U.N. Sanctions. To the Army of Israel with Love and Pride. New Canaan, 1948.
Dedicated To The Army of Israel
SZYK, Arthur. U.N. Sanctions. “To the Army of Israel with Love and Pride.” Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, New Canaan, 1948.” Additionally signed “A.S.” Pen and ink on paper. Sheet size: 8 1/2″ x 5 3/4″. Image size: 6 ¼” x 5 1/4″. Publisher’s text edits else Very Good condition.
A young Israeli soldier sits at his grandfather’s knees and asks: “Tell me, Grandfather, what do they call [them] sanctions?” The grandfather replies: “That my child is the way we lived among them for 2000 years.” On the grandfather’s lap is a book open to pages containing verses from the 23rd Psalm “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” Scattered at their feet are two loose broadsides reading: U.N. Sanctions in Case Israel Refuses to Succumb and Bunche of Intrigues.
This drawing was created during the throes of the Arab-Israeli War, whose hostilities erupted shortly after Great Britain’s Palestine mandate ended and Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. Representatives from the newly formed United Nations, which included Ralph Bunche, entered into negotiations between Arabs and Israelis to reach a cease fire – a process which assuredly included a tricky bunch of “intrigues”, or actions behind the scenes (and eventually led to the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements).
The United Nations Council Resolution 62 of November 16, 1948 called for the withdrawal and reduction of armed forces in Palestine to ensure that an armistice and permanent peace should be established. Szyk could see the precarious position this resolution put the new settlers in. In the face of threatened penalties (sanctions) from the U.N. if the Israelis continued to stand up for themselves, Szyk references a 2,000-year history of the same proposition being delivered to the Jewish people. By referencing the 23rd Psalm, Szyk calls upon his people to remain strong – emphasized by his dedication to the army of Israel.
Publishing History: New York Post Home News, November 17, 1948, p. 2.
