ABSTRACT
Israeli diplomats had encountered chilly reactions to the idea of returning to the outline of association among their counterparts in the capitals of The Six, and advised avoiding any explicit use of the term "association" in the official Israeli request. An additional factor motivating the return to the association alternative is of vast importance in understanding how a number of decision makers and bureaucrats perceived Israeli strategy. In 1965, a broad consensus had already emerged among decision makers that Israel must once again seek association with the European Economic Community (EEC), a goal it had been forced to abandon at the beginning of 1962. Israel simultaneously made other efforts to prepare the ground for an association application. The issue of orange exports to the EEC was the most pressing matter. The views of Rey and Herbst accorded completely with the Israeli line: the EEC had a moral obligation to progress towards association.
