Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. It explores the emphasis on the principle of 'universality of relations' in Romania's foreign policy was intended to strengthen the system of international relations and with it the cause of peace, while their disruption between nations made the relations become weaker. Israeli-Romanian relations expanded during the Ceausescu era, particularly in the field of culture, the dissemination of information, tourism, communications, commerce and economy, and included the regular flow of Jewish immigrants from Romania to Israel and the making of Bucharest into a transit station for Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union to Israel. The consequence of these internal policies was to lead Romania to economic stagnation and to a gradual decline in the population's standard of living and to an economic depression never known before during all the years of Ceausescu's rule.