Israel and PH mark 60th anniversary of Friendship Treaty
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Israel, PH mark anniversary of Friendship Treaty

  • 2/26/2018
  • Philippine-Israel Friendship Park
     
    Israel and the Philippines today mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship.
    “The treaty was signed a few months after the establishment of diplomatic relations highlighting the fact that it's not just political bilateral relations, it's also a people-to-people relations founded on the basis of deep ties bonding our two nations historically,” Israel’s Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau said.
    On February 26, 1958, then Philippine Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Felixberto Serrano and Israel’s Head of Mission Daniel Lewin signed the treaty for “perpetual peace and firm and lasting friendship between the Republic of the Philippines and the State of Israel and between their people.”
    “We also commemorate and highlight a year of jubilees between 2017 and 2018 – the 80th anniversary to President Manuel Quezon’s Open Door Policy, 70th anniversary to the Philippines’ vote for the United Nations resolution that led to the creation of the State of Israel, and of course the 70th anniversary of our statehood,” Ambassador Ben Matityau said. 
    “We are mounting year-long special events – cultural and development cooperation programs, among them the donation of a desalination and water purification unit by Pass It Forward Foundation to the Philippine Red Cross,” he added.
    And starting this September, the total number of Filipino students participating in the 11-months AgroStudies OJT program in Israel will be increased to 600. Every year, agriculture students from 29 state universities and colleges learn about Israel’s advanced agricultural methods.
    In partnership with the Quezon City Government, President Elpidio Quirino Foundation and President Manuel Roxas Foundation, the Philippine-Israel Friendship Park will be unveiled in Quezon Memorial Park. The Philippine-Israel Friendship Park honors two main pillars of Philippine-Israel relations: President Quezon’s Open Door Policy in 1937 that saved the lives of 1,300 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust; and the Philippines’ vote for the United Nations Resolution for the creation of the State of Israel in 1947, under the leadership of then President Roxas and Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Quirino.