Meir Argov ^People

He was involved in the youth activities of the Zionist movement from ayoung age, leading the He Halutz movement in Ukraine and becoming a member of the Central Committee of the Zionist Youth in 1917. In 1927, he immigrated to British-mandated Palestine and worked ni agriculture. He served as secretary of the Petah Tikva Workers' Union (1929-1939), a member of Vaad Leumi in 1930, and was elected to the Petah Tikva City Council in 1931. After the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted. In 1940, he volunteered for the British Army and fought with the Jewish Brigade in Italy. After the war, he participated in the rescue of Jews trying to immi- grate to Palestine. Meir Argov (still called Grabovski) was one of the signatories of the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14th, 1948 and immediately joined the Provisional State Council as a representative of the Mapai party (whose member of the Central Committee he became).He was elected as member ofthe first Knesset of the State of Israel in 1949, being re-elected after the elections of 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1961. Since 1951, he has been chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, con- ducting the negotiations with the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, on the restoration of Israel's relations with Germany and the due reparations to the Jews who survived the Nazi Holocaust.