now Israel’s representative in Washington, had turned up at the State Department by taxi bearing a letter requesting US recognition in which the word Israel, the name of the new country, barely decided upon, had to be scrawled in by hand. He now wrote to Hood in New York requesting Australian recognition.1
