| Summary/Abstract |
The first contacts between the two countries date back to the early 1950s, when Tunisian representatives met with the Israeli delegation and Israeli labor leaders. At that time, Tunisia was seeking independence and was looking for Israeli support to achieve it. Habib Bourguiba, who was appointed prime minister of Tunisia after the country became independent in 1956 and was its president from 1957 to 1987, took what overall was a peaceful attitude toward Israel and to the region as a whole. In 1956, Bourguiba met with the Israeli ambassador to France, Jacob Tsur, and then Tsur met with the Tunisian finance minister, who sought Israeli assistance in building cooperative agricultural settlements.
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