Memoirs: David Ben-Gurion

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MEMOIRS

COMPILED BY THOMAS R. BRANSTEN

David Be nGurion THE WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK AND CLEVELAND

First published in the United States o f America by TheW orld Publishing Company 2 2 3 1 West 1 1 0 t h S t r e e t , Cleveland, Ohio 44102 Firstprinting 1970

Copyright © 1970 b y Covenant Communications Corporation, Geneva, Switzerland All rights reserved. N o part o f this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except for briefpassages included

in a review appearing in a newspaper o r magazine. Library o f Congress Catalog Card Number: 7 2 - 1 2 3 7 0 7 WORLD TIMES

PUBLISHING

MIRROR

PRINTED I N GREAT BRITAIN

CONTEN TS

Preface

7

=~ WLW NN

Early Years 31

O N WY» hb

Humanists and Fighters

Independence 77

J

‘The Bible is our Mandate’

00

T o the Negev Peace

bt oO

The Jews 13

OO

Introduction 9

Pioneering

45 63

Democracy a n d the Military Today

133

151

Amsagolah 173 Chronology

183

Bibliography 2 1 5 Acknowledgements 2 1 7

107

93

PREFACE

“Words without

deeds,” says D a v i d Ben-Gurion, ‘are nothing.’

A n d he adds: ‘ O n e m u s t show the w a y by example.’

I f anyone has set an example i n the conduct of his life, Ben-

Gurion is certainly that person. He has lived his thoughts in h i s day-to-day actions a n d h e has devoted his entire existence

to a single end: the redemption o f the Jewish people in their ancient home o fIsrael. N o w that he can look back over sixty years i n this country and to a

life of Jewish activism

that encompasses eight

decades — four-fifths o f a century! — the thoughts o f BenGurion must claim the attention o f all who have shared i n the

Jewish experience. B u t though he takes the Jews as his subject i n this book, he carries his wisdom t o a plane o f universality. Ben-Gurion likes t o invoke the Prophet Isaiah who enjoined the Jews t o be ‘a light unto the nations’. Here, he himself has kept faith with this injunction. Any human being who has

reflected on the meaning o fhis days and on human existence in

general will find in this volume food for thought and for inspiration.

What strikes me about these meditations are their youthfulof B e n - G u r i o n ’ s approach t o t h e p r o b l e m s

ness, the flexib..ity

he examines, ti.e rigour o f his logic and, n o t least, his sharp sen;e o f humour. This is n o t an ‘old man’s’ book hearking with nostalgia for things past. When Ben-Gurion recalls former days he does so t o illuminate present and future. The words set down here are those o f a fighter w h o is also a

8 David Ben-Gurion logician, a wit and a philosopher. His long existence, far from

dulling the edge of a sharp perception, has endowed i t with a mellowness, a breadth o f vision and a profundity that n o one w h o has lived less fully o r less wisely could hope to attain.

Ben-Gurion writes o fMoses whom he calls by his Hebrew name o fMoshe. H e says that Moshe gave the Jews a definition o f their mission, a reason for their presence as a people. And

he adds that

today, 3,300 years later, this definition

is

as

meaningful as when first formulated. In other words, all

things in life change yet certain ideas and principles by the

truth they embody abide for all time. I think that what Ben-Gurion offers us i n this study also

contains elements o f enduring truth. It is n o t a difhicult work t o read o r t o understand. But i t does reflect the sagacity of a life lived in dedication to an ideal b y a m a n who is an activist i n the strongest sense

of the term

and equally a thinker

of

penetration. I take great honour a n d pleasure in commending

this volume both t o a Jewish and a general public n o t only for the occasion of a single reading but as one of those enduring

books t o keep, t o treasure, t o study periodically throughout one’s

days, t o hand o n t o one’s children. A n d most o f all, t o

learn from b y a m a n whose life and whose words form a whole thatis truly exemplary. ABRAHAM

F. RAD

Honorary Chairman Israel Communications Center, Jerusalem

INT RO DU CT ION

r

H I L D o f the Polish ghetto, immigrant t o Palestine, farm labourer and pioneer, political organizer, statesman, founder o f the Israel Defence Forces and their first commander-in-chief, kibbutznik, scholar,

David Ben-Gurion has in the course of eighty-odd years lived many lives. Politically, he stands among the great o fhis time as a shaper

of

history.

Like all

larger-than-life leaders

he has

known

adulation and hatred, has been followed and denied. But he has marked the twentieth century with his presence and, so

doing, has changed the lives ofmany. Principal mobilizer of the Jewish consciousness after the Second World War and architect of Israels re-birth in nationhood, Ben-Gurion guided his country as its first Prime Minister through fifteen crucial years. More than any

individual, he bears

responsibility for defending the young state against the onslaught of seven Arab armies, for other

shaping the machinery of government, establishing the educational system and bringing into existence m a n y other institutions

vital t o national life. H i s efforts were instrumental

in advancing agriculture, the extraordinary fertilization o f an a r i d soil that is Israel’s p r i d e , a n d i n maintaining the security

of his people against

their neighbours’ perennial hostility.

Over and above his actions, Ben-Gurion has become through a lifetime of single-minded devotion t o Israel’s cause a symbol o f the continuing struggle t o provide the

10

David Ben-Gurion

Jewish people

with a national home. In the Ben-Gurion philosophy, Israel did n o t spring magically t o life in 1948 by act ofthe United N a t i o n s . This legalization merely confirmed the reality of a Jewish presence brought about by laborious struggle, a struggle that must g o on. The House of Israel, according t o Ben-Gurion, has been and must continue t o be built where nothing stood before, by the toil ofJewish hands and brains, defended with Jewish blood, affirming a will t o survive beyond repudiation and holocaust, a living example of the pioneer virtues for all mankind. In daily life a modest m a n w h o opposes protocol with the informality o f the farmer-pioneer, Ben-Gurion’s words and

deeds have always provoked thought, excitement, contro-

versy n o matter h o w softly spoken o r unobtrusively executed. His retirement from government in June 1963 is a case in point. It has been described as spectacularly unspectacular. H e simply announced his departure a t a routine Cabinet meeting and left next day for a Negev kibbutz i n that same desert wilderness o f Z i n where Moses wandered with the children

o f Israel four thousand years ago. There, as a member o f the

farming collective of Sde Boker, which in a decade has created a green, arable plateau from what was a

waterless

sand-dune, Ben-Gurion took up a new assignment: the

of the sheep. Today, he still lives at Sde Boker, occupying a clapboard bungalow and sharing the spare life o f the farmers. H e n o tending

longer shepherds but is writing the history of the Jewish nation from the first wave o f Zionist immigrants in the 1870s t o the present. H e is doing this, he says, so that the younger generation will realize that what has been accomplished u p t o n o w is only a beginning, ‘ a n d a beginning i s n o t enough I’ *

The text o f this b o o k

is based o n a series o f interviews with filming of the Covenant Communi-

Ben-Gurion during the

cations Corporation production Forty-Two Six, the story o f

Introduction

11

his life and times. While the script o f Forty-Two Six was in preparation Ben-Gurion sat with the production team for a six-hour filmed interview. Cinemascope cameras were transported t o the kibbutz from London, technicians

brought in from Jerusalem. The library o f the Teachers’ College o f the Negev, an institution which Ben-Gurion helped

found and which stands adjacent to Sde Boker itself, was transformed into a studio. Filming occurred for t w o hour periods o n three successive nights, after the heat

of the desert

sun had abated. Ben-Gurion spoke o n a variety of subjects, from his o w n life t o the future of the Jewish People and their

mission in Israel. I t was his evocation o f Isaiah’s statement in XLII, 6 o f the latter’s Biblical Prophecy that the Jews must serve as ‘a light unto the nations’, a model of wisdom probity, which inspired the production’s title.

and

The interview constituted a valuable working brief, a measure

of

authenticity for

the concepts presented

in

Forty-Two Six. Italso served as ‘raw’ material for a number o f

subsidiary projects. But in its o w n right, the long exchange with Ben-Gurion stands as a remarkable document. It is a summing-up b y a statesman w h o is also a m a n o f reflection, well aware o f shades of meaning a n d the changing view that time

brings of

one’s o w n work. It embodies a distillate o f thoughts b y one

with detachment the events of a long life, the high points of which gave impetus t o realizing the two-millennia old Jewish dream of gathering i n the exiles and w h o today can review

re-buildin g a nation.

What follows is a selection o f Ben-Gurion’s o w n words. T H O M A S R. BRANSTEN

1-TheJews

‘ I see the man through the cause.” Such is General Moshe Dayan’s assessment o f Ben-Gurion. The cause is and always has been

Israel, a centrifugal core round which the ideas and actions of a totally dedicated personality have revolved. Israel itself in this context is the fulfilment o f a militant Jewishness that transcends religion yet derives its visionfrom Torah, its strengthfrom thefact of

Jewishidentity.

With the Jews, therefore, with what they are in light of the past andpresent and with what they seek to be, this account must begin. Here is Ben-Gurion’s view of a people he describes as ‘difficult unto themselves’ but specially called upon by their own prophets to set an examplefor humanity. H E Jews are

sometimes like

the stars, a n d sometimes

they are as dust. I suppose that is true

of mankind i n general, and o f all individuals. Nevertheless, i t is what the Talmud specifically says o f us. A n d as a people w e

do run to extremes. T h e best among us have reached very

high towards

the

stars. The worst have fallen exceedingly low because they have

had

t o deny the Jewish ethic which emphasizes moral consciousness and by so doing closes the d o o r o n all excuses

regarding the

portent

of

one’s actions.

The

traditional

Prussian claim t o innocence o n the grounds of obeying orders is very un-Jewish. For us, right and wrong are between the

individual andhis own conscience. The Jew who commits evil

16 David Ben-Gurion must, therefore, a c t in defiance o f what his inner being affirms

as right. So he carries an extra burden o f wickedness. Moreover, the Jewish moral code unlike the Christian one doesn’t tell its adherents “ y o u should do this o r that.” I t simply defines what one mustn’t do, leaving positive actions t o the

discretion o f each man. The Bible, our Bible which is the Old Testament, makes no injunctions such as: ‘Be wise’ or ‘Be virtuous.” Rather, i t cautions that: “Thou shalt n o t kill’, and “Thou shalt n o t covet thy neighbour’s wife.” Therefore, t o be

evil

the Jew must g o b e y o n d action a n d transgress against

fundamental negatives. That is being wicked indeed. Equally, t o be virtuous i t i s n ’ t enough merely t o avoid evil.

One has t o take a further step by making a positive contribution t o the human condition. I think

this Jewish emphasis o n negative rules and positive

virtue accounts for a certain drive towards achievement and

for a highly developed sense of justice, or rather of injustice. The Jews have always had a tendency t o become passionately committed in any spiritual w a r against injustice, n o t only when i t has concerned them directly but i n the name o f manas a whole. Where there are Jews, there are people fighting m a n ’ s inhumanity t o m a n , whether this be racial

kind

discrimination against the black race in America or intellectual

freedom in the Soviet Union (I am thinking specifically o f the

imprisoned writer Yuri Daniel who has dared t o criticize the present regime. There are m a n y of his calibre I could name). Is this n o t reaching for the stars? I believe so. Everything w e are as Jews, including o u r drive occasionally t o grope b e y o n d traditional b o u n d s , comes directly from

the

Bible. In size we are nothing as a people and never have been. H a d w e n o t been children o f the Book, w h o would have heard

of us? W e

should be lucky t o occupy a mere footnote

in history. As things stand, a large part o fhistory is our doing.

W e have never been far removed from the mainstream, often

unhappily so and a t peril. I a m always astonished at the Jewish contribution to human

TheJews 17 thought. S o m a n y remarkable thinkers have been Jews. Their w o r k and ideas form vast frames

of reference that influence

the lives o f m e n everywhere, even when they are n o t specifically aware of this being so o r disagree with the concepts involved. O n e can loathe o r passionately adhere t o Marxist doctrine

but

deny the i m p a c t of Karl Marx’s Equally so with Freudianism and

one cannot

thought o n the world.

Freud.

When I use the star metaphor I a m thinking of one who literally bears responsibility for humanity’s progress towards in this century. I mean, of course, Albert Einstein. So he remains the greatest scientific theoretician of age. It was m y privilege t o have had a personal contact

them

far as I k n o w

our

with him and, in matters outside the realm o f science, t o have experienced the nobility of the man.

In Israel t o date, we have had no individual who has

Such flights of the spirit take time t o cultivate. I recall a Frenchman once telling me that it is thejob of a thousand years t o produce a truly first-class vineyard. approached the stars.

Despite our history o f four thousand years, o u r return to Israel is still very recent a n d w e have been too busy struggling

merely t o survive. In time I have n o doubt w e shall produce our share o f artists and scientists, philosophers and poets. Yet the very fact of Israels existence is a notable achievement in which every individual shares. And I

do know many

Jews here who, because o f the circumstances o f their lives, are

able to lead a more useful existence in terms of their contribution t o humanity than their counterparts i n the Diaspora.

Regarding virtue and vice, our history in Israel has been a mercurial one. I n Isaiah’s time our prophets castigated us as the worst people in the world and threatened the loss of the nation. D i d o u r wickedness cost us o u r homeland? I cannot argue the pointafter t w o thousand years. I do know, however, that the regaining of o u r land was due t o a n extraordinary act of collective virtue carried o u t by m a n y thousands a t painful

sacrifice t o themselves and amid the scepticism, even derision,

18

David Ben-Gurion

whereby the mass

of men, including the Jews, often attempt

t o deny great undertakings.

The rebirth of Israel was n o overnight affair. N o r was i t a of a n international l e g a l arrangement. I t started in earnest o n e hundred years a g o , i n the 1870s w h e n the first pioneers left the relative security of t h e i r lives i n Eastern question

Europe a n d Russia a n d came here determined t o create a

Jewish n a t i o n a l h o m e o n the foundations of the ancient one. O f course, there had a l w a y s been aJewish population here a n d Jewish communities i n the area called Palestine. B u t Israel asa nation w a s the w o r k of three generations. I t continues today, far from complete, especially a n d i n its purest form d o w n i n the desert where I l i v e a n d where w e have had t o do everything

ourselves, from scratch. But l e t us return t o the intellectual restlessness of the Jews, their long-standing resentment against injustice however abstract or removed from themselves, their almost obsessional drive t o search for truth. As I have indicated, these traits are

with the preoccupations of the Bible. F o r the Bible and Jews ever afterwards, both as individuals and as a people, the question of m a n ’ s mission o n earth has been paramount. The answer seems t o be i n function of what is conceived as man’s highest calling, his creativity. In this respect, the B o o k of Genesis is most revealing. Christian Gospel begins with the birth of Jesus; the Koran one

for the

with Mohammed. Torah, however, doesn’t start either with Moses o r even with A b r a h a m , the o r i g i n a l travelled

from Chaldea i n t o

Jew, the m a n who the p i o n e e r a n d the first

unknown territory beyond

Euphrates river thereby b e c o m i n g a ‘Hebrew’ o r ‘ m a n w h o crossed o v e r ’ the r i v e r . Torah begins with Creation and w e are told that six days after conceiving

the light, the grass and all the animals, on the final day o f genesis a m a n and a w o m a n were made a n d they were i n the image o f G o d . O f course, speaking personally as one w h o is non-religious, I believe that theology reverses the true sequence of events. T o m e i t is clear that God was ‘created’ in

TheJews 19 the image of m a n as the latter’s explanation t o himself of the

mystery o fhis own earthly presence. More o f that in another chapter.

The Bible, taking man as deriving from God, defines Adam as God's surrogate o n earth. God surpasses m a n a n d the latter

cannot even conceive H i m as a whole. Yet, w e are told, G o d

is the embodiment o f love, justice, mercy. When Torah speaks o f m a n being i n His image i t means he must strive to

possess these qualities. More than all these things, God’s most remarkable trait is his creativeness, whence man himself has sprung — according to the B o o k . Whether he was meant to o r n o t , m a n from

Adam’s time has struggled t o share in this creativity. This seems t o m e the crux

of the story. God does the impossible,

m a n strives to d o the seemingly impossible. H e goes to the moon. H e also creates a ‘land o f milk and honey’ out o f so apparently barren a wilderness as the Negev. This is sharing

directly in the adventure o fcreation. G o d also made Eden. B u t that wasn’t so much to man’s taste. M a n couldn’t bear to live in idleness so he contrived to get himself evicted from Paradise and since then has attempted t o w o r k his o w n magic. Often enough he has merely

succeeded in creating Hell. Occasionally, and I believe w e are doing this here i n Israel, he has opened the w a y t o a burgeon-

ing ofnew life. From the Bible, therefore, stems Jewish man’s concept o f himself, an image he has passed o n to the whole o f western

civilization through the daughter religions o f Islam and Christianity. However, the fact that the Book o f the Jews came first, before any comparable m o d e o f

belief, has its importance t o

our history. It was for so long unique. For centuries, for millennia i t s t o o d as

the only

ethic that took inspiration n o t

from practical necessities (as did the earlier Hammurabi code, for instance) b u t from a n ideal above and beyond h u m a n

existence.

This accounts both for the richness of the Jewish

20

David Ben-Gurion

past and also for many o f our troubles. The Book has always constituted a two-edged blessing. Following the June 1967 war, I wrote a letter t o General Charles de Gaulle answering his castigation of the Jews as a n ‘aggressive’ people. I pointed out the obvious fact that n o

other people has been so exiled, dispersed, hated, persecuted,

harried from country t o country and finally (in our own time and i n supposedly civilized Europe) slaughtered en masse. all this w e neither vanished n o r despaired nor

During

assimilated b u t held fast t o the conviction that w e would some day regain our land. Are our faith and our suffering unrelated? I think not. O n e appears t o g r o w from the other. By the metaphysical nature of the Biblical ethic, the Jews developed a universal conscience.

That is never a comfortable thing to have, partly because one cannot hope t o satisty such a conscience and i t is always nagging, and partly because other m e n with lesser consciences are constantly being brought u p short, with resentment, in their confrontations with such a phenomenon. Jesus, w h o certainly was afflicted with a universal conscience, found himself o n the R o m a n cross a t a n early age. The Jews since their exile have suffered perpetual martyrdom.

In their worship o f an invisible God, the Jews from their beginnings appeared exotic and thereby menacing t o others

(one is always afraid of what one doesn’t understand). W i t h a code of conduct resolutely loftier and certainly different from that o f other men, worshipping a G o d w h o was universal and whose very lack of presence carried great authority as evidenced

by

the seriousness

with which

the

Jews obeyed

His injunctions, this small people remained apart. It sought n o t t o evangelize o r convert, merely t o g o its o w n way, disdainful even i n dispersion of its surroundings. Small wonder the Jews never found a true place for themselves

outside their o w n homeland. Small wonder, too, that others

looked upon them with a n initial

distrust often compounded

by historical events into more sinister emotions.

TheJews

21

If the Bible is one main pillar holding up the Jewish ethos,

(and equally important one) is nationhood. The uniqueness of the Jewish people and of Judaism consists in the other

this: n o other religion is connected with the physical existence

of a nation. Remove Jewish history and there is noJudaism. This explains o u r attachment t o Israel. A n d t o my mind i t accounts for the fact that if the Bible stresses creativity, the Jews not as individuals but as Jews were, and only are, truly

creative when living in their own land. What I have called the Jewish ethic, that which we took with us into exile, has certainly been responsible for forming

individuals who through the ages have made creative contributions t o whatever society they happened t o be living i n . Those we have already mentioned (Freud, Marx, Einstein and so forth) are cases in point. But Jews as Jews made only one positive contribution. They created through the Talmud and through their traditions a sort of portable homeland that

kept t h e m together through

t w o thousand years of wandering

a n d eventually enabled t h e m t o return t o the very

land held

b y their ancestors.

In exile, the Jews continued t o live i n their hearts and minds within the bounds of a heritage tied equally t o the Bible and t o the physical area regarded as home. A s I said,

this did n o t

endear them t o others because they were perpetually different, perpetually a foreign element i n a n y community. B u t the

creative process that produced Torah and that was so m u c h a

part o f Jewish life before exile largely dried up. It became diverted t o custodial duties, t o protecting existed.

The Jews multiplied their

what already

interpretations

of inter-

pretations, a n d explanations of the explanations of Scripture.

Spiritual life like material life became increasingly impoverished. Jewish life as such shrivelled, went into the cocoon of the ghetto civilization. A n d if the Jews did happen t o produce some creative genius, they were quick t o condemn him for ‘rocking the b o a t ’ as i t were. In the seventeenth century, the

great philosopher Baruch Spinoza was cast out o f the Jewish

22

David Ben-Gurion

community. H e gave his wisdom t o others, n o t i n Hebrew but i n a foreign tongue. The Jews lived i n political, economic and spiritual isolation. I t was o n l y by the renewal of practical interest

in the homeland

a century a g o that the Jews found

scope once again for their creative power asa people.

It follows, therefore, that without a Jewish national community, without Israel, there can be no truly creative

Jewishlife. Even with the best of intentions, the Jew in the Diaspora can never be exclusively a Jew, and i n fact he’s aJ e w very little. Whether they recognize i t o r not, Diaspora Jews live i n a permanent ‘condition o f exile’. I mean that they are always a minority and thus dependent o n a majority beyond their

capacity t o control. They are

in never-ending conflict which keeps t h e m separate, a n d the assimilationist pressures of the social structure. I n the Diaspora, very f e w Jews are among those elements of the population that furnish the basic labour of torn

between a desire t o preserve their Jewish status,

society, the farmers and industrial workers. Most Jews live crowded together i n the cities. Even i n the United States, where the Jews form a generally prosperous community and

where there is certainly n o restriction o f movement, they are

concentrated in the six largest cities, along the Eastern seaboard, in Chicago and in Los Angeles on the West Coast. O fa population of six million, almost three million live i n greater N e w York area alone.

the

of Jews in the main cities The recent killing of Jewish hostages in Baghdad a n d the continuing persecution of the c i t y ’ s ancient Jewish community s h o w h o w readily the authorities are able t o sweep down upon these people, gathered in upon themselves, huddledin a central part of the city, ripe a t any moment for persecution. Whether living i n poverty, overcrowded i n ghettos, o r i n wealth still gathered i n the cities, Jews in the Diaspora have remained separate from the primary sources of vitality of a n y I n poorer countries, the gathering

makes them economically and physically vulnerable.

TheJews 23 people: the soil and the factories. Thus basically, n o matter h o w

comfortably

off, they have lacked solid ground under their

feet. Let us take the example I know best, the Diaspora’s most successful community. I a m thinking of the American Jewish community with which I have had the m o s t personal experience. I once lived i n the United States for three years a n d I have had t o travel there often t o

deal with i t s representatives. W e i n Israel have a special link with American Jewry which

has contributed so generously t o o u r efforts. W e are o f course grateful — more than grateful.

W e k n o w also that as people, the Jews of the United States do very useful, important w o r k i n their o w n country and are represented in all the professions. American literature owes a big debt to Jews, especially in the twentieth century. S o do the arts in general as do

the law, politics and the sciences. Never-

theless, even in the United States the

Jews have comparatively

high finance, i n the proletariat o r i n agriculture. They are not a basic element of the national economy. Further, a J e w i n America is a split person. O r , more precisely, w h e n is he aJ e w ? Some are Jews one day a year, for

little representation i n heavy industry,

Yom Kippur or the Day o f Atonement, the holiest day o f the

Jewish calendar

occurring o n the tenth day

of the

seventh

month, w h e n one fasts and prays for forgiveness of sin. O n that day the synagogues are full. Other Americans attend regularly every Saturday o r sometimes o n Sunday as a concession t o the general, non-Jewish habits of the country. Perhaps a Jew will belong t o a community centre which makes him feel he is participating in a Jewish activity, o r one involving other Jews. Certainly, he can often b e counted

o n to contribute generously to Israel since Americans are a generous people.

Nine-tenths o f the time, however, the Jew in the United

living the life of a n y other American. And so he should be i n American terms. B u t n o t i n Jewish terms. And

States is

24 David Ben-Gurion

what are

his activities? H e lives i n a house. T h e odds are the house w a s n ’ t built by Jews. H e uses electricity

strong that

but it is n o t being created by Jews as such. He uses a bus or subway which certainly weren’t made b y Jews. A n d even i f

they were, i t would have n o significance i n the context o f

America. The house, the subway, the electricity are American commodities whether used b y J e w o r non-Jew. This is

neither good n o r bad, it’s just a fact.

Most of the time, then, even the o b s e r v a n tJew is living as a non-Jew. A t worst, his Jewishness is held against him, minimal though i t be; a t best, i t counts for little in his daily life.

The conclusion is simple. Jews should come t o Israel. I n the be Jews without a n artificial

Diaspora they cannot really

self-consciousness and tension that disappears completely

from their lives once they arrive here. Outside Israel, the end result for a Jew inevitably is either the ghetto o r assimilation. Within Israel i t is as natural t o be Jewish as i t is t o be French i n

France, Greek in Greece and so on. Even the United States is not really the exception i t appears t o

be.Jews as Jews, if they

do n o t totally assimilate into the famous American ‘melting p o t ’ (and they are free t o do so), are still a minority. Certain doors are closed t o them. They represent a special interest group. Naturally enough, their offspring have every interest i n disappearing without trace into the community as a whole.

In Israel, the Jew needn’t be confronted with such arbitrary

he needn’t disappear. Here, the condition of Jewishness, whether a m a n is religious o r not, informs the environment. I t i s p a r t of the natural setting. The individual contributes t o that setting with his every gesture. So he can live the complete life, being a hundred per cent Jewish while he is simultaneously a hundred per cent 2 human being i n problems and

society, w i t h n o conflict. This is a purely Jewish reason for coming t o Israel. W e offer a full Jewish life and a full human life, which, i f n o t richer economically than elsewhere, promises greater spiritual

fulfilment.

TheJews 25 There are other reasons for immigrating

which

I

shall

discuss later. But for a Jew, the life here contains the hope o f

rich moral satisfaction. I have always thought this and i t has shaped m y o w n attitude towards Israel. I came here very y o u n g , w h e n the idea

by most Jews as wild fantasy. walks land the seeing of dreams through the countryside and m y become a Jewish n a t i o n o n c e more. I used t o walk a great deal and I ' v e pretty well covered the n o r t h and central areas o n of a nation

was characterized

H o w vividly I recall, as a fresh immigrant, m y l o n g

foot. There was always a reason for taking t o the r o a d . A

political meeting in Haifa, a Hebrew Society gathering in Jerusalem, a festival a t a farming collective, all sorts o f occasions here and there that I wanted t o attend. A n d i n those

days, one went on foot or on horseback. I didn’t have a horse o r the money for one, so I walked. O n e day, I remember coming d o w n from the farming community of Zirkon Yacov above Haifa t o Jaffa for a meeti n g . I t took t w o days of continuous travel through w h a t i s n o w

the heartland o fIsrael, its most settled, built-up and cultivated area. I was so tired time i n m y

life I

when I

arrived i n

Jaffa that for

the o n l y

slept through for twenty-four h o u r s . Well,

the country was very sparsely settled then.

This was i n

1908.

T h e Jewish villages, the n e w ones established t o cultivate

the

land, numbered less than twenty. I had arrived in 1906 and

since then n o t a single Jewish community had been added t o the existing number. There were some pioneers in the Galilee. B u t they were preparing the land for permanent settlements and w e needed people t o p u t d o w n roots throughout the country. I recall hearing the welcome news a year o r so later that another s e t t l e m e n t w a s b e i n g built. I t w a s the first o n e i n

my

t i m e a n d consisted of o n l y six houses near Tiberias, all owned b y five brothers. Small as this was, i t seemed a vindica-

tion ofour faith. Walking through the barren plain, seeing only a n occasional tribe of n o m a d i c Bedouins (they still r o a m the country a t

26 David Ben-Gurion

will, largely impervious both t o civilization and politics) and a f e w poverty-stricken Arab villages, I was sure even then that

this land would become entirely Jewish. I knew w e had here the ideal opportunity t o prove o u r mettle and ourselves as

Jews. There w a s nothing here. I t was literally a forgotten corner of the Turkish Empire and of the globe. Nobody wanted it, certainly n o t the Palestinian Arabs who were

placidly vegetating i n

their poverty under

the Turks. Their

subsequent indignation at the Jewish presence was fomented

artificially by special interest

groups and the propaganda

machines of the surrounding Arab nations. Were the Jews t o disappear from Israel, which they won’t, one thing is sure.

The Arabs o f Palestine would have n o chance for autonomy given the expansionism o f Egypt, Syria, Jordan and, t o a lesser degree, Lebanon. O f that one can be certain!

I n any event, when I came here, n o one could have cared less about the place. Anyone was free t o come and create afresh.

I believed then, as I d o today, that w e held a clear title t o this country. N o t

the right

t o take i t away

from others (there

were n o others), but the r i g h t and the duty t o fill its emptiness,

restore life to its barrenness, to re-create a modern version o f our ancient nation. And I felt w e owed this effort not only to ourselves but t o the land as well.

This country

has passed

through m a n y hands. It

has been

conquered incessantly and incessantly abandoned. I t

has

known the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians,

Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Seljukes, the Crusaders,Mamelukes, Ottoman Turks and the British, apart from ourselves and the Canaanites before us.

The Canaanites exist n o

more. Other

than they and the Jews, the land has never been a h o m e t o anyone. I t has been a battlefield, conquered territory, a place t o plunder, a crossroads o r a grazing ground. Only the Jews

have loved the land for itself, have worked it, improved it, made it theirs through their care for i t . This was true t w o thousand years ago, i t is equally true today. Israel is ours in

TheJews 27 the twentieth century n o t because w e fought wars over it (these were protective actions after the fact of o u r presence)

but because w e settled i t . I

have devoted m y life t o the act o f

settling this land. And asI walked through it in 1906 and 1908, I k n e w our labour would prevail and that one day the country

wouldbe ours. Asa corollary t o the establishment ofIsrael, I'see the re-birth o f Hebrew as the Jewish national language as a great victory

and a great affirmation of our link to our ancient past. The languages o f exile, principally Yiddish and Ladino, are perhaps interesting in their cultural a n d folkloric significance. But they are languages o f humiliation. Hebrew, and with it the knowledge of its greatest written works, Torah and Talmud, are the matrix in which Jewishness is embedded. These elements kept the Jews true t o themselves i n dispersion. Today, Hebrew in modern guise gives the nation of Israel a

special distinctiveness and acts as a constant reminder of the historical heritage from which our national life derives its richness. Outside Israel, the growth of secularism brings the Jewish

of the world ever closer t o assimilation. Secularism is a fact of our time and since I a m not religious I have n o reason t o deplore i t . B u t if I ' m for secularism, I ' m certainly n o t for the ignorance that comes communities

in its wake. In areas where Jews are n o t persecuted, an increasingly high number vanish, n o t dramatically but passively, passing into a n anonymity born o f lack o f conviction. Were i t not for

Israel’s existence, w e should have to resign ourselves to total

within

the next century. A great cultural and would be lost t o mankind a n d the Jews never would have fulfilled Isaiah’s command t o act as ‘ a light assimilation

humanistic tradition

unto the nations’.

Fortunately, with Israel's presence assured, there is n o

of this happening. B u t even within this country secularism threatens knowledge and ignorance threatens danger

28 David Ben-Gurion

lack of interest in the

of the Jewish t r a d i t i o n . The the velocity ofhistory grows as our technological powers augment. The world has changed i n the past one hundred years more than i t did i n the essentials

problem becomes increasingly acute for

preceeding thousand. A n d the momentum continues t o b e cumulative. I t is all the m o r e urgent, therefore, for Jews everywhere t o

realize their affinity with Israel, the Bible and Hebrew, the

pillars whereon the condition of being Jewish rests. H o w t o m a k e this realization c o m e a b o u t ? I think the answer today is

the same one

w e had in 1906 and in 1870:

pioneering. Pioneers are open to the accusation o f being rebels, o f n o t accepting any m o d e o f ‘normal’ life since that would b e too conformist. B u t what exactly do w e mean b y the term normal life? I s n ’ t i t usually taken t o describe a state of inertia where all is calm? Surely

that sort o f normality is highly

abnormal!

Life, after all, is struggle. The best tool with which t o combat a n assimilationism born

of apathy is m o r e of the

spirit that

built this country. The pioneers I joined during m y first years in Israel were p o o r . W e wore what clothing w e could find and our hair was long because w e had neither time nor the facilities t o cut it.

B u t w e weren't necessarily nonconformist for its o w n sake.

W e wanted to create a n e w life, g o beyond the life that already existed.

That need has remained with m e ever since. I think i t when I came t o the desert. The Negev is even a more dramatic challenge right now, in our time, than the pioneering of earlier days. found its highest expression fifteen years ago

As t o the future, if the spirit o fIsrael is t o endure, pioneering must g o o n .

That is another

reason

here. N o t only so that they can live

why Jews should c o m e wholly integrated lives

but t o render service. W e d o n ’ t need newcomers i n the cities

where there are enough people — more than e n o u g h ! W e need them here, in the desert, making a fertile land from sand

TheJews 29 and rock with the help of modern science, coupled t o sweat o f our backs.

the

Pioneering is Israels life blood, as it is the life blood o f all t o the m o o n and coming t o the desert t o plant saplings are similar acts, i n m y opinion. M a n must reach

mankind. Going

for the stars, i t i s in his nature. W e have seen that the Bible first

defined this aspect of h u m a n existence. But the stars are only a symbol. There is much to do o n earth. The Jews today have the opportunity missed by so m a n y generations i n exile. They can follow the prophets w h o demanded that Israel be t w o things: that i t represent a covenant between all the Jews so as t o strengthen their cohesion as a people and that its mission also be t o act as an example, ‘a light unto the nations’, for all

mankind. For me, pioneering is setting the example and there can be no higher Jewish ideal than creating from this bare, besieged little land a rich and enduring w a y of life that i n its plentitude will never stop searching for n e w areas of en-

dcavour but that will serve as a model t o inspire humanity everywhere.

2-EarlyYears

David Ben-Gurion grew up as David Gryn, fourth child of the lawyer Avigdor Gryn who occupied a wooden house on the Street of Goats. This was an unpaved often muddy lane in the Jewish quarter o f Plonsk, a small market city some forty miles northwest

of Warsaw. Here David Gryn was born on 16 October 1886. The region is now Poland but then it was under Russian Tsarist occupation. Today, noJews live in Plonsk. Their once extensive cemetery is a weed-infested lot marked only by a f e w cracked gravestones that the State road-builders could find no use for. Three of the four synagogues have disappeared, thefourth remains as a granary. All this testifies to the efficiency o f Nazi extermination and to the policies o f the Nazis’ successors. But at the turn of the century

millions o f Jews were settled in Poland and every town had its populousJewish community. Under Russian, German or AustroHungarian rule, depending on the region, theJews shared with the Poles themselves the unhappy status o fsecond-class citizen.

Plonsk, however, was a backwater where even Jews could hope to live out their days in peace, relatively free from the threat o f sudden pogrom or expulsion. Here, David Gryn spent childhood and adolescence until, at the age o f nineteen, he leftfor Palestine to work as a Zionist pioneer for the revival o f the Jewish National Home. This is what he says o f his early life and o f his awakening to the call o fIsrael.

can hardly remember a time when the idea of building what w e used to call ‘Eretz Israel’, o r the Land o f Israel, wasn’t the guiding factor of m y life. It is n o exaggeration t o say that at three I had daydreams of coming t o

Palestine. A n d certainly from m y tenth year on, I never thought of spending m y life anywhere else.

The events of my childhood influenced m e very naturally in

this direction.

In

m y third y e a r ,

my

grandfather began

teaching m e Hebrew. H e would sit m e o n his knee and I would

repeat words after him. Within a few months, I became quite fluent, actually learning t o speak and t o love theJews ancient tongue before I could read i n any language (Yiddish and

Russian were the basic languages

of

our community.

a small minority of the highly educated as a ‘dead’ vehicle o f Talmud and Torah, to

Hebrew was considered by all but

be struggled through i n school and then forgotten). Listening t o grandfather telling stories of Jewish history, I clearly recall thinking t o myself: ‘Plonsk isn’t m y real home. Here w e live among strangers. I must g o the Land of Israel.’

W h e n I was just a little older, Theodor Herzl came to our small city. An Austrian Jew and a journalist, Herzl had been so stricken

by

the anti-Semitism

of

the Dreyfus affair i n

France that he wrote a book, TheJewish State, which called for

of a Jewish nation. H e devoted the remainder of his life t o starting the modern Zionist movement. W h e n he appeared i n Plonsk, people greeted him as the Messiah. the founding

Everyone went around saying “The Messiah has come’, and we children were much impressed. It was easy for a small boy to see in Herzl the Messiah. H e was a tall, finely featured m a n

whose impressive black beard flowed wide down t o his chest. O n e glimpse of him and I was ready t o follow h i m then a n d there t o the land ofmy ancestors. M y generation was ripe for Zionism. Our parents were content t o dream and talk while making their peace with the unstable b u t n o t a t that time actively hostile environment of

Eastern Europe. M y father, a lawyer and a prominent member

Early Years 35

of the Jewish community (though some disapproved of h i m for his free-thinking ideas), called himself a ‘Lover of Zion’. Before Herzl, he and his friends would meet frequently at our house and one would hear repeated over and over

“The Land of Israel’. Later, the Z i o n i s t Movement.

the phrase

the group incorporated itself into

In

that time a n d place the entire

atmosphere, n o t only for m e

but for

all the Jews

of m y

age

in Europe northeast o f the Danube, favoured the idea o f tak-

ing matters

t o the logical c o n c l u s i o n : emigration a n d active

building o f Eretz Israel rather than mere talk, dreams or

passive waiting for the magic fulfilment of prophecies.In such a sense, Herzl was indeed like a Messiah since he galvanized the feeling of the youth that Eretz Israel was achievable. H e added, however, that i t could only come t o pass if w e built it with our o w n hands. This was a concept bitterly opposed by many of our elders

and especially by religious sects such as the Chassidim w h o felt i t was impious t o anticipate mystic promises o f heavenly

The Land.

recall t o

T h e Jewish community

ments.

of Plonsk

consisted

of three ele-

The

poor were small merchants, shopkeepers, peddlars. M y o w n family belonged t o the middle o r professional group, neither rich nor poor, but comfortably off. F r o m this social level came the intellectuals, the freethinkers, socialists, scholars and Zionists. The Chassidim, mostly prosperous, considered themselves a n elite and t o prove i t lived

slightly apart synagogue,

from the rest

kept

of us. They attended their o w n Only t w o of their number

t o themselves.

became Zionists a t the time the movement was sweeping

of the Jewish world. The rest thundered against Zionism'’s activist philosophy and forced the t w o converts t o leave t o w n hastily. Whenever a n y Jew departed for Palestine, the Chassidim sat Shiva for seven days as though he had died. our part

What about anti-Semitism in all this? For m y generation, it played only an indirect role in our desire t o emigrate.

36 David Ben-Gurion Certainly anti-Semitism had acted as a catalyst o n Zionism i n

general. It had turned Herzl himself from a dilettante, a

darling ofVienna's literary salons andperfectly a t home in the non-Jewish world, into a m a n dedicated to the cause o f a homeland. A n d the fact that Jews were subject t o periodic ostracism and persecution made it all the m o r e obviously

imperative for them t o have a place of their own. Yet for m a n y of us, anti-Semitic feeling had little

t o do with our dedication. I personally never suffered anti-Semitic

persecution. Plonsk was remarkably free o f it, o r at least the

Jews felt well protected in the cocoon of their community life. Nevertheless, and I think this very significant, i t was Plonsk that sent the highest proportion of Jews t o Eretz Israel from any town i n Poland of comparable size. W e emigrated n o t for negative reasons of escape but for the positive purpose of rebuilding a homeland, a place where w e wouldn’t be perpetual strangers and that through our toil would become irrevocably our own.

Life in Plonsk was peaceful enough. There were three main communities: Russians, Jews and Poles. Each lived apart from the others. The Russians as the occupiers kept a firm hand o n the civil administration. There were n o Polish o r

Jewish officials. Officials o r police almost never interfered in dealings between the Jewish a n d Polish communities. They disliked both equally and took a n aloof attitude t o the town’s

day-to-day life. The number of Jews and Poles in the city were roughly equal, about five thousand each. The Jews, however, formed

group occupying the innermost districts whilst the Poles were more scattered, living in

a compact, centralized

outlying areas and shading off into the peasantry. Consequently, when a gang ofJewish boys m e t a Polish gang the latter would almost inevitably represent a single suburb and thus be poorer in fighting potential than the Jews w h o even

if their numbers were initially fewer could quickly call on reinforcements from the entire quarter. Far from being

Early Years 37 afraid

of

them, they were rather afraid

of us. In

general,

however, relations were amicable, though distant. I must

add that m y

father maintained

very friendly ties

with numbers o fPolishpeople w h o consulted h i m professionally and who, o n many occasions, indicated their trust in him. That didn’t mean the population a t large wasn’t anti-Semitic.

Most Poles, as devout

Catholics,

looked upon Jews as ‘the

murderers o f Christ’. That this view had no basis in fact, historical o r apocryphal, meant little. B u t ingrained

anti-

Semitism didn’t prevent Poles and Russians from having

their particular Jewish friends. I'm reminded of a story concerning a former mayor of Vienna during the late nineteenth century w h o was known as a notorious anti-Semite. Nevertheless, he cultivated the society of m o r e than a f e w Jews. When someone took him up o n this apparent contradiction

he retorted: ‘In Vienna, I d e c i d e w h o i s a J e w ! ’ Because of m y Zionism I had little interest i n learning the local languages. I felt they had n o relevance t o m y life as I wouldn’t be staying. I did acquire Russian and read widely i n the literature, particularly Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. I was so impressed by one of Tolstoy’s heroes that at the age of eight I

announced to m y family I was a vegetarian, a phase that

didn’tlast very long. During m y school years, I read mainly Russian literature and Jewish history. W h e n I was about nine, t w o books made

an impression o n m e that has lasted throughout m y life. The

first was Ahavatzion by Abraham Mapu, the originator o f the modern Hebrew novel. The other was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which I read in Russian translation. Mapu first instilled in me

ofcourse learned remote. Mapu and the Bible in Shule. But there it was dry

a n understanding oflife inBiblical times. W e

made i t live. H e described real people leading lives that I as a n of Plonsk a n d of what was nearly the twentieth century could comprehend. A n d Mapu’s characters spoke the language of the Bible, which through his pen became once

inhabitant

again a living language. Mapu makes a point of describing

38 DavidBen-Gurion

life in the times of the Jewish Kings, the Biblical period and n o t the Talmudic one of exile. There was very little else available t o a boy that re-created the times of ancient Judah and Israel so vividly — thus putting the dream of starting anew into a context of everyday reality. Uncle Tom's Cabin stirred m e for different reasons. I was by the idea of slavery, that a m a n could exploit

taken aback

other men so crudely, Tom’s innate nobility impressed me

him

n o r took away his parallel between his tale and the story of Moses who repudiated slavery for the first time in recorded history. Dreams of Eretz Israel seemed most impractical for m e personally during my childhood, for physically I was very frail. The doctors said I must gain strength i n the country. I deeply. Slavery neither crushed

humanity. It was easy t o draw the

have always remembered with a n emotion bordering o n a w e the act of devotion

my mother

m a d e for m e a t that time.

She

was a simple woman, attached t o her home, deeply observant and ill a t ease beyond the confines o f o u r o w n community.

Yet she took m e t o live in a country village, surrounded b y people w h o m she feared and whose ways were alien t o her. Mother expected great things o f m e . W h e n I was nine, a physician made a phrenological examination of m y head, very m u c h the medical fashion of the day, a n d predicted I would become a remarkable man. She was very happy t o hear this said: ‘My Duchka (this was my diminutive n a m e when I was a child) will be a great rabbi. And he will upset people!’ and

M y father, as I have said, wasn’t devout. H e did observe

religious practice. B u t

essentially he was a freethinker. Many

years later, in 1925, he came t o Eretz Israel and there dropped

all religious observances. But when as a boy I suddenly declared m y disbelief i n God, father was very stern with m e

of belief for the sake of being a t o n e with the community. When I was ten m y mother died. F o r a l o n g time, several a n d insisted I g o through the rituals

years, life seemed t o have lost all meaning. I continued school

Early Years 39 and m y reading but with barrenness in my heart. I was obsessed by a feeling of human futility. Then, when I was fourteen, I suddenly emerged from this tunnel t o throw

myself heartand soul into the Zionist movement. With two older boys, Shmuel Fuchs and Shlomo Zemach

(the latter became one of the finest Israeli writers ofmy time), I helped establish a group t o teach Hebrew. W e called i t the Ezra Society after the great teacher w h o returned to Jerusalem from Babylon t o rebuild the Temple. There seemed t o us

marked affinity between Ezra’s mission and time and our own newly born hopes for Palestine. I joined Zemach i n teaching Hebrew t o the poor.

All

children went to Cheder but the poor, as is usually the case, for one reason

and another

received the thin end o f

cultural heritage. O u r activities m e t

with

the

success and w e

expanded operations by having the first pupils teach others. W e went through the Jewish quarter teaching Hebrew t o our contemporaries until the entire youth had a feel for the language. Then, the younger generation took o n their parents

and soon Plonsk was one of

the f e w cities

where almost every family

had basic

of

the Diaspora

fluency

in Hebrew.

A year or so after organizing the Ezra Society I began dividing m y time between Plonsk and Warsaw. There was n o secondary o r high school in the area near m y home and I

had decided t o prepare t o

study engineering a t the Warsaw

Polytechnic Academy. I knew engineers would b e needed t o

build up backward and undeveloped Palestine. Besides, my father insisted that I attend university a n d finish m y education before thinking about emigration. H e even wrote t o Herzl asking his help in finding me a place in a faculty o f Western Europe, preferably Vienna or Basel. I didn’t know this at the time nor a t any point during m y father’s life. H e never once

mentioned i t t o me. Years later, the letter turned up among documents in the Zionist museum ofJerusalem. That is h o w i t came t o m y attention. Whether Herzl answered o r not I have no way o f knowing. I doubt it. He was pretty busy at

40 David Ben-Gurion the time running the gamut of the Chanceries of Europe. In any case, during the year 1904 m y plans changed

abruptly.M a n y Zionists,includingHerzl, opted for settlingnot

in Palestine but in Uganda. Middle European Jewish youth was very m u c h against the Uganda proposal and determined t o fight i t with every available means. The only true weapon was immediate departure for Palestine i n the name of Eretz Israel.

The first t o g o from Plonsk was m y friend and fellow Hebrew teacher of the Ezra Society, Zemach. H e was several years older than the rest of us. H e also had the personal reason of wishing t o get away from an oppressive family situation. It was decided he would g o for a year o r so, then return t o report t o us firsthand at home. His departure was quite a n affair. Zemach came from a n old and scholarly family. B u t very poor. Then,

his father

w o n five

hundred

roubles i n a lottery. The b o y was given the money t o bank i n a neighbouring town. H e took t w o hundred roubles from

the sum to pay for his passage to Palestine. H e was so ashamed of what he had done that he didn’t return home but fled straight t o Warsaw where he hid i n m y r o o m waiting for the date ofhis journey t o arrive.

I knew his father would come looking for him and that I would be one of the first persons he would visit. Two fellow students took Zemach t o their quarters. S o o n after that,

his

father appeared a t my door. “Whereis Shlomo?’ he demanded. I said: ‘He is going t o Eretz Israel and I cannot take y o u t o

him.” We argued back and forth but then suddenly the old m a n broke d o w n and began t o weep for

his son. I

couldn’t

stand seeing him cry that way. So I said: ‘If y o u promise not t o prevent his going then I will send for him.” His father swore he would abide b y this and the t w o were re-united. B u t Zemach wasn’t easy i n his conscience until he could

repay the t w o hundred roubles he had taken, even though his father pressed t h e m u p o n him. I t w a s the first thing

o f doing upon his return a year and a halflater.

he thought

Early Years 41 Throughout his first visit to Palestine, Zemach wrote to m e

faithfully every week. Long, detailed letters o f twenty-five

pages and more. I could hardly wait for them t o arrive. He would tell me of his hardships in getting a job, the kind of work he did when he could find any, h o w he was taking to

his n e w life of manual labour, what the country looked like, in what state he had found the various groups of pioneers already there and what were the burning issues i n their discussions on labour and Zionist ideology. He wrote of the harsh realities of the pioneering life, so far removed from our rosy, visionary dreams as youngsters in Plonsk. T h e problems, difficult and numerous, he never sought t o conceal. Yet there was n o hint of despair i n these eloquent communications. H e always had suggestions as t o what must be done t o overcome the troubles at hand.

Thanks t o Zemach’s letters, I came t o feel I knew Palestine as well as I knew the land o f m y feature

of

the

birth. I

regions he visited,

could visualize every

a n d every aspect

of

the

physical, social, political climate o f the land. Those letters were m y most precious possession during all m y early years. I hoped someday t o see them published. What a fine record

they would have made of the pioneering life! Unfortunately, i n the First World W a r w h e n the Turks expelled m a n y

Jews from Palestine, they were lost along with all the personal

effectsThadinJerusalem. Zemach returned t o Plonsk in the summer o f 1906 and this

time I would not be restrained from going back t o Palestine with him. University, m y father’s ambitions for me, the professional advantages o f a higher education, all these considerations meant little

in terms of getting t o

grips

with the

land itself. In Warsaw, in Europe, I felt I was marking time. I

was growing older without coming closer t o my goal. Zionism wasn’t a talkingpoint or a dream.It was reality.But only if one followed through and went t o Palestine with the purpose o f picking u p a shovel and creating Eretz Israel. For nearly t w o

thousand years, the Jews in exile had loved their land from

42 David Ben-Gurion afar. In the mind they had cherished the words of the Prophets telling t h e m that someday they would return. Well, the time

if God created the universe w e at least could plant fruit trees in the Galilee’s rocky soil. Such feelings pushed m e t o hesitate n o longer. I broke the news t o my father who was dismayed. I persevered and was now. A n d

Zemach and I planned our trip. Then, less than a week before w e were due t o board the train for the port of Odessa o n the

Black Sea, I was arrested.

This was

m y second experience

of police

and prison.

In

Warsaw, I had already been picked up b y a policeman who considered that m y

hair was too long. I

suppose i t made m e

look the stereotype of a n anarchist. In those days, almost threequarters of a century ago, w e had similar problems t o the youth o ftoday. As the French say, the more things change, the more they remain the same! Anyway, m y father was summ o n e d t o the capital t o

bail m e o u t . When he presented his

visiting card t o the chiefof the police station, it transpired they both had the same name. “You're Avigdor Gryn? I too a m Avigdor Gryn,’ the policeman said. The t w o m e n shook

hands and I was released. Thesecond arrest wasfar more serious.It came about because the rabbis of the Plonsk area were i n the habit of using m e asa secular mediator i n some of the local semi-legal problems that

cropped u p i n the Jewish community. TheJews avoided Russian courts, whenever they possibly could. W h e n legal troubles arose, they went t o the rabbi w h o often turned over routine affairs t o a mediator for preliminary elucidation. If the thing could be settled without going further and without

involving the rabbi as the highest Jewish authority, then so much the better. I enjoyed this activity and the rabbis had confidence i n m y ability although I was only fifteen when I began mediating. I must say I never lost a n opportunity t o militate

for Zionism. I recall one case, for instance, in which a couple werehaving a row over a dowry. They wanted a divorce andI ruled that before obtaining i t the husband should return his

Early Years 43 wife’s dowry money of seven hundred roubles. But I said t o h e r : “You m a y keep six hundred roubles. O n e hundred y o u

should give t o the Z i o n i s t Committee.” She readily agreed. Iwas arrested and thrown i n jail while attempting t o resolve a quarrel between t w o rabbis in a village near Plonsk. The Russians heard of the dispute and for some unclear reason decided t o make a n issue of this particular event t o underline the all-pervading nature of their administrative authority. The local Commissar intervened without warning, accusing me o f

attempting t o disrupt Russian justice. The police confiscated m y papers and talked ominously of sending m e t o Siberia. That would have ruined m y plans for Palestine for years t o come. By the time I emerged, I could have looked ahead t o long years

of military

service in the Tsarist army.

I was desperate. Luckily, I managed t o smuggle word t o the

Zionist Committee i n Warsaw. I t responded quickly and m a g -

nificently, spending a thousand roubles o n persuading various officials t o return m y papers and l e t m e free. In a dazed and

shaken mood, I managed t o catch the train for Odessa. While waiting there for a ship to Jaffa, Zemach and I visited the famous Zionist leader Menahem Ussishkin. W e had plans bringing Jewish youth from Eastern Europe t o Palestine o n a large scale. Ussishkin received u s i n a manner that opened m y for

eyes to the dangers of theoretical Zionism. He was cold and uncordial. H e told us the Turkish government didn’t want mass immigration and said i t was necessary first t o send doctors and agricultural engineers t o prepare the way. H e seemed most

put out that Zemach a n d I should think of immigrating without consulting his committee. The interview was brief and as w e left his office he shouted after u s : ‘ D o y o u want t o die of

malaria?”

The occasion left

m e with a life-long aversion

talk rather than act. We shipped on a Russian freighter, travelling fourth class

towards people w h o

and sleeping on deck. W e did n o t mind the filth, bad fare or

the hardship for w e knew that injust fourteen days we would be anchoring inJaffa.

3-Pioneering

whenI first arrived was a bitter disappointment. All had stood at the ship’s rail gazing a t the shore of Palestine as w e steamed slowly southward from the Lebanon. I could hardly wait t o step AFFA

the previous night, Zemach a n d I

onto the soil o f the homeland. But when I did, the circumstances took m e aback.

Todays, this little town is only a fishing port and a suburb o f

modern Tel-Aviv (which didn’t come into being until the 1920s).

In 1906, however, Jaffa was the chief gateway into

Palestine from

the West. Since the country was a forgotten

corner of Earth, the gateway w a s modest enough! B u t poor and rundown though i t was with only one main street lined

with stalls and small shops, the t o w n certainly didn’t lack

off the main avenue were brimming with people of many origins: Turkish, French and English traders; Armenian shopkeepers; Arab colour. T h e narrow, cobbled alleyways

dockworkers, guides, beggars; an occasional Catholic or Greek Orthodox m o n k; missionaries representing a variety o f

faiths; a few Jews some o f whose families had lived there since the time of King Saul. The Zionist Committee had a n office i n several Jewish political organizations which maintained hostels t o welcome their fellow immigrants while seeking t o enlist them into whatever group o r cause they

Jaffa. So did represented.

AsIstepped off the gangway, t w o m e n pushed through the crowd. O n e grabbed Zemach and the other hustled m e away

48 David Ben-Gurion

in a different direction. Next thing I knew, I was standing in

of a seedy inn being harangued by ten o r twelve young m e n gatheredround a bottle ofbrandy. Between swigs of alcohol, they held forth o n Marxist philosophy, roundly denouncing the theory of historical materialism. Turning t o m e aggressively, they demanded m y views. I had listened for a few moments in confusion, getting m y bearings. B u t n o w I felt anger rising. Here I had come t o build Eretz Israel and first thing, after along journey, after turning m y back o n education and m y father’s hopes for me, after finally arriving i n the land of m y ancestors, I was being asked t o pronounce o n Marxism. I burst o u t : ‘ G o t o hell with your historical materialism. I've come t o Eretz Israel and y o u talk t o m e of theories. What sort of Jews can y o u be?’ A n d I stormed out slamming the door. Then and there, I decided that Jaffa was n o place for m e . the r o o m

After locating Zemach, who had extricated himself from a rival outfit, I set out o n foot with h i m for Petach Tikvah, the

in the country walk slightly i n l a n d t o the north.

oldest Jewish farming settlement

hour

a n d a three

A t Petach Tikvah (in English, “The Door o fHope’) I felt I had finally arrived. We came t o the gates a t dusk and with our small reserve o f money bought some simple food. Then we lay down in a field near the road t o sleep.

That first night i n

Palestine sleep refused t o come. I kept

thinking about all that had happened and saying t o myself:

‘Here I a m in a Hebrew village of the Holy Land.” I wrote of m y father:

that night i n a letter t o

The howling of thejackals in the vineyards the braying ofdonkeys in the stables, the croaking of frogs in the ponds, the heavy scent o f acacias, the sound of the sea i n the distance, the shadows o f the orange trees in the half-light, the stars twinkling in a dark blue sky t h a t glistened a n d seemed unreal, everything w a s so wonderfully s t r a n g e as i n s o m e l e g e n d a r y r e a l m . I t h o u g h t

of all the stages of

m y journey, the farewells, the sea passage and the approach to the coast o f Palestine. A n d n o w I was in Eretz Israel. Was it really

true? Isat up all night communing with these new skies . . .

Pioneering 49 The sky was wonderful. But the rocky land yielded little. I k n e w from Zemach’s earlier letters h o w hard i t was t o get work. N o w I found o u t for myself that even t o survive would take all the energy a n d ingenuity I possessed. T h e Jewish farmers from w h o m I sought hire as a day labourer were the sons of pioneers. T h e example of their fathers back i n the 1870s and 1890s had done m u c h t o inspire m y generation. Those were the m e n of the First Aliyah, o r ‘first wave’ of modern immigrants. W e were the Second

Aliyah. I recall the effect upon m e of a letter from one of the older generation appearing i n a book o f Memoirs o f pioneering days that I s t i l l possess. The letter was from a m a n named Ze'ev Dubnow and was written in 1882 in answer to his brother, a

well-known Russian Jewish historian, Simeon Dubnow. Simeon as elder brother and head of the family had demanded

that Ze'ev stop his ‘ridiculous folly’ of trying t o ‘findhimself” as a labourer i n Palestine, a n activity that Simeon considered

madness. His brother, he admonished, should return to St. Petersburg where the family lived and take u p respectable

work as a university lecturer. Ze'ev wrote back: D o y o u really think, m y dear brother, that m y sole purpose in coming here was t o ‘find’ myself? That if I did find myself I would

have achieved my aim and that if I didn’t I would deserve pity? N o ! M y ultimate aim, like the aimlof many others, is great, wide, unlimited. B u t not incapable o f realization. T h e ultimate a i m is t o build up this land of Israel and restore t o the Jews the political independence that has been taken from them for the past t w o

thousand years. Don’t laugh. This is no dream. The means of be the setting up of villages for agriculture and

achieving i t can

crafts, the building o f factories and their gradual expansion, in

all employment a n d agriculinto Jewish hands. In addition, it will be necessary t o train young people and the young generations o f the future in the use o f firearms (in the wild and free Turkish Empire anything is possible) and then. . . thenevenIgive myselfup t o reveries. Then will come that glorious day of which Isaiah prophesied in his glowing message o f comfort. The Jews, with weapons in their hands if other words a total effort t o transfer ture

so

David Ben-Gurion

necessary, will announce with a loud voice that they are masters i n their ancient land. I t doesn’t matter that this wonderful d a y will

come only in fifty years or later.

What is fifty years for such an

undertaking?

Thus spoke the First Aliyah, inspiring the hopes of the Second. B u t i n Palestine times had changed. The old pioneers, the first modern rebuilders of Zion w h o had stuck t o their

idealin the face o ftremendous travailand suffering,had mostly died off. I'm afraid the majority o f their sons, heirs t o their

the same spirit. The offspring of men like Ze’ev Dubnow felt they had

land and agricultural experience, d i d n o t carry o n i n

already accomplished enough i n making a living from the soil. Moreover, they were repelled b y young newcomers like myself with our raggedy clothes, long hair and outspoken talk

of socialism, collective living and the sharing of wealth. W e talked much, but i n the eyes of our prospective employers o u r capacity for farm work, our physical stamina in the face o f

poor diet, relentless heat, malaria and the back-breaking tasks required t o cultivate that arid, unyielding land impressed them little. W e

frightened them with

theories and annoyed

them with our lack of farming competence. They turned their backs o n us, preferring Arab workers w h o were more efficient, demanded less pay and, most o f all, didn’t presume t o social

equality with the employer. A t Petach Tikvah, I literally starved. I was small and frail looking which made m y personal ability t o find any job at all highly precarious. Every day, hundreds of Arabs would walk into the fields and vineyards t o begin the chores. The young Jews would gather near the synagogue hoping a farmer would

by. I f one d i d , he would feel each candidate’s a r m t o whether there was sufficient muscle for the work. M y arms being of the pipestem variety a t the time — they come

determine

rapidly grew in girth when I became a pioneer a year later - I

would usually be passed by with a glance. It

took m e ten days

t o get m y first assignment. T h e n i t was the lesser task of carting

wheelbarrows of manure for spreading in the orange groves.

Pioneering $ I For this I received the equivalent of 23d. a day, worth rather more than nowadays but still a wage that would only pay fora minimum diet.

With life at Petach Tikvah so uncertain, I wandered from settlement t o settlement, m y c l o t h e s i n tatters, m y b o d y o n

the

edge of breakdown from famine. I stayed a few weeks o n the plateau of Kfar Saba and spent another period i n the vineyards

o fRishon-Le-Zion where I planted vines, shifted manure, dug

irrigation ditches, ploughed, helped carry away the endless rocks and boulders that plagued all attempts t o farm this earth, Then the weather changed abruptly, without transition at all, from boiling heat t o a cold drizzle that betokened winter. T h e land turned t o m u d .

M y clothing was inadequate and so

diet. I quickly succumbed t o malaria. The attacks came every ten days o r so and during them I

was m y

couldn’t move, let alone work. M y temperature would g o u p

to about 104°F and I was often delirious. This went o n for

three or four days, then the fever would subside, leaving me weak and shaken. became quite philosophical about this cycle and k n e w w h e n the sickness would hit me. I recall o n e occasion whenI felt a n attack coming. W o r k was scarce and I spent m y last coppers o n a pita, a large, flat loat of unleavened Arab bread. I

nibbled a t i t

day. I the afternoon

trying t o m a k e i t last through the

was hungrier than I’hadreckoned and by three i n

the pitahad dwindled t o a crumb. “Well’,I thought t o myself, ‘it doesn’t matter. I w o n ’ t be hungry until this evening and then I can sleep.” B u t w h e n I lay down and closed m y eyes, I had a terrible vision o f chickens roasting o n a spit and dripping hot fat onto piles of bread. I was i n agony. O n the one hand, I

felt exhausted with malaria. O n the other, whenever I began t o doze off I contemplated those lines of simmering chickens that I k n e w m y hands could never reach. A doctor w h o m a friend called i n t o attend m e during one malaria bout said I would never shake the disease a n d that for m e staying in Palestine meant death. I had better g o back t o Europe and be quick about i t , he told m e . M y well-meaning

$2

David Ben-Gurion

friends all pointed out that this was hardly a disgrace. Half the immigrants w h o came t o Palestine i n those early days took

one look and caught the same ship home again. Already, I could call myself a veteran. O f course, I didn’t listen t o any o f them. I hung on grimly trying t o let the disease and the lack of food hinder m e as little

as possible in the course I had determined my life should take. I wrote t o my father: “There is no going back t o the old life. Zionism is a struggle and one can only feel sorry for those who

flee the battlefield blaming conditions here.” One of the plight t o my

returnees t o Plonsk must have reported m y

father. He wrote begging me t o come home and sent m e ten roubles. I returned the money writing: “You k n o w I won't leave this country.’ To have takenmy father’s money wouldhave meant for me at the time a betrayal ofmy purpose in coming t o Palestine. I think I would still feel that way today although one is supposed t o mellow with age. M y attitude, I a m sure, is open t o accusations of rigidity and m y friends have often reproached me with this fault in my personality. But when I left PolandI believed something I continued t o believe, which is that every-

thing wehadinPalestine shouldbe created from thebeginning. I knew h o w fundamental was our historical claim to the land.

But I also knew that if we were t o call it truly ours again, it must be earned with our toil. So living o n handouts from my father, n o matter h o w welcome, would not have suited m y mission here,

Fortunately, with Spring, the malaria became less acute. Perhaps i t was a psychological victory, mind over matter as i t

were, sparked by the doctor’s ultimatum of g o h o m e o r die. Probably i t was a mere physiological immunization. In any case, one day I walked t o the higher area of Rishon-Le-Zion where the colony was celebrating its twenty-fifth year. I had a temperature of 1 0 2 but I wanted t o be present a t this tribute

t o one of the first modern Jewish settlements. W e drank wine and danced through the night and suddenly, I felt well. The

Pioneering $3 attacks didn’t come back so strongly after that. A

few months

later, when I moved u p to the hills o f Galilee with a group o f young people, they disappeared almost totally. When I arrived in Eretz Israel, I determined t o speak only

Hebrew. Unfortunately, this was impossible since the majority of immigrants spoke the various languages of exile: Yiddish, Ladino and practically all the tongues of Europe. I belonged t o the Poalei Zion (Workers o fZion) political party and militated at its meetings for the adoption ofHebrew as the party's official language. Shortly before I left for the Galilee, I was asked t o speak at a meeting ofn e w arrivals from Europe. I g o t u p and started t o welcome them i n Hebrew. I noticed the

look o f incomprehension on their faces. In a few minutes, people began t o file out of the room. Rather than compromise

with my belief, I continued in Hebrew. When I finished only three o r four listeners were left before me. O n e o f them turned out to be Itzhak Ben Zvi, w h o was to become Israel’s second President. A t that moment began m y lifelong friendship a n d

political association with this tall, deceptively fragile-looking m a n o f sad and scholarly demeanour. His looks masked a n

abiding toughness. Thoughonly i n his twenties, B e n Z v i a t the time w e m e t was already a veteran o f combat. H e had been instrumental i n organizing Jewish self-defence units in Russia against the wave of anti-Semitic pogroms there. Both B e n Zvi and myself soon decided t o leave the coastal

plain for Galilee where the land was all but uninhabited and where w e could settle itaccording t o ourideal withothers w h o spoke Hebrew o r were willing to learn i t and w h o belonged t o our o w n generation.

In lower Galilee, we joined a group o f pioneer labourers. Zemach was n o longer with me. H e had gone north some time before and was installed elsewhere. W e still corresponded and though w e differed i n our political positions there was a lifelong bond between us. H e died only a few years ago, in his

eighties.

With m y health restored, with a congenial group of like-

s4 David Ben-Gurion minded people of m y o w n age, and with real farming t o do at

last, I began to feel that n o w I was living the life I had always dreamtabout.

I became a ploughman, working with t w o oxen. Though

the work was hard, with food and living conditions very spartan, I enjoyed every minute o f it. M y group was engaged i n what w e called ‘the conquest of labour’. W e would g o out as a collective and w o r k o n land

which the Jews themselves had bought and paid for through the Jewish National Fund o r the Jewish Colonization Association. W e would prepare a large patch of ground, m a k e it ready for planting so that it could be settled rapidly by permanent settlers following o n behind us. Then w e would move off to work a n e w tract, perhaps a valley swamp o r a boulderstrewn

hillside. The idea

was that we, w h o prepared

the

ground, would be permanent pioneers, moving from place to place o n reclamation tasks, making the land fit settlers. W e

had n o

thought a t the time

for Jewish farm of becoming settlers

ourselves. Ours was the j o b o f creating farming opportunities for m a n y other Jews w h o thus would not be at the mercy o f reluctant employers. T h e pioneers I joined had their head-

quarters in the settlement of Sejera and were the first ‘conquest of labour’ collective t o engage i n the task ofreclamation.

In 1909, a similar outfit working i n the Jordan valley decided t o continue permanent settlement o n a tract they themselves

had prepared, and t o continue living the collective life there. So was born kibbutzDegeniah, the first example of this unique form o f social and economic organization where everyone in the community is a n equal n o matter what his o r her task and where all share title both t o the land and whatever its yield. B u t describing i t in this fashion makes the story ofDegeniah over-simple. There were violent internal discussions within the pioneer group before i t came t o the decision t o settle down. Yosef Bussel, the leading founder-member, had suggested that the pioneers stay and develop a particular site, which had

Pioneering

S$

been little more than a malarial swamp. He said they should n o t m o v e o n because developing the area o n a permanent basis was also a ‘conquest of labour’. Some of his comrades were horrified. W o u l d n o t becoming permanent settlers mean being ‘owner-farmers’, a hated class associated in their minds with materialism a n d exploitation? To settle was n o t

‘pioneering’, they contended. Bussel told them this was nonsense.

They

were n o t turning themselves into plantation

owners, hiring cheap Arab labour and sitting back t o reap the profits. They were proposing to continue as a collective, the same as before. Everyone would g o o n working as he o r she had done, and theland would be ownedby n o one individually but by all. The majority backed Bussel’s idea and that is how

the first communal village, which in Hebrew is ‘kibbutz’, began. I do not think the pioneers of Degeniah were themselves aware that what they were creating was unique, that others

would follow their pattern and their example, and that the kibbutz idea would expand into a force of prime importance i n the country. Today, m a n y of o u r best people are kibbutz-

niks. From this group come the majority o f our officers, who are picked o n the basis of performance and for their leadership potential. Although in the nation, the kibbutzim constitute a

minor element, their contribution t o the economy is enormous, out o f all proportion t o their size. They are the key t o

Israel's agricultural productivity. Then, too, the kibbutz has evolved important provocative social practices such as having children raised together but nevertheless i n close contact with their individual parents, w h o unlike parents elsewhere devote t w o t o three hours each afternoon t o doing nothing but being actively, completely with their children. One can say without exaggeration that the kibbutzim constitute a social experiment from which peoples everywhere can take inspiration a n d ideas. A n d they are the one true example i n today’s

world o f a democratic form o f socialism, combining the most advanced economic practices with a respect for individuality

$6 David Ben-Gurion and

the inalienable

rights

of every

human being, that

has

never been attained elsewhere. N o one could have foreseen that this influence o n Jewish and universal values would g r o w from the modest settlement

ofDegeniah o n the banks of theJordan. Only much later did w e come t o recognize the greatness of the blessing hidden i n the seed. Perhaps even n o w w e are witnessing a mere fraction

o fthe ultimate yield. For the sake o fus all, Thope so.

My

group stayed

working in Sejera and the surrounding of us were n e w t o manual

area for t w o years. Though most

labour, the labour itself caused little hardship. What hurt us more was worry and lack of sleep. A t night, w e had t o guard against marauding Arabs and the threat of attack. We werean

isolated community surrounded by nomadic Bedouins. Their intent was not t o hurt us o r t o drive us away, but plain theft.

They bothered the Arab settlements as m u c h as they did us. T h e villages used t o hire Circassian guards t o keep watch over life and property. W e in Sejera, true t o the idea o f being

dependent o n n o one but ourselves, resolved t o organize our o w n defence. T o do otherwise seemed a n abdication o f our

autonomy, the potential sacrifice o f freedom.

Jewsdidnotreadily take t o bearing arms.

Asa people wehave

aningrainedabhorrence t o violence.I n the centuries of exile w e were often martyred. Yet w e submitted in abnegation, rarely fighting back. O u r weapons were intellectual, based upon

reason and persuasion. Our brains were finely attuned t o dialectical argument through long study of the myriad c o m plexities i n the Talmud, that great edifice erected during our dispersion t o comment and elucidate the far greater edifice of the Bible. T o take up arms seemed abnormal. I t was all very

well t o buy land with the contributions of the mass of Jewry in the Diaspora. T o cultivate that land i n accordance with the pioneering ideal seemed the best w a y of spending one’s life. But for Jews t o take rifles and defend that which they had sown seemed a t first as going too

far.

But we knew that here in the Galilee — and the principle

Pioneering 57 holds true for Israel today if she is to survive, and she will - we

knew

there was n o normality in the accepted sense of the term. W e wanted t o create a n e w life consonant with our

oldest traditions as a people. This was our struggle. A n d t o achieve that goal, w e had t o re-create everything from the beginning, t o re-invent society. So w e were prepared for

blood on our hands in the name o fautonomy, self-determination and self-defence.

O fcourse, we would fight only i f attacked. But in that wild part

of the country

attack w a s inevitable. There w a s complete

anarchy u p there i n the Galilee. A running battle was going o n

between various Arab bands, and betweennomads and village

folk. Defence of the settlements certainly didn’t depend o n the Turkish government since i t had t o all intents abandoned the country t o its own devices. The only interest Turkey had in Palestine was the collecting o f taxes, and even that its representatives didn’t carry out efficiently.

The Circassians were good village guards but, for the reasons stated, w e

evolved our

o w n defence organization

called Hashomer, or “The Watchmen’.

The story o f h o w a band of apprentice farmers with a handful of ancient firearms gradually grew through many adventures and despite all manner of setbacks a n d vicissitudes into the A r m y of Israel is fascinating i n its o w n right and I shall touch o n i t in another chapter. Suffice i t t o say here that being responsible for our o w n safety, w e had t o maintain constant vigilance, whatever our scruples about our weapons or, per-

haps more significantly, our lack of skill with them. All of us laboured during the day as our tasks demanded the

of every available hand. But a t night, each took his round a t guard duty.F o r a l o n g time, nothing much happened. Occasionally a guard, sensing trouble, o r letting his imagination get the better of him, fired a f e w shots into the darkness. presence

So long as the Bedouins k n e w w e were vigilant they kept their distance.

B u t one day, three o f our group w h o were hikingback from

58 David Ben-Gurion a short trip t o the coast were ambushed by Arab nomads. A f e w wild shots were exchanged, both sides probably intending merely t o scare the other. B u t an Arab bullet hit one o f the

Jewish boys and the incident turned into a pitched battle that ended with one Arab lying o n the ground seriously injured. Our boys made i t back t o Sejera without further trouble and w e were able t o treat the wounded one w h o wasn’t hurt seriously. But we knew that i f the Arab bandit died, we could expect a vendetta

of revenge that

would unite nomads and

villagers against us in accordance with the age-old law

of an

eye for a n eye. Only i n the Galilee, the practice was t w o eyes for one and vengeance would g o o n for a week, i n a n attempt t o destroy everything w e had created.

Well, the wounded man did die. W e knew it when our sheep disappeared, stolen. Then, armed horsemen began roving menacingly round our settlement centre and our fields. All w e could do was triple the guard and wait i n anguish for

an attack t o come.

The first victim of this sorry situation was a newcomer, Israel Korngold. He hadjust joined the group and was taking one of his first turns at guard duty. H e left the Sejera inn, our headquarters, a t t w o i n the afternoon armed with his rifle. Shots rang out. W e grabbed our weapons and ran t o help him. It was too late. H e was lying dead o n the road and his rifle was missing. That same day the Arabs killed a Jewish carpenter named Shimon Melamed. It was then I realized the wider implications o f this small clash. Sooner o r later, Jews and Arabs would fight over this land, a tragedy since intelligence

and good will could have avoided all bloodshed. But all the intelligence and all the good will in the world would come t o naught, I knew, faced with the rigid traditions and b l o o d code

of the East. With all the danger, the tension a t night a n d the hard work, I nevertheless was happy. I look o n those days as perhaps the best o f m y life, when I felt everything I was doing had a purpose in the cause o fbuilding our new country. I was never

Pioneering 59 so happy again o r so at peace with myself until I came t o the Negev only fifteen years ago, t o w o r k once more as a pioneer and t o live again i n the atmosphere of comradeship that I think is the essence of the pioneering spirit.

It was, therefore, a hard and painful decision for m e to leave the Galilee for Jerusalem where some o f m y political friends were pleading with m e t o help run a monthly journal pub-

lished by the Labour Zionist Movement. I had been active in discussions and conferences of the movement and had begun sending in articles t o the journal, which was appearing errati-

When the organization decided t o create a regular Zvi and m e t o take over. I declined at first as I had thrown myself fully into the pioneering life and hated the idea of leaving the open air, and the close friendships of the Galilee, for a desk job with all its petty irritations. But as I wandered round i n m y free hours t o visit other pioneer outfits and m e t fellow workers from different parts of the cally.

monthly, i t asked B e n

country at occasional meetings and get-togethers, I became

convinced that o u r efforts were seriously lacking in cohesion. We would never enlarge the opportunities for Jewish labour o r secure dignified conditions of work for newcomers t o the territory unless w e were properly organized. Only w h e n w e

had accomplished that first step and could insist that workers’ standards be raised would w e be in a position to seek the support of the Jewish community as a whole, a necessary pre-condition for dealing with the Turkish authorities o n land matters a n d for securing appropriate rights for all our people

in Palestine. In 1910, therefore, [somewhat reluctantly agreed t o become a journalist. Perhaps one of the minor points influencing m y decision was that the nub of Zionist activity in the country had moved from Jaffa t o Jerusalem, i n symbolic emphasis of our affinity with the city which had always been and was t o bec o m e once m o r e our capital. I presented myself t o the Labour

Zionist Party’s n e w headquarters there and went t o w o r k writing editorials for Ahdout (Unity), its Hebrew periodical.

60 David Ben-Gurion

A t this time, I evolved a pen-name, a Hebraicized version o f m y own name, that I have used ever since. Hebraicizing one’s n a m e seemed t o m y generation a w a y of underlining our

ing for

the country and o u r affinity

with o u r

feel-

ancestors. W e

were, in effect, indicating our purpose o ftaking up where they had left off. So David Gryn became David Ben-Gurion, in

homage t o aJewishhero calledBen-Gurion who died defending Jerusalem against the final siege of the Roman legions in 70

C.E.

That was the year from which our exile dates. The

Romans over-ran the city after a siege that had c u t i t s defenders

off for

thirty-six months. Jerusalem w a s p u t t o the torch a n d

the great T e m p l e that Ezra

had rebuilt

disappeared i n the

flames, except for its famous Western Wall which became k n o w n t o the Jews i n dispersion as the ‘wailing

wall’.

In Jerusalem I led a busy life. We soon turned Ahdout into a weekly. I also helped in the organizational activities of the party, which was working t o achieve three ends: t o create a workers’ syndicate, t o unity Palestine’s Jewish population and, further goal, t o secure Jewish autonomy from the Ottom a n administration. Not a f e w times I regretted leaving the land. The fight for as a

everything w e wanted was uphill all the way. Even persuading o u r membership t o consider Hebrew as the official language ran into resistance. A sizeable segment of the worker’s movement wanted Palestine’s Jews t o speak the

Yiddish mother-

tongue o fthe majority, or German asa ‘civilized’ international

of communication. Jerusalem itself, n o w one o f the striking cities in the world architecturally, was a

vehicle most

miserable place i n those days, physically m o r e uncomfortable

than Jaffa. I t was a sprawling slum inhabited

by the p o o r of ofBabel. Winters were hard with driving rains and icy winds sweeping viciously across the hills, whistling d o w n tortuous cobbled streets that never stayed o n one level but meandered endlessly across the slopes o n which the city perched precariously. Sometimes I doubted the effectiveness of what w e were trying t o do. T h e writing, every nationality, a true Tower

Pioneering 61

meetings, discussions, conferences, plans and projects, that never seemed t o end b u t never seemed t o advance, would

depress me. Journalism, like the never-ending lobbying that the well-dressed Zionists of Western Europe practised in the ante-rooms o f Ministries, seemed to m e futile compared to

of the Galilee. I realized, however, that someone with a healthy contempt

draining the swamps

for words without deeds, political castles-in-the-air, and

sectarianintrigue, someone with a pioneeringbackgroundhad t o represent the true builders of Eretz Israel. I a m sure I would have continued t o enjoy and t o be very happy with the simple though hard life of a farm labourer. I certainly was glad t o return to that life after more than half a century in politics. Yet I felt i t my task t o represent the ideal of active Zionism in Palestine at the organizational level where there was a vast educational and political programme t o accomplish if w e were ever t o succeed i n creating a force that would truly

Jewish ideal t o the world from the vantage point of the pioneer o n the spot i n Palestine. Looking back over m y long life, I a m glad that i t took the turn i t did. I a m grateful t o have been of service t o a cause which I made my o w n from the very beginning of my days

represent the

and which I have seen grow t o fruition. I am also grateful for the wide-ranging a n d deeply satisfying existence it

been given m e t o enjoy.

has

4-Humanists

andFighters

David Ben-Gurion was instrumental in helping to organize Hashomer, the pioneers’ rudimentary defence force. Later, under

the British Mandate, he led the initiative, as head of the Palestine Histadruth or ‘Federation o fJewish Labour’, to develop Hashomer into a country-wide clandestine army. This was called Haganah, ‘Defence’. Haganah’s mission was to protect the Jewish communitiesfrom ever increasing Arab hostility as nurtured by Hadj Amin el Husseini, thefanatic Mufti o fJerusalem who dreamt of restoring

a Moslem Caliphate over the entire Middle East. A t the outbreak o f the Second World War, Haganah furnished the majority o f thirty thousand volunteer men and women from Palestine who

fought under the British in the war against Nazism. Then, in the latter days ofthe Mandate, it struggled against the British immigration ban by organizing secret transport into the country. Ultimately Haganah became the backbone o fthe IsraelDefence Forces. Today, those who have passed through the military experience exhibit a spirit and outlook all their own. They can be described

as uniquely Israeli. The youngpeoplefrom the Forces differ in their attitudes from older settlers or citizens. They represent a definite break with theJewish past o fDispersion and a curious affinity with

the nation ofBiblical times. Along with the kibbutzim, with which it works in close collaboration, the military has set a tone. The issue o f both, whether born in the country or recently arrivedfrom elsewhere, has endowed this new nation with an indigenous personali ty.

As in earlier days, Ben-Gurion throughout his career in govern-

ment devoted much o f his energy and thought to the country’s military affairs. N o one is better qualified to discuss the Israel Defence Forces as a national institution and the remarkable role they have played in moulding the younger generation into a

cohesive entity. FOREIGN

visitor once told m e the story circulating

in his country, which I trust is apocryphal, o f t w o Israeli Cabinet Ministers discussing the national budget. One says: “We must declare war on the United States!’ T h e other looks at

him i n

surprise.

‘Yes,’

explains the first, ‘after we lose, the Americans will spend thousands

of

millions t o rehabilitate us

just

as they

Germany and Japan.” T h e second Minister shakes

did

his head

sadly and asks: “What if w e win?’

This is a n o t very serious appreciation of our armed forces’ phenomenal success in dealing with the enemy. But in oblique fashion, i t does make the point that Israel’s independence and its continuing survival are bound u p with the history of our most successful national institution t o date: T h e Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Reviewing m y o w n contribution, I like t o believe that I played a role i n shaping

this particular and in many ways unique expression o f our Israeli personality.

Because everything

touching military

affairs occupied

much o f m y energies for so long a period, I would like to

discuss in some detail the thinking behind the IDF and all it stands for. W e abhor w a r and military things as ends i n themselves. Nevertheless, the IDF is a source o f deep national pride. Our

armed forces have played a magnificent part i n welding this diverse people into a n entity i n the course o f only a f e w years. W e r e w e able t o throw d o w n our weapons — and h o w gladly w e should do so - t o live i n peace with our neighbours, w e

would still continue t o depend on the dynamic represented by the IDF t o fulfil a vast assignment of national

today

Humanists andFighters development. N o t

67

with bullets but with bulldozers a n d the

other constructive tools of modern civilization. In other words, national service has been a blessing for

Israel.

That this national

service has o f necessity concerned

itself with military ends constitutes waste, tragic waste. W e are well aware of that. B u t i t has been the price of our survival. Every thinking person i n this country regrets the unhappy paradox that the most positive creation of a Jewish State

should be an instrument of destruction. I have already remarked o n h o w fundamentally alien t o the Judaic character is violence, the abandonment o f reason t o mindless force. Having t o bear arms is a n affront t o our Bible whereby w e became the first people o n earth t o evolve formal concepts o f personal liberty, of loving one’s neighbour, of the sinfulness of killing and the moral desirability of beating swords into ploughshares, as our great prophet Isaiah enjoined us t o do. It is also a n affront t o the concept of our basic right here i n modern times as emanating from laborious cultivation of a barren, empty a n d neglected land. W e take n o joy, therefore,

in the necessity of a huge, onerously expensive commitment t o military defence. Yet neither i n our o w n nor i n Biblical times have w e been free of this commitment. Both w e and our ancestors have had

t o assume the dual role of humanists and fighters. That our forebears k n e w h o w t o defend themselves with fierce passion and efficiency is proved by their last stand against the Romans which, in all, endured from 66 t o 73 in the Common

Era. Seven years o f resistance against the entire Roman

Army! T h e during that

siege

of Jerusalem alone took three years and food reached the city. I consider it

time n o

significant that even today, and despite the triumph celebra-

ted in Rome after Jerusalem’s fall, it is still considered bad luck t o walk under the commemorative Arch of Titus erected by the Emperor Domitian in honour of the event a n d which stands i n the R o m a n Forum. The Roman conquest ended on ahighplateau o fthe Negev

68 David Ben-Gurion

in 73 c.E. with the fall of Masada, the ancient fortress t o w n of King Herod which w e have n o w excavated a n d restored. All the citizens, men, women, children, preferred t o die by their o w n hand rather than become R o m a n slaves. Masada was the Jewish equivalent t o the Greeks’ Thermopylae. A look at the m a p indicates why there has always been conflict here. This relatively small country constitutes a is subject t o

permanent crossroads of three continents. Thus i t

the strains and pulls o f world politics. In our time, oil, Soviet ambitions in the Middle East, the interests o f the United States, Britain and France are far more responsible for

maintaining the

tension than the largely bogus pretext

Arab nationalism.

If the Great

of

Powers genuinely wanted

peace, there would be no Arab-Israel conflict. T h e revealing about-face undergone b y Soviet policy

vis-d-vis Israel is a good illustration in point. U p to 1954, the Russians had been our most fervent supporters. A s soon as the British pulled out of Egypt, however, i t became expedient for them t o w o o the Arabs and they began denouncing the very

existence of the nation they were first in the world t o recognize. S o the Soviets undertook their love affair with Egypt and systematically ruined that country’s economy by selling i t obsolete military equipment which it could ill afford t o pay for. Who needs such friends? H o w much more profitable for Egypt, and indeed all the Arab world, t o realize that common interest lies i n making peace and working together with us t o create i n the Middle East the world’s richest garden — which i t could easily

The Egyptians can thank the Soviets, acting as adventurism, for their w a r dead, the destruction o r seizure of t w o entire military machines’ worth o f equipment, for bankruptcy both economic and political, become!

tempters t o military

for the closure o f the Suez Canal and the loss o f the Sinai Peninsula. W e are most grateful that the Russian bear sees fit t o hug our enemies t o its imperious bosom. W e shall

Humanists andFighters

69

continue t o capture the weapons provided for our destruction and hurl them back a t the enemy. We should, however, be even m o r e grateful if the Arab world would finally see that

only by standing with Israel in friendship and good will can the Middle East aspire t o a n independence and economic self-sufficiency never achieved i n all its history but never so potentially achievable as now. The tragedy of the present conflict is ultimately this lack of fulfilment for the area as a

whole, as well as for all the nations in it. O u r desire for peace is constant and w e have proved its

sincerity time after time. We are prepared t o envisage important concessions in the name of a true negotiation with the nations that surround us. Certainly w e stand ready to mobilize all the energy and skills w e have been forced t o develop and invest i n defence, for the far more fruitful purpose of materially aiding our neighbours t o attain levels

of

peaceful development compatible

with

the

twentieth

century. O u r developmental goals are parallel t o those professed b y Nasser. H o w unfortunate for all concerned that for reasons of personal ambition and of facility, taking the

course o f least effort, he and his allies choose to remain blind t o this.

That w e have striven for peace while confronted by war is n o mere phrase. Israel has always searched for rational, humane answers t o its problem ofsurvival even w h e n there ap-

peared small hope o f finding them. Before independence, for instance, secret negotiations with King Abdullah of Transjordan were going o n up t o the very minute the Arab Legion

marched at his order o n Jerusalem. Hours before this event,

the present

Prime Minister, M r s Golda Meir, went as m y special envoy into Transjordan. A t considerable personal risk, she crossed the frontier i n Bedouin disguise and reached the King t o plead for peace. T o n o avail ! Again, before the Sinai campaign of 1956, there were

of

with President Nasser of Egypt o r a t least engage a dialogue. All manner of

literally dozens

attempts t o negotiate

70 David Ben-Gurion

in vain efforts t o accomplish a n did m y utmost t o secure formal guarantees from the world powers for the integrity of our frontiers and the free passage of shipping bound for our

intermediaries were used

Isracl-Egypt meeting. Meanwhile, I

shores. Over and over again, I reiterated m y readiness t o leave

immediately for Cairo, if need be, t o sit down with Colonel Nasser face t o face. All this t o head off a conflict that w e were confident o f winning, that in the end we did have t o fight and win. Israel has indeed remained true t o the ideas

of peace a n d

love o f mankind on which the Bible rests. However, i t is one thing t o love your neighbour and another t o commit national

suicide. That w e are determined t o remain here is self-evident. B u t

is worth examining some aspects of that determination. The Soviets have dared call us ‘colonialists’. Their o w n savage oppression of Eastern Europe makes them self-styled

it

experts in such matters, n o doubt. Nevertheless, one can state categorically that n o people in history are less colonialist than we. Our claim t o Israel is based o n sweat, o n digging the

soil with our own hands, fertilizing, planting, harvesting,

building, developing this belovedland of ours. We are known t o fight with passion t o defend it. Well, w e have put everything w e possess into i t . That is the secret of our strength. And were we colonialists we wouldn’t, we couldn’t, have such s t r e n g t h !

It is again possible t o say categorically that n o t by a single bullet o r act of violence have Israel o r the Jewish people in the twentieth century enforced their claim t o this land. They have n o t affirmed their right t o b e here with arms, merely their

right t o remain. W e

have resorted t o force

in defence only.

gains our victories have achieved, our title here remains that which our toil has wrought. A com-

Despite the territorial

parison between the empty, stagnant, malaria-ridden Palestine o f seventy years ago and the busy, up-to-date, ever developing Israel of today, gives the measure. And what w e

Humanists andFighters have today is

of our o w n

71

making entirely. Colonialism, the

exploitation o f one people by another, just doesn’t enter into

it.

The local Arab population, by the way, has been the first t o profit from our development. The Arabs, like ourselves, no

longer die of malaria, no longer live o u t their days in near starvation, unemployment, hopelessness. More and more, they are integrating themselves i n t o the Israeli population,

what with their representation in Parliament, the enrolment of their young into our system o f compulsory education, the emancipation of their womenfolk and their presence as volunteers i n the military. I t is a subject I shall touch o n elsewhere, but I do

want to

the A r a b minority

is one of mutual

plane and

of

say here that our relations with respect o n the human

education towards attainment

of

twentieth-

century levels o n the plane of social institutions.

As early as 1917, the Balfour Declaration acknowledged internationally Israel's right t o exist. O u r remarkable progress

in cultivating this land even then had made our claim obvious t o the world. Recognition of o u r right t o be here was confirmed several times during the years and finally by the United Nations’ demand o f Britain in 1947 that active steps be taken t o establish a Jewish State i n Palestine. All of which doesn’t deny the right of any other people t o have a State. Far be i t from us to d o such a thing. W e were resigned i n 1947 to receiving the r u m p end of Palestine i n accordance with the United Nation's settlement. W e d i d n ’ t think that settlement

very fair since w e k n e w that our w o r k here deserved a greater of land. W e d i d n ’ t , however, press the point and prepared t o abide scrupulously t o international ruling come the day of our independence. W e were also ready to see Jerusalem as a n international city provided that the guarantees given by the United Nations t o the Jewish population of its permanent right t o live peacefully there a n d t o participate in the c i t y ’ s democratic administration were respected. We had, therefore, absolutely n o designs o n Arab assigned areas. assignment

72

David Ben-Gurion

But what happened? Our Jerusalem population was attacked even before independence. Our neighbours declared themselves our enemies and invited us to plunge into the sea, t o abandon even that bit of land the whole world recognized as o u r own. A n d they set out t o conquer us. W e Jews of Palestine had just watched i n agony and

helplessness as our brothers in the European lands, where many of us had originated, lined up in confusion and terror,

divested o f all belongings, even the clothes off their backs,

the journey into the gas chambers and ovens and hells of the ‘ F i n a l S o l u t i o n ’ . W e had witnessed this terrible abdication of humanity and w e had all been marked by it. If for n o other reason than that of keeping faith with those w h o had died, w e k n e w w e must n o t walk i n docility t o the for

starvation

charnel house. So long as Israel lived, i t would provide refuge from such atrocity. In the n a m e of o u r persecuted dead

we

had t o fight. If need be, w e

too

would die. But in the

manner o f the Jewish heroes in the Warsaw ghetto, in Jerusa-

backs t o the wall, giving the enemy n o quarter. We were not, I hasten t o point out, interested in dying or

l e m besieged by the Romans, a t M a s a d a :

becoming martyrs. N o more are we today. The Jews have

had quite enough of that in their long history. W e were and are concerned with life, with making Israel flourish, with showing mankind as a whole h o w one can create a land o f plenty from a patch of wilderness. W e came here in j o y and

hope, in

devotion to our people, our heritage, our age-old

vocation of contributing t o humanity’s well-being. Wherever

there have been Jews, culture has flourished, humanity

has

advanced. W e wished, and still do, t o contribute our presence t o the Middle East as a whole. I know that someday w e shall be allowed t o do so. I think these preliminary comments, mostly o n the subject of peace, provide a necessary background t o the story of our Defence Forces, their role today as well as their official birth in

Humanists andFighters 73

the midst of conflict

as Israel struggled for independence.

Keeping in mind our fundamental abhorrence of everything touching w a r and violence, and our belief in the Middle East’s capacity for peaceful union, one can grasp the uniqueness of the IDF as a n institution. There is one comment m o r e that must be made at this juncture. In recent times Israel has had t o contend with charges of aggression. Since i t is m y deepest conviction that w e are n o t n o w nor ever will be a n aggressor nation, I wish

t o answer these charges. Aggressiveness is another term used by the Soviet Union and its satellites t o characterize o u r efforts a t self-defence. It is perhaps easy for a nation possessing one sixth of the earth’s total

land mass within its

borders t o criticize the swiftness

that so tiny a nation as Israel must deploy in meeting any threat t o its frontiers. W e

shall n o t linger o n the jumpiness the

Russians themselves recently exhibited, big as they are, in

with the Chinese over a m u d flat neither have found use for since the two nations began. Israel can answer their dispute

the epithets tossed a t i t by the self-evident observation that our geography demands w e apply the r u l e : he w h o strikes first

wins the battle. Otherwise, we should be overwhelmed. W e have never

hidden o u r

intention

of pursuing this tactic

and indeed have warned our Arab enemies time and again that parading armoured columns along our borders, firing

on our farmers, ploughing their fields, invading our airspace, stepping u p terrorist raids o n our territory,

would have

t o be m e t with hard-hitting action on our part.

Let us take the best example o f all: June 1967. Before the Six Day War, Nasser was literally brandishing his heavy tanks, courtesy o f the USSR, at us o n the Gaza strip frontier. T h e Gaza region faces our most populous, built-up and flattest area, Israel’s single most vulnerable territory. Meanwhile, the Syrians fired o n o u r kibbutzim from the Golan

Heights, killing Israeli civilians day after day, and invaded our airspace with their M I G fighter planes. Then Nasser

74 David Ben-Gurion

prevailed upon the United Nations t o withdraw its troops from the Tiran Straits which he took over, announcing loudly that henceforth the p o r t

of Eilath was

cut

off

to

world

shipping. A t that point, w e had one of t w o choices. W e could wait i n

passive apprehension, as the world exhorted us

to

do and

rather i n the manner o f the European countries before

the

Second World War, for the the Arab ‘Anschluss’, as it were. O r we could take preventive action. Waiting meant sitting

by until Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, our painfully cultivated lands and our factories went up in smoke under the impact of the enemy’s Soviet bombers. It meant potentially sacrificing thousands ofIsraeli lives. With less than three million people i n our total population, w e could n o t lightly contemplate

such a loss. Especially not after what had happened t o the Jews o f Europe. In any event, waiting would have meant sacrificing all

military advantage and the consequent endangering of Israel's very existence.

What did w e

do, therefore?

Well, first

w e went to the

United Nations. Secondly, we published warning after

warning

the Arab nations and t o President Nasser in be subject t o such pressurings. We clearly outlined our intentions and pleaded t o be left in peace. The answer: stepped up Arab to

particular that w e could not allow ourselves to

hysteria and anti-Jewish propaganda. O u r reluctance t o

of the attempt his friends began

fight w a s taken for weakness, instead

at

reasonableness that i t was. Nasser and

to

anticipate quick victory, a lift to Arab unity that might make the restive populations of those countries forget for a little while their material backwardness and the indifference of

their governments t o their misery.

After the closing of the Tiran Straits and the U N ' s hasty departure — over which I shall pass in silence as words fail in face of this unilateral and somewhat less than adroit initiative — there was nothing for it.

We struck. Our

first objective was

Humanists andFighters the saving

of Israeli

lives

by knocking o u t

75

enemy aircraft

before they could get into the air and hurt us. I n the final analysis w e had t o attack o r die. So m u c h for our ‘aggressiveness’ i n the S i x D a y War. I t is the same with o u r retaliation for the recurring attacks

perpetrated by the Arab powers o n our country today. W e take n o pleasure i n punitive raids and other measures taken t o curb enemy violations of the present ceasefire agreements.

But

survival dictates that so small a nation as Israel must do its utmost t o discourage continual attack from its far more

populous neighbours .

Let meadd that even with defence so major apreoccupation,

of our armed forces remains as oriented towards constructive ends such as education and the unifying of Israeli youth through c o m m o n training and experiences as it does towards warfare. There could be n o greater antithesis the mission

than

the I D F to a war machine of the classical type, nor to of fanaticism and conquest o n the order of

a n instrument

Hitler's goose-stepping storm troopers.

5-Independence

On the Sabbath eve of 14 May 1948, thefifth day ofIyar 5708, David Ben-Gurion stood before a hastily convened Provisional Government in Tel A v i v and read out a formal Proclamation o f Independence that in the Land o f Israel was established a Jewish State — the State o fIsrael.

D a w n the next morning saw Egyptian bombers over the city. The infant nation was in a life-and-death struggle against seven better equipped, numerically superior, British t r a i n e d— and in some cases l e d— Arab armies invading its meagre territory from

every side. With inadequate weapons, farm implements, their bare hands and indomitable spirit, the Israelis sent the enemy reeling. The Arab military commanders had scheduled the con-

quest of Tel Aviv for 25 May. By

glad to

1 0 June,

however, they were

accept truce. Later, further Arab aggression resulted in

consolidated and enlargedfrontiersfor Israel. Finally, by terms o f an

armistice signed with the Arab powers in 1949, Israel knew peace. U R Defence Forces as they are today the W a r

grew from

of Independence a n d the m a n y lessons,

some o f them indeed painful, learned at the time. That w e were able t o meet the Arab onslaught with any organized defence at all is something o f a miracle, directly due t o the existence o f Haganah as developed fromHashomer i n the early days ofpioneering. I should emphasize that, whereas the surrounding Arab countries were buildingmodern armies under British tutelage,

80 David Ben-Gurion the conditions of the Mandate p r e c l u d e d most open military development o n o u r part. Before the White Paper of 1939

severely restricting our activities, and in reaction to incessant

Arabriotingprovoked by the JerusalemMufti, the Mandatory Administration did l e t us train a 2,000 man

Jewish Settlement

Police. During the Second World War, before the formation

of theJewish Brigade which fought with the British Army in Europe, w e were also allowed t o organize Palmach, o r “The

Striking Force’, a commando unit that ultimately trained about 2 , 5 0 0 women and men. The British realized that if Palestine ever entered the war, they would need the support

of

a

Jewish attack

outfit

highly

trained

in

commando

activities and n o t prone t o wavering loyalties as Arab soldiers

might be. T h e post-war period began

with a ruthless crackdown by

the British Labour government o n Jewish immigration and all Jewish defence initiatives. Haganah thereupon earned British enmity b y devoting itself t o illegal immigration. Its leadership w e n t underground moving from kibbutz t o kibbutz. Whenever the British caught suspected Haganah members they threw them in j a i l . They were forever confiscating our painfully gathered stores of arms and vehicles, many

of

these admittedly

stolen

from

Mandate

supply

depots. B u t meanwhile the surrounding Arab countries

continued t o receive British weapons, artillery, armour, warplanes, the normal engines of war. British officers trained

their armies and, in the case o f Transjordan’s Arab Legion, commanded them. S o the situation was very one-sided a n d decidedly n o t i n o u r favour.

The s t o r y , however, should really begin in the days of the tone and cadence of our

Hashomer for those times set

subsequent military development.

I did mention that among the Jews there were early doubts as t o the justification of bearing arms i n self-defence. I n 1906 this was a controversial issue of the day. Such theoretical questions as w h e n does defence become offence were debated

Independence 81 at

great length among the pioneers themselves, many o f

whomhad a philosphical bent ofmind. Regretfully, the sight o f our dead, killed b y Arab marauders, cut theory short. The debate ended with the Watchmen taking up arms. As i t turned out, and here is a paradox indeed, Hashomer’s existence smoothed the w a y for peaceful

Jewish-Arab

relations in the Galilee. The Moslem villagers had evidently

been shocked at our failure t o provide for our o w n defence. Among themselves, they had referred to us contemptuously as ‘children of death’, meaning that our diffidence t o bearing arms was interpreted

by them

as evidence

of cowardliness

and a shameful love o f death. From the time Hashomer came o n the scene, and proved its efficiency i n skirmishes with

roving bandits, the Galilee Arabs viewed us with new respect.

They acknowledged our equality with themselves and, what was and is of capital importance, our right t o be their neigh-

bours. Is it just coincidence that the Galilee has always been the calmest part of Israel where Arab-Jewish relations have taken their most peaceful and fruitful turn? I think n o t ! After the First World War when the Turks were driven out o fPalestine and the British assumed control o fthe country, Hashomer was n o longer sufficient t o satisfy the defence

needs o f a growing and increasingly diverse Jewish community. The entire outfit o f Watchmen numbered no more than forty men and women whose full time was thus employed. W e n o w needed a popular organization embracing the bulk o f able-bodied Jews who would continue t o work at

their normal jobs but also be given regular military training and then put t o organizing the security o f their communities. I should add that many a kibbutz, settlement, village and outpost was isolated, exposed a t

all times t o attack. There was link up these communities

great need of a defence system t o

andHashomer wasn’tadequate t o the task. Thus w e created Haganah as the defence a r m o f the

82 David Ben-Gurion Histadruth, the General Federation Palestine

of which I

of Jewish Labour in Since

was the first Secretary-General.

Histadruth was the country’s largest Jewish association, its sponsorship ensured the spreading of a military defence programme throughout our population. Most of Haganah’s early members were Histadruth workers w h o considered it

also their mission to support the socialist ideal. However, as problems of security loomed ever larger, Haganah became t o t a l l y preoccupied

with defence and political

ideology was

dropped. Haganah was chronically p o o r i n arms and equipment.

But it was exceedingly well endowed with self-discipline. Throughout the 1 9 2 0 s and 1930s Jewish communities suffered all manner o f harassment b y Arab fanatics, mainly stirred to action through

the machinations

of Mufti el

Husseini.

Husseini, who spent the Second World War in Nazi Germany and ended u p a wanted criminal, was directly responsible for provoking a series o f Jewish massacres during the pre-war period. More than once Haganah was m ov ed t o consider a n all out retaliation o n Arab communities. I t always restrained itselfand confined its activities strictly t o defence. The coolness and self-discipline

of

our armed defenders prevented the

country from succumbing t o the flames

of civil

w a r at this

time.

I have already mentioned Haganah’s contribution t o the British w a r effort against Hitler and its subsequent struggle against the British ban o n Jewish immigration. I should add that Haganah formed the nucleus from which were recruited

those brave w o m e n and m e n w h o served behind enemy lines i n Nazi-occupied Europe t o lend what a i d they could t o the beleaguered Jewish population i n these areas. A t the time independence became a certainty, our main p r o b l e m was that of acquiring arms. O n e didn’t have t o be

clairvoyant to know the Arabs would immediately attack us.

Their attitude was m o r e than p l a i n . I

a m speaking n o w n o t of the Palestinian Arabs among w h o m nationalistic feeling was

Independence

83

non-existent, but of the surrounding Arab nations who for a variety of political reasons had determined t o play the antiJewish card. Transjordan, later Jordan, did in fact profit from the situation in 1948 by grabbing a goodly piece of land along the river Jordan's W e s t B a n k that i t was supposed t o be preserving for the m u c h talked of but constantly ill-used Palestinians. Far from giving this land t o its so-called ‘blood brothers’ of Palestine, Jordan stuffed the latter into concentration camps and kept the territory for itself. International contributions of food and money t o aid these miserable refugees were then siphoned oft by the governments supposedly defending their cause. All of this is hardly my affair. I merely want t o indicate why I a m indifferent t o the outcries of the Arab nations concerning both the Palestinians’ nonexistent ‘quest for independence’ and their championship of i t . Israel's disappearance tomorrow might produce a Jor-

danian, Syrian, Egyptian and Iraqi squabble over the spoils, another Middle East ‘problem’, as it were. I can guarantee that the one thing i t wouldn't produce is true Palestinian

independence.

That is one reason the present

utterly irresponsible, tragic

in

situation is so

its meaninglessness.

The

ostensible cause for which the Arabs fight is no cause, other perhaps than hatred of one people for another. But if m a n -

kind i s going t o survive the atomic age this sort of hatred will have to cease. The Arab future as much as our o w n depends on overcoming it in the Middle East.

Having digressed so far, I must go o n t o say that in 1948 it was the Arab powers and not the Jews w h o exhorted the local Moslem population t o leave their homes and their

land. W e asked them to stay and help us build a modern country. Those w h o left did so far more i n fear of Arab threats of reprisal against ‘disloyalty’ than of their Jewish neighbours. I n confidence they emigrated across the frontiers t o the Arab nations which had demanded they come. They ended u p i n the foul conditions w e k n o w of. Today, there is a new problem. A generation has grown up

84 DavidBen-Gurion in the squalor and bitterness of the refugee camp atmosphere.

This generation

covets Israel as a confined m a n covets

freedom. Anything t o escape from present conditions.

Who

can blame these young people? Certainly n o t I. They are a stunted, embittered, and I fear half-crazed handful o f human

of history and cut off from all of their parents in trusting t o false allies. Our hearts genuinely g o o u t t o them. But their plight is n o t of o u r making. By this statement I'm not trying t o

beings existing o n the margin roots d u e t o the tragic error

absolve us from a human responsibility t o help them as best w e can and if they will let us. B u t I a m affirming that w e just are n o t the cause o f their homelessness and their misery. Israeli Arabs aren’t miserable. They d o n ’ t live i n concentra-

tion camps. They are n o t exiles. In fact, they enjoy the highest

of any Arab peoples’ i n the world t o d a y ! They constitute those w h o stayed o n and who, for the most part, gave their allegiance t o Israel, the only democratic State this standards

territory has known in thousands of years.

The fact

that w e are n o t responsible for the Palestine refugee problem does n o t mean w e aren’t concerned with it.

We are willing best

of

to

go far in helping

our limited means. W e can

resolve it t o the only contribute t o

to

its resolution, however, if the other side recognizes the Frankenstein monster its ill-advised policies have created,

and helps too. Regarding the refugee camp offspring, sympathetic as w e are to their condition and t o its unfortunate causes, w e cannot tolerate their criminal activities. O n e can deplore juvenile delinquency and publish analyses of its e t i o l o g y ; one cannot tolerate the delinquency itself. The case of Israel vis-a-vis the

issuing from these camps is the same. I think m a n y a n Arab government secretly agrees with our position. These people are n o w a source o f danger for everyone. President Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan never k n o w lunatic fringe

when some wild-eyed offspring of the camps will burst in o n hand. The latest trick of hijacking the

them, machine g u n i n

Independence 8s world’s

civil airliners will hardly endear these unfortunates t o

humanity a t large.

T o return t o our problems o f 1947 and 1948. W e had n o illusions about being allowed t o live in peace with the advent

had t o prepare as best w e could against the aggression w e foresaw as a matter of course. Y e t w e could not arm, n o r carry out military exercises except i n strictest o f independence. W e

secret a n d under very limiting conditions. O u r people had t o

face w a r almost without preliminary training. Haganah did its best t o keep abreast of the situation. O n the

kibbutzim, i t furtively drilled farmers in rifle practice; it

mounted secret workshops where old trucks were provided with light machine guns and somewhat pathetic metal shields, vulnerable as i t turned out even t o small arms’ fire, attached t o bumpers and sides. These vehicles w e called ‘armoured cars’. A s such, they served heroically i n one of the

great exploits of Jewish history: the rescue of Jerusalem in April 1048. As head o f the Jewish Agency, the administrative body linking the Jewish community of Palestine with the Diaspora, I had for years (ever since the Biltmore Conference in 1 9 4 1 ) been preoccupied with purchasing military equipment abroad. W e had stockpiled some reserves here and there i n the world. B u t what g o o d could they do us waiting i n some far off country? I a m glad that I had sufficient grasp of our future needs t o invest the limited funds a t m y disposal not only i n weaponry but also i n machine tool equipment for the production, autonomously within the country,

of armaments

and heavy military machinery such as amphibious bridge spans and the like. B u t again, w e dared n o t bring this precious material i n

while the British

a n d the threat

of confiscation

remained.

When we started the War o fIndependence, we had 4 5 , 0 0 0 able-bodied w o m e n and m e n connected with Haganah and Palmach. I n addition, several thousand more people belonged

to various ‘private’ armies that operated o n their own. More

86 David Ben-Gurion o f these later. O f the 4 5 , 0 0 0 available t o the government, we could a r m only about three-quarters. A n d w e d i d n ’ t have enough ammunition t o supply even this reduced group

effectively. For the rest, w e had t o rely o n homemade devices such as Molotov cocktails a n d the like.

W e did have an ‘airforce’ o f sorts: a handful o flight sports and training planes belonging t o various aero clubs here and there. W e hastily mounted machine guns aboard these craft. ‘Bombing’ consisted of lobbing grenades out of the cockpit! O n the feverish night w h e n the British pulled out a n d w e

declared the State o f Israel, we had no way o fknowing what

would happen. Could our people, ill-prepared as they were, rise to the occasion? I knew they had i t in them to do so. I was confident i n their fortitude. B u t materially w e were so very

badly off. Y e t w e all took courage from the magnificent rescue of Jerusalem undertaken by Palmach a few days previously, in

the first week o f April 1948. The situation then was grim

indeed. The Arabs had cut off the water supply t o the modern Western sector of the city where the Jewish population predominated. As the Romans in 7 0 c.E., they planned t o deprive the Jewish inhabitants of all sustenance and so force capitulation t o de facto Arab rule. On 1 1 March they had up the Jewish Agency headquarters in the city and by

blown

mid-March were threatening the single two-lane highway

from the Jewish coastal settlements, the lifeline which our population in Jerusalem depended on for food and vital necessities.

The crisis came o n 30 March when the Mufti’s men attacked a large convoy trying t o get up t o the city. It was a slaughter and dozens of our trucks were also destroyed. W e

realized that

the road

to

Jerusalem was

definitively cut.

Colonel Lund, a Norwegian representative o f the United Nations Mission in Palestine, summed up our strategic position w h e n

he said:

“Your situation is worse than

o fNorway in 1940.” Encouraging words!

that

Independence 87

The British the road. I n

failed t o intervene t o protect o u r people o r clear

fact, o n one

occasion i n March, they stopped a

Jewish truck convoy, disarmed its members and subsequently distributed their weapons t o the Arabs. So w e k n e w i t was

u p to us. Palmach, assembling what vehicles i t could, fought its w a y

mile by

mile

up

that narrow, twisting road. It

had

constantly t o battle the enemy from below, which meant

being

a t a permanent tactical disadvantage. There were

upon dropped by the wayside, p r e y t o anti-tank weapons and grenades. They stand there today, rusted over and strange looking in the peaceful shrubbery beside the busy highway. They are a monument t o those young commandos w h o fought and died for Jerusalem. Despite the losses of vehicles close combat engagements a t every turn. Vehicle

vehicle

and lives, Palmach beat the Arabs back, made i t t o the city gates, re-established the

links with the water

reservoirs. It

also g o t in three large convoys of supplies before being forced t o relinquish the road. These enabled the citizens of West Jerusalem t o hold out against the Arab Legion o n near hunger rations until the siege was finally lifted in June.

O f course, in Jerusalem there was also the tragic loss o f the

Jewish Quarter in the Old City - the quarter holding our oldest shrines and monuments. The community there, mostly elderly people who had been joined by a small Haganah detachment, had few weapons, little ammunition,

of thousands of Arabs a n d invaded by the Legion. It finally surrendered, the people retreating as best they could t o the N e w City where those w h o survived joined the fighters there. almost n o

food. It

w a s surrounded

by

tens

In that dark period following independence, I don’t know

ofanyone i n the Provisional Government w h o wasn’t tortured b y second thoughts. W e r e w e justified i n calling upon our people t o resist if resistance meant mass slaughter? W e knew, however, that i t was once again a case of all o r nothing. There was n o alternative t o fighting back. Whether

w e could

hold

out

w a s another question.

88 David Ben-Gurion

Hundreds of settlements throughout the country found themselves isolated and under enemy attack. I n these places,

people had only their o w n spirit and ingenuity to count on. Even the leadership couldn’t guess a t the heroism, steadfastness and determination t o stand the ground this spirit would call cannot do justice t o the acts of devotion, both

up. W o r d s

individual and collective, carried o u t b y our citizens in the name of their n e w State of Israel. I f ever a n enemy was turned back b y the unflinching will of a people, i t was here i n

1948. This went for everyone, regardless o f age o r sex. The

women, o fcourse, fought alongside the men in every combat entity. support

Since there weren’t enough adults t o g o around, for the fighting troops came from the children and

old people. O u r teenagers w h o had received special training

in Haganah’s clandestine youth camps took over the vital job o f communications. Israel’s ‘signal corps’, a lifeline indeed, was manned by fourteen and fifteen-year-olds! The example of kibbutz Y a d Mordechai stands as a typical and noble act of Israeli resistance during the first round of the

of Independence. The kibbutz was right o n the Gaza strip frontier and one of the first spots in the country t o bear the full force of a n Egyptian armoured infantry onslaught.

War

H o w the Jews did i t , I d o n ’ t know. B u t day after day they

beat back Egyptians, holding them off with rifles, home-made grenades, tractors, pitchforks, stones, anything they could

lay their hands on. When the central buildings so lovingly erected out o f m a n y years’ kibbutz profits were burnt t o the ground, they retreated into the barns and fought the enemy there, step by step, wall by wall, ruin by ruin. Eventually, Y a d Mordechai

Kibbutzniks had

did

collapse. B u t

by

its resistance the

dislocated the entire military

timetable

o f the Egyptian Army. A n operation scheduled t o take a n hour o r so the mere rounding u p b y a mechanized army

o f a few civilians, had lasted six days with the Egyptians

halted a t

Israel's very frontier! That was typical of the resistance the Arabs encountered everywhere. They had

Independence 89 the steel, the manpower. W e

yield. If isolation

and

lack of

had only our

total refusal t o

weaponry were the main

culties that the population-at-large

had t o

contend

diffi-

with, a t

headquarters, where I had assumed responsibility for military operations, we had a different order o f problem.

thinking from the local, ‘fire brigade’ type of defensive actions w e had always fought up t o n o w t o the prosecution of w a r a t a national level and o n Firstly, w e had t o adjust o u r

several fronts. Before independence, no major military units, n o t even a full brigade, had ever been committed t o battle. Only small groups of people had defended specific places

o r executed specialized actions such as Palmach’s drive o n

Jerusalem. N o w i t was imperative t o order each action i n accordance

with a m u c h vaster situation. W e

c o u l d n ’ t rush here and there

defending villages and towns piecemeal. W e daren’t even waste o u r tiny reserves o n rescuing Jerusalem’s O l d City,

despite the popularity o fsuch a course. I told the officers o f the

hastily named headquarters staff: “ W e have t o concentrate o u r forces and commit them in accordance with a n overall plan t o strike a t the enemy armies. T o destroy their fighting machine,

the counter-attack fighting t h e m n o t only of Israel which they have invaded but also in their territories. W e must carry the battle over t o them.’ This was easier said than done. W e had first t o resolve some

w e must g o over t o

i n the sectors

serious administrative difficulties at h o m e and within o u r o w n ranks. Adjusting t o nationhood, especially i n the midst

of war, is

n o easy task for the m i n d . I n o u r newly created State, a f e w of the leaders themselves

had difficulty in

realizing that

they

were n o longer nurturing a trade union movement, o r a secret band o f guerrilla fighters o r even a political party, but indeed that their hands were o n levers c o n t r o l l i n g the destiny

of a n entire country. Those of us w h o had made the adjustthe first long-term necessity w a s t o bring in

ment, k n e w that

90 David Ben-Gurion modern armaments, the heavier the better. But some o f our colleagues objected a t first t o spending money o n these major weapons. ‘What d o y o u want with tanks, guns and bombers?’

when the had already cut

I recall o n e Cabinet Minister asking a t a time

Egyptians were threatening the Galilee and

off the Negev. And I remember another who was ‘disturbed’ at the idea that Israel should have a police force! A State is a State, and especially so beleaguered a one as Israel required the organs of external and internal security with

all their elaborate modern appurtenances whatever our ultimate ideals of peace and brotherhood. I a m proud t o say, however, that our national democracy never suffered from the pressure of events. Israel has always remained true t o its founding principles of representative government, a n independent

judiciary (the true safeguard of a n y democracy), the guarantee o f civil rights for all citizens, freedom o f speech and of the press, freedom of worship and a fundamental beliefi n the dignity of the individual.I n our darkest moments, n o attempt was ever m a d e t o curb these liberties — and often enough the young

government had t o answer minority political dissent at h o m e

while fighting off the enemy. O u r military set u p i n 1948 also suffered from an amateur-

ism that, although heroic, lacked discipline and cohesiveness.

The hierarchy of command had t o be affirmed if w e were t o hold o u t . And this was difficult t o achieve for a fighting force that had always battled spontaneously and in tiny units. Jews being the individualists they are, m u c h ofHaganah, the Palmach units a n d the several private armies that were waging war in their o w n w a y and under their o w n command, had

little notion of the primordial

necessity

of obeying directives

from a centralized source, namely our headquarters, that could keep the general picture i n m i n d . “Who are they t o tell us what t o do?” more than one battlefield commander would

demand. There were m a n y instances w h e n w e i n Tel Aviv

were disobeyed, the combat units affirming their right t o run themselves. Palmach i n particular took the view that it was

Independence 91 self-sufficient a n d accountable

only t o i t s o w n

chiefs. D u r i n g

the second truce o f 1948, b y which time w e were stronger, the battle situation was better under control and w e c o u l d even

think o f winning the war, [ was obliged to disbandPalmach o n the imperative that i t must integrate i t s eflectives into

the

national A r m y .

That the

military c o m m a n d had t o be centralized w a s so of a n incident of the first truce in

important that I m a d e use

June 1948 t o achieve this end. The private Irgun Zvi Leumi force, numbering about three thousand people, was the focal

point of this initiative o n which I staked the government's ability t o lead the nation. When the United Nations negotiated that first cessation of hostilities between ourselves and the Arab powers in June,

both sides

agreed n o t t o rearm during the four w e e k truce

period. The injunction was far more serious for us than for our enemies since indirect combatant countries such as Saudi Arabia could stockpile armaments and send them into the belligerent countries w h e n fighting resumed. W e had n o such

possibility and were in desperate need o f reinforcement. Yet, I k n e w that for us the promise was a test. D i d w e have the maturity t o be a nation, t o belong t o the family of civilized nations? I f the answer was yes, w e had t o prove i t b y resisting the temptation t o break a promise w e had made. A t that time, it w a s important t o retain the confidence of the United Nations by the straightforwardness of o u r conduct. I also k n e w that m o r e significant than arms w a s the m o u l d i n g

forces into a n entity that could level

both strategically

and

in

function a t

of

our

a truly national

the deployment

of

force t o

carry o u t that strategy. During

the truce, w e trained intensively with the weapons

repaired all the smashed material w e could possibly resuscitate. B u t w e forebore t o import even those arms already bought, paid for and e n route t o us before we

had and frantically

the truce. Irgun violently disagreed with

this policy.

It w a s expecting

92 David Ben-Gurion a n arms’ shipment from Czechoslovakia aboard the freighter S S Altalena. It announced its intention of defying the government b a n and landing these weapons clandestinely w h e n the freighter arrived.

I decided this must be the moment of truth. Either the governments authority would prevail and w e could then proceed t o consolidate our military force o r the whole concept o f nationhood would fall apart. Once again, this idea had t o be hammered h o m e t o the Jewish leadership. There wasn’t time to

debate the niceties, the fine points of the situation. I k n e w

w e would never succeed in holding off the Arab armies with amateur heroics n o matter h o w admirable the individual acts A nation was at stake. N o t a

of courage and sacrifice involved.

farmhouse, road o r town, but a nation. So I made m y stand. W h e n the Altalena arrived and, i n defiance t o clear government injunction, the arms were being smuggled onto a beach, I ordered the A r m y t o fire o n the ship. Jews were firing o n Jews in the midst of a fight t o the death with the entire Arab

world! Would the Army obey or would there be chaos? In the event, m y orders were carried out. The unloading of those arms w e needed so desperately was stopped. Irgun and

all the fighting forces were made t o realize that changing times demanded subordination t o the national will as expressed by

those w h o m the people would designate t o govern and

command militarily.

The incident caused near civil war among the Jews themselves. But i n the eyes of the world w e had affirmed ourselves as a nation. When the smoke cleared and the indignation died down, the population-at-large put itself squarely behind its

government. The days of private armies were past and in the manner ofevery other well organized state, w ehadthemakings o f a central command under government control. With this

achieved, w e went o n to provide the co-ordinated effort that in the course o f a year brought us victory beyond our most

hopeful expectations.

6:Democracy

andtheMilitary Today

The peace which in 1949 Israelfoundfor thefirst time was a very uneasy one punctuated by raids of Egyptian fedayin commandos, economic embargo, the ever-present threat o f an enemy at every frontier — and in some areas, Israel was then less than nine miles

wide! Between 1949 and the Sinai campaign of 1956, no less than 1 , 2 5 0 Israelis diedin local incidents and terrorist attacks. Many more were injured. Nevertheless, the country as a whole now had a

breathing spell, a time to create national institutions, to consolidate energies and to build a modern defenceforce.

ECAUSE military preoccupations rank so high i n nat-

ional life, I am often asked whether there is danger that democracy will fail i n Israel. I think i t inconceivable. I I

shall endeavour t o explain why. have tried t o show how far w e are from being militarist in

attitude. W e are also as far removed as one can imagine

from the totalitarian

outlook. P u t two

Jews together a n d y o u

have a political argument. P u t t w o Israelis together and you

The contentiousness I disfirst setting foot i n Jaffa has never diminished

have opposing political parties. covered o n m y

in Israeli political life. N o people I can think o fhave less talent for submitting t o dictatorship than the Jews, and in particular the Israels. A look at our defence system, the most disciplined organization w e have i n the country, indicates j u s t h o w m u c h w e

predicate our very existence o n democracy and o n the popular

96 David Ben-Gurion

of government can elicit. Judaism traditionally embraces the democratic concept of social conduct by stressing the i n d i v i d u a l ' s inward control of

consent that o n l y this form

himself through the workings o f personal conscience over outward forms of restriction. The individual's capacity t o contribute t o the group is considered voluntary and emanates from within himself. This is the dynamic a t w o r k in our

Defence Forces today and, so I believe, accounts for

their

extraordinary spirit. I t isin essence a democratic spirit, though it makes use of military discipline. The discipline is certainly there as i t has t o be, yet officers and m e n are o n first n a m e terms, they socialize off duty, they serve under similar con-

ditions, wear the same uniform except for a small insignia, live largely the same lives. A n d i f anyone attempted t o impose upon them the classical, Prussian-type concepts of militarism

such as ‘ t o obey is t o o b e y ’ , o r “you are n o t here t o think’, o r the European soldiers’ maxim of ‘never under any circumstances volunteer’, they would laugh in such a person’s face. Insubor-

people obey n o t because of threats and Articles of W a r so m u c h as out of respect for their commanders’ ability t o judge a situation. They k n o w that he o r she has been picked for qualities of military leadership only and trained specifically t o lead. A good number of our officersare chosen o n the record ofbattlefieldperformance. I would say that n o t o n l y d o the Israel Defence Forces pose

d i n a t i o n is n o p r o b l e m i n Israel. B u t

n o threat to our internal freedom, but that they actively con-

tribute towards maintaining its integrity. In this sense, as in day-to-day operations, our military establishment is like n o other i n the world.

Basically, our Army, Navy, Air Force —all o fwhich operate under unified command, thus eliminating the classical interservice rivalries so common elsewhere and so wasteful effort — are a voluntary association

of citizens

of

profoundly

oriented towards civilian life. They have dedicated themselves

temporarily t o national security in our country’s great need. O fcourse, we have conscription and regulations regarding the

Democracy andtheMilitary Today 97 national service of young people. B u t these measures were taken and are maintained b y Parliamentary l a w and demo-

cratic common consent as they are in other countries. The high number of volunteers w h o enter the paratroops, o u r military youth groups and special corps — I shall describe one of these,

Nabhal,later —indicates the willingness with which our young The

m e n and w o m e n submit t o national responsibility.

remarkable lack of disciplinary infractions and misdemeanours committed b y service people also attests t o a general good

will. In themselves, these indications are salutory but hardly unexpectable. Every major community in Israel is within ten minutes, jet bomber time, of a hostile frontier. T h e general support of the military by the citizenry comes from personal awareness of the enemy’s presence. However, the civilian orientation of even our highest ranking officers is a

truly special characteristic and one that I

con-

sider gives a dimension to our military organization few others possess.

W h e n I speak of a civilian orientation I a m certainly not talking about lack of military proficiency. Watch the Israel Army a t drill o r the A i r Force and N a v y a t manoeuvres and you'll see a very high level of competence i n the classical military arts. I challenge any European Army, including the

most traditionalist, to better our standards! I d o mean, however, that our military is very far removed

from career-oriented, caste-bound tradition. The I D F is not a club, a lifetime sinecure, a catch-all for people with nothing do than dress up i n uniform. Foreign observers are always surprised at the youthfulness of o u r highest ranking officers. Traditionally (and after twenty years w e do have better t o

traditions !), the Chief o f Staff himself is in his forties and on only. This means even officers who

temporary appointment

are serving full time can expect t o leave active duty early in life and pursue subsequent civilian careers. It also means w e

don’t have, in the European tradition, a staff o f conformists at

08 David Ben-Gurion the top perpetually fighting the last war. In o u r position, w e could hardly afford that. Our top military talent has repeatedly gone o n t o distinguish itself in the university, the law, politics, diplomacy, business, the pioneering life of the kibbutzim, technology a n d almost a n y other dynamic activity o n e could name. Often these diverse fields have i n turn suppliedIsrael with its military leaders. This is certainly n o accident. I t is safe t o affirm that in

every full-time Israeli military m a n there lies a highly qualified and capable civilian. I for one think this accounts for the brilliance of our officers’ approach t o military affairs. The permanent Defence Force forms a tiny nucleus of top

strategists and technicians, administrative and training personnel. Israel cannot afford a huge military establishment and, anyway, w e have found that the reserve system ofhaving o n call a highly trained force o f most of the able-bodied m e n and w o m e n i n the country ultimately

works better. Every Israeli

in good health, whose religious beliefs do not preclude it, enters adulthood with t w o o r three years of military service. Then he o r she goes back t o normal life for three-quarters of the time, with the other quarter devoted t o reserve training. The result is that a t any moment of the day o r night the butcher, the baker, the office receptionist o r stenographer, the farmer, the university professor, the shopkeeper, the Israeli

the street can grab a rifle, o r hop into the driver’s seat of a tank o r behind the complex control panel of a sonar listening device and be ready t o perform his o r her mili-

m a n and woman i n

tary duties with utmost competence. I n : that sense, Israel’s Defence Force functions as the Swiss military system which also makes soldiers of i t s citizens; o r even m o r e t o the p o i n t in

these difficult times, as the Minute Men o f the American Revolution w h o i n seconds c o u l d exchange farming implements for rifles i n the cause of their country’s freedom. In our preparedness and i n o u r innovations, w e g o further

than other nations. W e are obliged to. For one thing, w e constantly face the realities of combat. For another, w e believe

Democracy and theMilitary Today 99

in the equality of men and women and in the fluidity of our officer corps which is based, as I have said, n o t o n class o r even education i n the ordinary sense but solely o n performance.

Here, by way o f example, is a typical tank crew as i t served in the Sinai during the June 1967 war: a Tel-Aviv lawyer,

originally from Germany; a baker from Jerusalem born in Algeria; t w o Sabras, o r home-grown Israelis, one a bank clerk and another a kibbutznik; an electrician recently emigrated

from

In a European Army it would be the lawyer, since he belongs t o the traditional class supplying reserve officers. O r perhaps a Sabra b o y since they are native Israelis. In the case mentioned, the officer was none of these but the electrician. Why? Because his military performance indicated that he was the member o f the group most capable of leading. H e might speak with a n accent i n Hebrew and n o t have the grasp of Israeli Salonika i n Greece. Which one is the officer?

social habits that his native-born companions could display,

but the A r m y

is j u d g i n g him n o t o n these elements o r o n his

civilian status so m u c h as o n the talent hehas shown i n the field. A commission carries f e w privileges, heavy responsibilities.

of the Golan Heights i n June 1967, the majority of our dead were young officers. That is tragic for all

During the storming

concerned, including the A r m y a n d the nation. B u t i n that

part o fIsrael, our farmers no longer plough their fields under

with its battery of heavy artillery, but under friendly watch of pioneer kibbutzniks who are building peaceful n e w communities atop these hills that previously spelt potential death t o all w h o laboured below. In the Israel Defence Forces, the formal military hierarchy the eye of a Syrian fortress

is quite relaxed — shockingly so t o European trained militarists. afford t o be since commanders are hand-picked and

It can

call up willing obedience from their men. Far more important than rank is team spirit. The Hevra, outstanding enough t o

o r ‘team’, with its fierce one-for-all and all-for-one relation-

ship, is a vital element i n Israeli military I

life.

think the citizen aspect of the IDF makes for both imagin-

100

David Ben-Gurion

affairs and for exemplary conduct of duty. I shall give t w o examples. call the beyond and above ative

thinking in military

During the Sinai campaign o f 1956, our Air Force still left

much t o be desired. We were very short of adequate aircraft. But n o t o ffighting spirit. One tiny Piper Cub plane belonging t o Israel held off an Egyptian MIGjet fighter in aerial combat for ten whole minutes before the Israeli went d o w n in flames.

The end was inevitable given the disparity of force. That the Egyptian was hounded for so comparatively long a time is a remarkable testimony t o our p i l o t ’ s flying skill. And that he stuck i t out i n such unequal combat is a n example o f courage before which one can only b o w as a true case of David confronting Goliath. That pilots conduct is typical. As for initiative, I recall the brilliant coup pulled off by our Combat Engineers i n 1949 w h e n the Egyptians had grabbed

our assigned area of the Negev. The Engineers, strong in their knowledge ofhistory, uncovered a forgotten R o m a n r o a d that enabled us t o creep up o n the enemy and take him by surprise.

W e eliminated the Egyptians, lost few lives in doing so and added their armoured equipment t o our still meagre stock. Our staff thinking is ‘civilian’ in that i t refuses t o be trammelled by military convention. In most armed services, officers spend m u c h of their time sitting out their contemporaries i n a n endurance match for promotion. They have n o incentive t o be original and every cause t o avoid sticking their necks out. I n Israel time-serving is a n irrelevancy. The General

Staff pridesitselfo n seeing military problems from fresh angles. One of the freshest of those angles has turned out t o be the most ancient. Our strategists are deeply immersed i n the Bible and g o t o i t regularly for information concerning local terrain and also for lessons i n tactics.

Because of the strategic problems facing a country that even today is i n some places only fifty miles wide, o u r Forces have had t o innovate in all kinds o f spheres, from special attention t o extreme mobility t o the stretching of supply lines through

all manner ofrough and uninhabited terrain. W e have evolved

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101

n e w materials and totally n e w methods for conducting defence under our special local conditions. And the General

Staff has had the

elasticity t o adapt t o these conditions that

comes from not taking its military status i n too hidebound a

fashion.

TheIDF hasbeen instrumental i n stimulating Israeli industry to respond to our war needs. O f course, it’s too bad that w e have had t o develop local industrial proficiency through

the

pressures of war. The fact remains that n o w w e are advanced

in such highly technical fields as aeronautics and rocketry. Today, w e repair our o w n fighter planes and commercial airliners, manufacturing spare parts i n our o w n machine shops. For our size and newness this makes us uniquely independent of the major industrial powers. W e can n o w also build m u c h of o u r terrestrial military equipment ourselves. This again is d u e t o the imaginative national effort that the Israeli people as

a whole have devoted t o defence. A w o r d about w o m e n i n o u r Forces. Israel’s womenfolk enjoy and exercise equal status and responsibility with m e n i n

of life. Their contribution t o the development of this country has always been made o n a basis of total equality. During the days of Hashomer and through the War of every activity

Independence, girls fought alongside m e n — just as civilians

fought alongside soldiers. In the underground, women undertook m a n y perilous assignments. M a n y

died heroically, i n the

burning wrecks o f Palmach’s vehicles along the road t o

Jerusalem, for instance. However, as soon as i t became possible to d o so, women were taken out o f the front-line units.

They perform several vital functions in military life. Firstly, which helps keep

they replace m e n i n non-combatant roles

our front-line units u p t o strength. T h e n too, their service helps fashion i n the Israeli mould great numbers of girl

be of independence, self-reliance a n d civic

immigrants from the less developed countries w h o must taught o u r attitudes

consciousness. A t the same time, the presence o f women is calculated t o remove

the misconceptions a b o u t

the

opposite

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David Ben-Gurion

sex that n e w immigrant

male soldiers m a y bring with them

from the societies a n d cultures

of their

o r i g i n . A n d psycho-

logically, I a m informed, m e n tend to work harder and are more reluctant t o show fatigue in physical tests and

manoeuvres where the girls keep going. A remarkable voluntary force connected t o the military

is

Nahal, which was established during m y early years as Prime

of Defence. I n a sense, Nahal takes up where Palmach left off. I t appeals t o the same adventurous and public spirited element in our youth. Nahal was an initiative I favoured greatly because i t echoed the pioneer experience of

Minister and Minister

m y o w n generation. I must confess, however, that with all m y

abiding faith in young people I did n o t foresee the attraction it would exercise over the yearsand the dimension ofimportance i t w ould come t o occupy in Israeli life. Nahal combines military service w i t h

the pioneering life

that is still so essential t o Israel’s future if w e are t o develop the huge proportion

territory. Every

of wasteland that constitutes o u r national Nahal member is a volunteer. Most come

from Gadna, a paramilitary youth organization, also volunteer, drawing its adherents from the fourteen- t o eighteen-

year-old age group. Gadna and Nahal youth are from every

strata in Israeli society. Many, o fcourse, are kibbutzniks, raised

in the pioneering ideal. But others come from our cities, some

from well-to-do families and some from immigrant backgrounds with n o material assets other than the determination t o start a n e w and fruitful life here. Nahal recruits meet for the first time a t the age of seventeen. They spend a year going off o n camping expeditions and military type manoeuvres. Then, a t the time military service is due t o begin, each prospective member decides whether he o r she wishes t o continue with the organization. By this time, each candidate knows the group

h e o r she will serve with and upon deciding to j o i n Nahal, enters military life with that group as a team. The team itself alternates between military training and kibbutz service. I n the military these young people receive advanced and specialized

Democracy and the Military Today 103

the kibbutz, they learn everything the administrative problems of collective

commando training. O n

from farming

to

living. Then, once trained, and still under military jurisdiction, the Nahal group either joins a frontier collective o r goes off t o set one u p o n its o w n i n a n area too exposed, dangerous o r difficult for normal civilian habitation. A t the e n d of three years, the Nahal group becomes civilian

and the members are free to leave. However, most choose to stay and a n e w Israeli settlement begins a n autonomous

existence. Nahal kibbutzim constitute well integrated, closely knit social groups and, o f course, they are equipped and ready t o assume the tasks of self-defence. O u r experience of Nahal proves that its members m a k e first class farmers a n d first class fighters. They have a brilliant military record in the Sinai campaign and in the Six D a y

War. I

regard Nahal volunteers

as the supreme example ofpublic spirited youth. I t is they w h o can ensure Israel’s pioneering future and the flowering of what

is desert land. When I was Prime Minister and also had the Defence portfolio, I m a d e a point of visiting the troops in the field regularly. Not only did I feel obliged t o view the situation with their eyes b u t also the contact with these wonderful young people gave m e insight into the Israel that was coming t o pass and that I had worked for all m y life. For here was the future. These youngsters, after a year o r so of military service, were becoming true Israelis, a n e w being different from their parents o r the pioneers of m y o w n d a y . With the adaptability of youth, they seemed t o spring from this soil even i f only recently arrived. today

They were o f the Middle East with a mentality apart from that o f Europeans, Americans, South Africans, the ghetto populations o f less developed areas o r wherever else i n the world they had come from. T h e I D F has succeeded i n moulding a n e w youth in which the best of the old has married a pride i n oneselfas a person, as a n Israeli and aJ e w w h o exhibits

far closer links with the Biblical inhabitants of this land than with today’s Diaspora mentality.

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David Ben-Gurion

Because w e have had t o call o n every able-bodied male u p t o the age of forty-nine and every able-bodied w o m a n up t o age thirty-four, m a n y of our field forces have been newly arrived immigrants

from every

conceivable background. F o r

this

reason above all, I rate the armed forces as so great an accomplishment. They have become a training ground for integration into the national community. A s a teaching instrument,

the military ensures that aside from combat training, every recruit leaves service with a knowledge of Hebrew, the Bible, Israeli and general history, geography, mathematics and civics, bringing him o r her u p t o the minimum standard of education i n this country. Further, i n the military n o distinction is drawn between the ignorant and the m o r e educated, between Sabras and immigrants w h o in civilian life m a y have unfortunate but inevitable barriers separating their spheres of activity. Thanks t o the military, an illiterate young m a n with feudal ideas ofthe social order, w h o looks upon women as chattels to be sequestered i n the h o m e a n d so forth, can find his place i n the twenti-

eth century and in our very up-to-date society. I repeat,

therefore, that were eternal peace to come today, and we could all safely throw away our uniforms, scrap our weapons, w e would still require an institution devoted t o peaceful ends that would take over this melting-pot, educational function of national service so that the younger generation would profit

from the unforgettable experience i t provides.

Having made this quick survey of the military and its role i n Israeli life, i t is easy t o see w h y our particular approach t o defence is n o threat t o democracy. Quite apart from other factors, the I D F depends o n comm o n consent of a high order. This can only be given freely i n a democratic spirit where authority emanates n o t from a rule book o r a decree but from a desire for proficiency and emulation by example. Y o u cannot have a volunteer outfit like Nahal thrust out o n its own, often i n the teeth of the enemy, withoutrelying o n a spirit of dedication and a n equality among m e n that feeds o n democracy and that i n turn democracy feeds

Democracy and the Military Today

105

o n . No, ours is a civilian force that i n its every manifestation

bespeaks

of individual consent given for

a higher good.

The Israel Defence Forces, then, have a fine fighting record,

as all the world appreciates. They have played a formidable part in integrating the different immigrant groups into our community. They have introduced thousands of young w o m e n and m e n t o a life of pioneer farm settlement. They have proved themselves a great instrument for education. That they emanate from a democratic spirit is further underlined by the fact that Israel is almost the o n l y country i n the Middle East where the military plays n o role whatsoever i n politics. Here i t i s conspicuous by its absence. And this i s a most important substantiation that the IDF sees itself solely as a n instrument of the State, the elected representative of the people. To inhabitants of the old, established democracies this

is hardly startling. But, like democracy itself, i t is, I believe, quite a n achievement for a young State conceived i n turmoil and t o this day surrounded by enemies.

As Prime Minister, I m e t representatives o f many countries

with whom w e had dealings, and [ know how impressed they were with Israel’s achievements i n its comparatively short period of nationhood. They were taken, as they said, with Israel’s creative drive, its spiritual strength, scientific advances

and with such original forms ofcollective living as the kibbutz and moshav co-operative farm settlements. They would c o m ment favourably o n the unique pattern of o u r labour movement and the functioning o f the co-operative idea i n so w i d e a of activities as building, r o a d construction, housing,

range

health services, even banking, i n addition to the more usual

consumer and marketing co-operatives. These new and origi-

nal social forms are attractive t o m a n y developing countries in Africa a n d Asia that have been trying t o introduce them a t h o m e with o u r help. B u t m o r e than anything else, visitors would tell m e h o w especially impressed they were with our military exploits. They w o u l d c o m e specifically t o see what manner ofpeople couldhold o u t militarily against suchheavy

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David Ben-Gurion

odds. They discovered that the co-operative spirit they had observed i n other institutions was also very m u c h a part of the Defence Forces. A n d they would tell m e h o w m u c h of a piece

the IDF appeared t o them t o be with the spirit that had built the State and created our novel h u m a n associations. I t i s because the military emanates from the State and because itembodiesthe best in us as a n instrument n o t of aggression but

of defence t h a t I s a y i t can be n o threat t o but only a n upholder of democracy.

7 TheBible 1Sour

Mandate

The words are David Ben-Gurion’s to theBritishRoyal Commission

of 1936. Under Lord Peel, the Commission investigatedgrowing tensions in that barren little territory o frocks, sand dunes, saltflats and waste that the Romans had re-named Palestine, so as to wipe away all memory of a people it had cost them dear and taken them a humiliating time to vanquish.

On the one hand, Lord Peel and his colleagues examined the situation o f 800,000 Arabs living in age-long poverty, illiteracy,

disease. Recently, their spiritual leader, the Jerusalem Mufti, had roused them to a vision o f salvation through violence. The Commission had also to consider the case o f 650,000 people

representing the country’s oldest surviving inhabitants. A few of these could trace theirfamily genealogy throughfour thousand years

ofphysical attachment to this soil. Most, however, had returned in recent times on the imperative o fan abiding dream. The ways o f this people were peaceful and as such bore the contempt o f Islam. A Moslem saying, meant to be derisive, had it that the Jews busied themselves with ‘bringing trees and birds to the land’. Ben-Gurion’s statement that the Bible constitutes a Mandate bore witness to a concept informingJewish life throughout the era o fdispersion. During nearly nineteen hundredyears, theJews hadlived in

political impotence unable to challenge the alternate waves o fturmoil and stagnation sweeping over this perpetual crossroads o f human history. But they had maintained their faith that the promised land was here. So they hadprayed and hoped and waitedpassivelyfor a Messiah to

lead them home.

N o Messiah but nineteenth-century positivism as coupled to Biblical affirmation o f theJews’ historical place in the land o fIsrael prompted their massive return. Once arrived, they sought redemption from long exile by digging out the rocksfrom the soil, blasting away the salt, draining the malarial swamps, irrigating the waste and generally obeying the injunction o f their prophets to ‘make the desert

flower as the rose’. Today, the double title of labour and history is takenfor granted by the native-borngenerations. Their affinity isfar more with the distantpast o fsovereignty than with theperiod o fexile. I n school, they study the wisdom o fJeremiah in much the near con-

temporaneous spirit with which Americans consider the utterances o f

AbrahamLincoln. The theologicalinvolutions of Talmudseemmore remote.

That the Royal Commission accepted thefact ofJewish settlement is attested by itsfamous report confirming the Balfour Declaration o f 1917 andpressing upon a reluctant British government the necessity and the right o f the Jews to an independent national home in their ancient land. By 1936, theJewish people hadpowerful and materialjustificationfor claiming their part o fIsrael. But the historical argumentsfor their presence were and are today no less significant.

Archaeological evidence uncovered in this century indicates that, with the Chinese, the Jews share the distinction o f being the oldest bearers of human civilization surviving to our day with cultural

traditions and language intact. Judaism, a foundation stone of Western ethics, consists of three, basic inter-related elements: belief in a single Almighty God, thefirst such monotheism to be adopted

by any people in history; an area of land considered uniquely and especially the heritage o f the Jews; a sacred Book recording both the belief and the presence in Israel that affirms the territorial link. Torah, as again confirmed by modern archaeology, takes u p in about 1900 B.C.E. the epic of the people who much later — at the time o fthe Kingdom o fJudah — became known asJews. Their appearance

on the historical scene coincides with that o f thefirst known Chinese dynasty, the Hsiah Kings. The Book tells o f the nomadAbramfrom Haran in Mesopotamia who becomes a “Hebrew by crossing to the

less civilized western bank o f the river Euphrates. It follows his wanderings southwards through the Zion hills and Negev wilderness

in the sparsely populated back country regions of Canaan. Here, as Abraham, ‘Elected o fGod’, hepreaches hisphilosophy of the univer-

sal Almighty. And here, so Torah records, he declares that Canaan shall be the abode ofhis descendants, the Hebrew people, who shall consecrate it as the Land o fIsrael, meaning the ‘Land o f the Championship o f God’. Thus from its origins the Hebrew tradition and Israel are associated in symbiotic relationship that to both brings fruition. From that time on, the bond between theJews and this area

remains unbroken. Moreover, the Jews are the only inhabitants o f Canaan-Israel

since the time ofJoshua, in thefourteenth century B.C.E., toprosper in this place and to make the earth prosper.

Here, too, they elaborate their Bible so that, while its ethical message remains universal, it specifically tells the story o fa singlepeople whose destiny it associates indissolubly with a mountain top, a desert wilderness, a capital city, a geography. This geographical anchor by its very concretenessgives substance to spiritual ideals and thus helps endow theJews with the intellectualandemotionalforce to

endure exile as apeople. Ultimately, then, one can consider the Bible as responsiblefor theJewishpresence in modern Israel. I n this respect it is a Mandate. Nothing better illustrates the unyielding

belief in

redemption throughphysical return to the homeland, as inculcated by the Book, than the traditional saying o ftheJewishpeople through the whole oftheir wanderings whether as exiles in Babylon, in bondage

at Rome, during the Inquisition at Toledo, in Lublin under Cossack persecution, or twenty-five years ago at Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdenek, Auschwitz and the rest: ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’ ROM

when c a n

o n e date

the Jewish return

t o Israel?

Certainly n o t from 14 May 1948, our formal Day o f Independence. Notwithstanding subsequent battles t o

maintain our State, this event merely recognized an accomplished fact. Perhaps one should consider the Balfour Declaration as the suitable landmark. Hardly, since Lord

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David Ben-Gurion

Balfour based his words o n the visible results of a fifty year Jewish effort t o settle a n d p i o n e e r what w a s a t that time a deso-

late territory. I n 1917, the Jews were already to be reckoned with i n this country. So w e must g o back further. Should w e

take the establishment in 1870 o f the first modern Jewish institution, the agricultural school at Mikweh near Jaffa, as the date

of return? B u t

what provoked the building of that school in

a wasteland? W h a t provoked the first wave of pioneers, socialists all, t o call themselves the Bilu Aliyah with Bilu standing for the initials of the Hebrew p h r a s e : ‘O House of Jacob, C o m e l e t us g o up?’ It was always the same dream, always the same yearning for the one place o n earth the Jewish people call home. A n d the Bilu pioneers, important as they were i n o u r modern history, weren't the first o r only Jews

here. Always some o f our people, twelve thousand or so, had represented us i n this area. The First Aliyah arrived i n a country of empty spaces and slums. Jerusalem was a crumbling village where hovels alternated with monuments gone t o seed. The soil of the territory

called Palestine was almost bare, its main inhabitants nomadic tribes wandering without respect of boundaries across the more desolate reaches o f the Middle East. The American author Herman Melville, who on a visit t o the region

actually saw Bilu settlers coming off a ship at Jaffa, wrote at the t i m e : ‘Here is the implacable nudity of desolation. . . . N o other land could dissipate so quickly the romantic expectations of the Jews.... In the vacuum of Jerusalem’s dead

antiquity, the Jewish immigrants will be like flies who have within a n empty skull.” H o w unfortunate that M r Melville cannot return t o Jerusalem t o d a y !

elected t o live

When the settlers o f the 1870s and 1880s arrived, they found as I have said, a nucleus of fellow Jews w h o had come a t various times i n history. A f e w had always been here. Some had

returned with the religious scholars o f the sixteenth century, Joseph Karo and Isaac Luria, w h o created a city o f mystics i n the mountain t o w n o f Safed. Others, the Masoretes and

“The Bible is our Mandate’

113

scholars o f Tiberias, had migrated back in the ninth and tenth centuries. Earlier than that, the rabbinate ofJabna had kept the Jews oriented towards Israel. In fact, whenever the Jewish people despaired o r threatened t o collapse as a n entity they were rescued by their tie t o this physical place and i t s interaction with their beliefs as embodied i n the B o o k and the

Hebrew language.

One can say, therefore, without being accused o fmysticism, that the Jewish return t o autonomy in Israel really dates from

the fall ofJerusalem and Masada in the eighth decade of the C o m m o n Era. I n other words, from the moment of conquest, bondage, expulsion, the Jews dedicated themselves as a people t o return. All ofJewish culture strained towards that end. There i s a corollary t o the above assertion. F r o m the time the

Jews ceased t o rule here, n o other people were able t o make anything o f Israel. This is n o t a ‘patriotic’ o r metaphysical statement o n my part but cold fact. Only inJewish hands has this country been a true and viable independent State, a ‘going

concern’, as it were. Before the Jews, the Canaanite tribes were prosperous along the Mediterranean seaboard and there were a f e w interior settlements. B u t the Hebrew arrival brought importance t o the Negev and hill area. From Joshua’s time on, the history of the Land of Israel was one of steady development. That development always stopped abruptly w h e n conquest p u t a n end t o Jewish power. T h e Persian Emperor Cyrus was well aware of t h i s a n d in the interest ofhis o w n economy he vouchsafed the first return t o Z i o n after the Babylonian occupation: “Thus saith Cyrus, King o f Persia . . . the Lord, God o f Heaven

. . . hath charged m e t o buildH i m a house in Jerusalem, which

is inJudah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people —the Lord his God be with him — let him go up.” (II Chronicles X X X V I , 22-23 and Ezra I, 1-3). So the second Temple was built b y Ezra and his followers. The Jews flourished once more

did the country a t large and the capital ofJerusalem first established under David. B y the Roman conquest, this was as

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David Ben-Gurion

of the most important areas of the civilized world. The Romans laid waste land and city. They spread salt o n the earth round Jerusalem as they had done a t Carthage. And, as at Carthage, they changed the name of the territory t o wipe away all trace of the inhabitants. I n a sense, i t was a compliment. The R o m a n s only w e n t t o such extremes of petulance with foes w h o thwarted them mightily. That tiny Judah

one

should share the fate of powerful Carthage is a distinction, albeit a dubious one. In any event, from then o n , this part of the Middle East declined steadily. Various invaders’ attempts t o revitalize i t and make Jerusalem into a capital equal t o other great cities of

Asia Minor - Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo - came to nought.

Meanwhile, each successive wave o f inhabitants followed the R o m a n example of destroying Jewish monuments and desecrating o u r holy places. That is the one thing those w h o would supplant us have all had i n common. Islam i n its arrogance

built the Mosque of el-Aksar o n the site of the razed Second Temple, o f which only the Western Wall remains today. Another Mosque a t Hebron covers

the tombs of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob-called-Israel. During the twenty years

following 1048, when Samaria and a part of ancient Judah, including the portion of Jerusalem where all the historical monuments are concentrated, were under Jordanian rule, Jewish edifices were the targets of Arab frustration. Asin East Europe under the Communists, synagogues became slum dwellings and storehouses; the tombstones of the cemetery o n the Mount o f Olives were used i n road construction and for latrines.

Yet,

[am

proud t o say, the first thing Israel did upon taking

over these same areas in 1967 was to proclaim its intention of safeguarding the shrines of all religions and o f according free access t o those shrines for all concerned. W e do n o t use Arab Mosques for latrines. Our sufferings and our Biblical heritage impose upon us a code o f civilized behaviour which respects

the beliefs of all men.

“The Bible is our Mandate’

115

N o matter what ignominies the Jews were subjected to, they never forgot their land a n d they refused t o die off. N o w

did in the times of the first and second Temples. Whenever the Jews have been sovereign in Israel, the earth has burst forth with life. A n d each time they o u r soil blossoms again just as i t

have forsaken it, i t has withered and lain barren.

The Jewish relationship t o Israel is double, a dialectic. W e w o r k the ground and the ground works o n us. Here w e contributed a universal message t o mankind for here the earth while delivering itself into our care. W e for i t , continue to d o so, as w e have for n o other

gave us sustenance

have cared anywhere.

There are Jews i n America w h o went there in the earliest days

of

colonization. Some, especially i n the W e s t a n d

in

Minnesota, became farmers and even pioneers. Yet the Jews remain an ethnic minority there and those w h o have a con-

nection with the soil belong to an American ethos, not a

Jewish one. In other places, notably in Argentina, the Jews tried cultivating the

land. O n c e

they

talked of building their

national h o m e i n Uganda. B u t these projects and initiatives failed. I n the end, outside Israel, w e either lost our Jewish identity through assimilation o r ended up in the overwhelmi n g majority as essentially a rootless, alien group. W e became shopkeepers, middle-men, intellectuals — fine activities in themselves, n o doubt, but outside the mainstream of a n y national existence. The Jews in their practices and beliefs

remained foreign t o the environments they lived in, objects o f curiosity and concern, and only a f e w years ago o f ‘special treatment’ i n the

Nazi sense, human aggression towards the

stranger being what i t is. Since 73 B.C.E., the Wandering J e w has been a stereotype. B u t never for those w h o remained o r returned here. In the

of Israel there is n o such thing. This is home. A n d at home the Jew, like people everywhere, digs his soil, builds his abode, fights t o defend every inch of the ground he cherishes so highly. And behold, the city that Herman Melville likened

Land

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David Ben-Gurion

only a hundred years ago t o the inside of a skull is once more a

busy capital. I n this respect, I think with amusement o f a reproach levelled against the Jews in Israel by a n Arab nationalist. H e c o m plained that w e d o n ’ t take siestas and h e used this fact t o demonstrate the sinister nature of o u r presence here. H e didn’t of ruination the tasks that

reflect that after t w o millennia

confront us are too pressing and manifold t o allow o f such luxuries. M a y the time c o m e w h e n w e can afford siestas! N o consideration ofJewish nationalism i n Israel would be complete without examining Palestinian claims t o the area, t o a country and t o a nationalism. What of the Palestinian a n d Arab outcry that this land belongs n o t t o us but t o them? First, our title is older by a matter of four thousand years. Arab nationalism i s a phenomenon of this century and I believe

that among nationalistic movements, at least insofar as Palestine is concerned, i t stands as a cultured pearl in relation

to a real one.In other words,Palestiniannationalism is highly

originally from British inspiration. The latter have always depended o n the rule of divide and conquer artificial, emanating

t o ensure the good management of their o w n interests. When i t became apparent that the territory under their Mandate was heading for independence, they encouraged the same frictions here between Arabs and Jews as they did between Moslems

and Hindus in India.

subsequently by Arab leaders as a n analgesic, a soothing balm t o over internal problems of development i n the sur-

B e that as i t may, the Palestinian ‘cause’ was

taken u p spread

rounding countries which, in the face o f governmental corruption, were fated t o remain insoluble. Better t o turn the thoughts of the people t o Holy War than t o have them start

worrying over their own chronic poverty. Honest Palestinians m a k e n o bones develop this

land and their traditional

of the

Arab

failure t o

indifference t o i t as a

national entity. I w a s interested t o read the statement

violently pro-Palestinian native

of this

area

who

of a

says quite

‘The Bible is our Mandate’

117

openly: ‘My mother a n d father were peasants. B u t peasants such as one rarely finds i n today’s world. . . . They lived the tenth century in the middle of the twentieth. They a n d their ancestors had changed neither their dress n o r their ways in all that time. . . . They were aware o fautomobiles, electricity, and even refrigerators. But their souls were asleep and the technical advances that they assimilated through instinct served

more to freeze them in the past than to bring them into

the

present.” The writer continues: ‘For the people o f the region, used t o living for six centuries under someone’s dominion, one ruler o r another was a matter o f indifference. . . . A t a f e w kilometres from Jerusalem w e lived a n almost animal

existence, far from civilization.”

*

T h e author of these words goes o n t o accuse the Jews of tearing the Arabs from their soil and committing atrocities during the War of Independence. I must answer these charges and will do so later. B u t here they are irrelevant t o the point I want t o m a k e of the total neglect a n d passivity towards Palestine as a country displayed by its Arab population. In all

the centuries o f their existence on this earth, the Palestinian Arabs remained at the most rudimentary levels of h u m a n existence. T h e above testimony shows h o w they failed t o cultivate the soil according t o any general plan o r indeed de-

velop any sense of national integrity. That each individual Arab villager, as distinct from the considerable nomadic population, was attached to his o w n house and plot o f ground I readily believe. Those Arabs w h o refused the enemy their collaboration and w h o d i d n ’ t heed the Arab Powers’ exhorta-

tions to flee in 1948 are today cultivating that same land in security and tranquillity, as citizens of the only democracy t o put down roots here since the Twelve Tribes!

I

well realize the love every human being m a y feel for his

particular piece of earth. B u t that the Arab Powers and the so-

called Palestinian

of twenty years after should the Arab population here has ever

nationalists

claim i n o u r time that

* Edouard Saab writing in Les Deux Exodes, Editions Denoél, Paris.

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David Ben-Gurion

thought i n terms o f a country o r has l a i d title t o this land as a n be considered seriously. I f one would need further confirmation of this lack of true

entity is n o t t o

nationalist feeling, the military record supplies it. Like the

Egyptian Fedayin, the Palestinian Arabs have shown little tenacity in open battle o n this soil. The Jews are known t o fight with passion, with all the strength they possess. Each Jewish soldier has a deep personal commitment t o defending this country which is his h o m e and the only one he knows he will ever have. The Palestinian Arab shows n o such emotional involvement. Why shouldhe? H e is equally a t ease whether i n

Jordan, Lebanon o r a variety of places. They are as much his country as thisis. A n d aslittle. H e doesn’t really think i n terms of countries! When it comes t o the m o m e n t of truth in open combat, the Jews display a fortitude born of desperation and defensiveness while the Arabs often enough throw d o w n their weapons and run, or surrender. I could cite case after case where this has occurred, even when the Arab forces have been

numerically stronger and better equipped than our own. But why should an Arab fight for this place? Because of specious propaganda attempting t o prove his attachment t o a mythical Palestinian nation? Propaganda is n o t worth dying for and deep i n himselfhe knows i t . T h e question is n o t one o f bravery o r cowardice but of conviction. The Arabs don’ t take their nationalist pretensions t o Israel seriously enough o n a n indivi-

dual basis t o stand firm

at the front.

The Jews o n the other hand

k n o w that either they defend themselves o r the whole meaning of their lives will be destroyed. The conduct of Arab troops i n the field since 1948 proves the lack of personal

involvement with which the individual fighting m a n approaches what one can only term the fantasy of a nationalistic c l a i m t o this land. Certainly t o compare the ‘nationalist’ outlook ofPalestinian Arabs t o the Jewish ideal of Israel doesn’t m a k e sense. I t ’ s like judging oranges i n terms o f lemons. The t w o feelings, concepts, views of this region and its meaning t o each inhabitant

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are n o t comparable and cannot be meaningfully discussed i n the same terminology. O n e outlook is individualistic and rooted t o a piece of small personal property. T h e other is generalized and attached t o the idea o f a whole comprising a

formal State. T h e latter I think o f as true nationalism, the

proof of its validity being that it did in fact produce a State. T h e former is love o f a personal possession. Laudable as that

sentiment may be, i t didn’t and i t couldn’t build a nation.

Nobody, least of all the Jew, wants t o steal Arab property. B u t w e do assert the truth that our love for this land i n its entirety is the only nationalism that since the time of Canaan all of history, including twentieth-century history, records concerning the region w e n o w k n o w as Israel. By this I do n o t wish t o deny the recent stirrings of a panArabic movement whereby these peoples have begun t o take cognizance o f themselves as a totality. I believe i n ethnic rela-

tionships and i n the consciousness ofpeoples for their affinities. H o w could I do else as a Jew w h o has devoted his life t o

invoking a sense o fJewishness in others o f m y people? PanArabism could

be

a great force for g o o d

in

the world.

Unfortunately, the early glimmerings w e witness today have

been turned t o aggressive and destructive ends. Instead

of

contributing t o a general desire for modernization, democrat-

ization and for catching up with the rest o f the world, for making use of its vast resources t o the benefit of the entire population, for the revitalization of its culture and for improving the l o t of its overwhelming number of poor, panArabism has been the excuse for internal power politics aimed a t the enrichment o fa handful o findividuals, an alibi for war-

the burning issues o f the day with of hatred, a n d for the aggrandizem e n t of o n e Arab power a t the expense of another. The panArabism of such as the Sheik ofQatar w h o builds palaces with his oil revenues while his people live in tents, of the Iraqi mongering, for obscuring

the temporary unifications

government whose internal politics resemble the saloon

brawls o f American Wild West films, or o f Nasser whose

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great ambition seems t o be t o conquer everything in sight regardless of h o w it i s t o be administered and despite his manifest inability t o run his o w n country, is n o t a very inspiring doctrine t o the outside observer.

has of all the Arabs. I t is the only subject o n which they appear able t o achieve a semblance o f unity. That this Palestinian need for a nation failed t o express itself in Since the advent o f Israel, Palestinian nationalism

become the rallying cry

any way between the year 636 C.E., the beginning o f the Arab

penetration into this area and, say, 1936 when the Jerusalem Mufti spun his Caliphate dream, is ignored b y the propagandists. I n 636, the Jews were yearning for Israel as they were i n 1948. Now they yearn t o keep it. One has only t o look a t the

land and think ofMelville's description t o see what the Jewish presence here has meant. O n e has only t o read the words o f the Palestinian nationalist I quoted above t o comprehend what so-

called Arab nationalism produced here: nothing. And, as Shakespeare puts i t , nothing will c o m e of nothing. A s t o the Jews, I can only p o i n t t o o u r Bible and t o its sequence i n the m a n y Jewish initiatives t o regain Israel stretching across the centuries since Masada and say: This is our Mandate. C o m e see for yourselves.

Since I invoke Torah so often, let m e state that I don’t personally believe in the Godi t postulates. I mean that I cannot

‘turn t o

God’, o r

pray t o a super-human Almighty Being living up i n the sky. Recently, [ wasasked whether in moments

of stress I ‘commune’ with God andI shockedmy interlocutor by asking h i m b a c k : ‘ D o e s God have a telephone?’ Yet, though m y philosophy is secular, I believe profoundly in the God ofJeremiah and Elijah. Indeed, I consider i t part of the Jewish heritage and the Jewish obligation t o hold t o this concept ofGod. Consider Elijah’s famous revelation at Horeb: AndElijah went forty daysand forty nights unto Horeb, theMount of God, where he lived in a cave. And Elijah listened for the voice of the Lord. A great a n d strong wind rent the mountains a n d broke in pieces the rock. B u t the Lord was n o t i n the wind. And

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after the wind came an earthquake. B u t the L o r d was n o t in the

And after the earthquake a fire. B u t the Lord was n o t in the fire. But then, Elijah listened very carefully. And deep earthquake.

within himself he heard a still, small voice. And it was so, the

voice oftheLord. to

Every m a n has a conscience and the faculty within himself discern between right and wrong. That is the meaning, at

least t o me, o f Elijah’s still, small voice and o f Jeremiah’s counsel.

I am not religious, nor were the majority o f the early builders of modern Israel believers. Y e t their passion for this land stemmed from the B o o k ofBooks. That is w h y the socialists o f the Bilu movement named themselves with reference t o Ezra.

And it is why, though I reject theology, the single most important book in my life is the Bible. Like m a n y Jews, n o doubt because of early traditional training, I have a fondness for study. I have read in various cultures, all o f which have made me richer as an individual. I learned Greek so that I could enjoy Plato, for w h o m I have deep respect and w h o has given m e m a n y happy and speculative hours. I have also studied Hindu and Buddhist thought.

From Plato, one learns elegancei n reasoning; from Hinduism humility; from Buddhism the peace that comes o fmeditation. B u t from Torah one principally learns a moral activism that

characterizes the Jews and that, I believe, has made them so admired and so detested whenever they have lived among others.

Jewish history in dispersion is a stormy one, ranging t o depths. In accordance with the dictum that evil outlasts good in h u m a n memory, w e

extreme high points a n d t o the lowest

are particularly sensitive t o the continual sufferings inflicted

upon us during o u r t w o thousand year journey round the civilized world a n d back t o Israel a g a i n . B u t the Jews were also respected of their fellow men. They flourished i n Islam for many centuries, helping t o guide the destiny of this daughter culture. And they are the architects of Christianity. Who

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could have been more of a purist i n Judaism than Jesus? Jews are activists, that is they have a Messianic spirit. They are n o t missionaries since they don’t seek t o convert others t o their ways. B u t they are merciless with themselves. The Bible has imparted t o t h e m that divine discontent leading a t its best

t o initiatives such as the pioneering life, a t its worst t o persecution by their fellow men. It has never allowed them as a people t o enjoy for long comfortable mediocrity. Certainly i n Israel today w e are Messianic. T h e Jews feel

themselves t o have a missionh e r e ; they have a sense o f mission. Restoration of sovereignty is tied t o a concept of redemption.

This had determined Jewish survival and i t is the core of Jewish religious, moral and national consciousness. It explains the immigration t o Israel of hundreds of thousands of Jews who never heard o f Zionist doctrine but who, nevertheless, were moved t o leave the lands wherein they

dwelt t o contri-

bute with their o w n effort t o the revival of the Hebrew nation i n its historic home. A secular vision of the Bible must examine the postulate of the Jews as a Chosen People. I believe firmly that the true situation i n history was the reverse of what the phrase implies. I think the Jews chose their God and not, as Torah puts i t , that H e chose us. Torah suggests that

God consulted the various peoples of

Earth and asked, in effect, ‘Can you accept m y teachings? Can you agree that killing is wrong, that you should not commit

forth through the list of Commandments. The other peoples said no, w e said yes and forthwith were adopted by H i m . But that is a mystical conception. The rationalist considers

adultery?” A n d so

that the Hebrews, as so m a n y other h u m a n beings, asked them-

selves: “Who are w e ? Where d i d w e come from? W h a t are w e

doing here?’ Their answer, over the millennia, is embodied in

the Bible.

Joshua m a k e references t o the of God. Joshua assembles the Children of

Both Deuteronomy and active choosing

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Israel at Schechem and asks them: “ W h o are y o u going t o pick for your God? T h e G o d of the peoples among w h o m y o u

of your forefathers from across the Euphrates? Or will you give your allegiance t o the God I serve?’ They answer: “ W e will choose your God, the Lord.’ But Joshua, not yet satisfied, points out h o w difficult H e is. have lived? O r those

Nevertheless, say the people, w e choose Him. Joshua then calls upon them t o state this act of choosing formally and they bear witness t o it. So i t is clear that the Israelites have chosen

God positively.

The uniqueness of theJews is their adoption in the ancient world of a single invisible and Almighty Being. Such a Being is supreme in a w a y n o surrogate g o d representing a n element in Nature can be. Lesser gods lose their awesomeness by being all too human in their ‘private’ lives a n d i n their quarrels with each other. In fact, the gods contemporaneous with the first Hebrews are often modest in their conduct. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, discovered at the turn of this century i n the excavated library of King Ashurbanipal a t Nineveh and dated about 1700 B.C.E., there is a description of the Great Flood and the survival of an Ark very similar in its material details t o that i n the story of Noah. Archaeologists have, by the way, foundactual traces of theFloodbut that is another matter. The Gilgamesh tablets describe the gods of Mesopotamia,

those Abraham abandoned for the Lord, as terrified b y the disaster

of

the rising waters.

They

flee t o the

upper

reaches o f heaven where they ‘crouch and cower like dogs’. One cannot imagine Y H W H acting in this way since all Creation stems from H i m . T h e Greek and R o m a n gods are famous for either abusing their privileged status t o lead the sort of love-life w e humans

daydream about, o r incessantly quarrelling. Usually both things at once. Again, the Jewish God remains above the

battle. Other peoples

during the time

of Jewish sovereignty i n of the Lord. T h e

Israel had a hard time grasping the concept

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David Ben-Gurion

Greeks considered the Jews godless because, as Alexander

noted when he came t o Judah, they displayed no idols. The Romans thought us lazy because of the weekly Sabbath when even servants and animals remained idle. They did n o t understand that the day of rest emanated from God and that the Jews as His tenants o n Earth were following His law in seeing to it that all things ofNature within their jurisdiction received due repose.

The Jewish God had fashioned m a n in His image. This gave Jews, a special role. God although invisible and endowed with supernatural powers called upon man, His steward, t o emulate His example. Thus mankindhad the latter, according t o the

something t o reach for, a n ideal o f moral conduct, beyond himself. H e also

had the

freedom t o utilize the products

of

Earth t o increase his dominion over Nature and himself.

T h e B i b l e is universal i n its message of love and of the oneness of man. I have already remarked o n its remarkable aspect

of starting with the beginning of the universe rather than with the Jews themselves. Torah is n o t exclusive t o a people since i t clearly shows h o w all m e n spring from the same seed. All w o m e n too. This business i n Genesis with the rib is, surely, just a n afterthought!

Yet Spinoza was expelled from

the Jewish congregation of

Amsterdam for noting the contradiction: God is said t o have

picked the Jews t o carry His message and t o be a special people,

a specially good and moral people living in their assignedland. H o w can the Lord be universal, asked Spinoza, and have a Chosen People? I w o n ’ t argue the metaphysics

of the point.

But the message of the Chosen People makes sense i n secular,

when turned around t o describe a n act o f selection b y Abraham and his successor of a God

rationalist and historical terms

they had formulated. I n other words, first came man, then his

This does n o t decrease the power of the Jewish God t o work for good nor the validity of the Bible’s message of righteousness. The Jews i n their Book, according t o the secularist idea, set d o w n a n accomplished fact by s a y i n g : ‘ I t is o u r gods.

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duty as a people to be a model t o the G o d w e have chosen, to conform t o His ways as w e have defined them and t o devote ourselves t o making the land w e have settled and attributed t o

His gift t o us a prosperous land run along our moral precepts.’ In that sense, the Jews can be considered a self-chosen people. Unfortunately, n o human beings have yet achieved perfec-

tion o r anything close to i t despite good intentions, religious belief and codes of behaviour. The Jews had their ups and downs as a sovereign people. I n Isaiah’s view, they were the

of their history. Neverthethis is remarkable, they always produced moralists

worst people o n Earth for a portion

less, and

who laboured mightily t o keep t h e m i n the paths ofrighteousness a n d whose words the B o o k carefully records. I refer t o the

Prophets. A Prophet in the Jewish sense is n o oracle. H e isn’t clair-

of his intelligence. in a trance o r predict

voyant except through the exercise

He

doesn’t read ashes o r put himself

the

future according to magic. No, the Biblical Prophets were m e n of the world concerned with the daily facts of life i n relation t o their understanding

of G o d ’ s will. They considered

themselves secular critics. Amos, for instance, was furious at

being called a Nabi o r wandering religious devotee. The Prophets cleaved t o the word o f God as handed down in Biblical heritage. They devoted themselves t o bringing the peoples’ and their rulers’ conduct in line with that word. A m o s spread the message of love. H e affirmed the equality

of m a n a n d d r e w attention t o the family

tie linking humanity

as a whole. Reflecting o n current problems i n our world, I

heeded the message of from importing black slaves

have often thought that had America

A m o s i t would have refrained

from Africa. Had i t n o t done so, i t wouldn’t be faced with the terrible problems of ethnic integration that beset i t so today. A m o s said that none should suffer the sins of the fathers. B u t Jeremiah pointed o u t that each m a n had the ability t o distinguish right from wrong a n d that consequently the act of

wrongdoing could call d o w n allmanner of long term disasters.

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David Ben-Gurion

Whether one listens to the one o r the other, the fact is the Americans of the present era are reaping a racial whirlwind sown by their ancestors a century and a half ago. Amos’s mes-

sage o f brotherhood does have eternal relevance, i t would

appear. I wish our present neighbours would realize this. Isaiah developed the message of Amos t o thunder against war. H e k n e w that w a r was self-perpetuating and carried the

seeds of destruction for those w h o waged it. Moreover, he said that if people would stop producing weapons and actively practise peace, they would lose their capacity and taste for

bloodshed. I t i s a tribute t o the ancient

Jews, I think, that they carefully

recorded the Prophets’ outspoken denunciations of their o w n wickedness. Generally, these critics had a privileged position allowing them t o say the sort of h o m e truths t o their rulers that normally would put a m a n i n irons o r sever his head from

his body. And they had their o w n view ofhistory which without moral conduct meant t o them nothing. O n e of the Jews’ most successful monarchs, Jeroboam II, who almost recreated

the empire o f Solomon, is dismissed by the Prophets with the statement: ‘He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

The Bible gives prominence t o these thinkers a n d always discerns the true from the false prophet. There is a dramatic illustration of this in the days of Jehoshaphat I when four hundred false prophets soothed the king by telling h i m of victory while the one ‘true’ prophet foretold defeat. I n the modern world w e k n o w such situations. T o o often peoples

what they want t o hear. of the greatest statesmen-prophets was Jeremiah. H e lived in an age of decadence and didn’t enjoy the immunity of his predecessors. H e was a most astute political thinker. Had he been listened t o , Judah wouldn’t have k n o w n defeat by Babylon and thefirst Jewish reign in this land wouldn't have terminated in w a r a n d the destruction of the first Temple. a n d governments heed only

One

W h e n the Assyrian Empire came to an end in 609 B.C.E., Babylon and

Egypt

disputed for supremacy i n the Fertile

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Crescent, the civilizedpart o fAsia Minor.Jeremiah counselled strict neutrality. His king, Josiah, listened t o the blandish-

of both empires and over-ruled the prophet. H e sided with Babylon and suffered defeat by Egypt. Thenceforth, Judahj o i n e d one side o r the other as circumstances warranted. B u t i t withstood almost continuous defeat. Jeremiah continued t o call for neutrality. H e castigated the Israelites for allowing corruption i n high places. King Zedekiah tiring of ments

these denunciations threw Jeremiah into prison as a traitor.

Zedekiah played politics with Egypt and enraged the Babylonians. The result: Jerusalem was razed t o the ground

the vengeful Babylonian ruler Nabuchadrazzar. During Jeremiah, though threatened with torture and death, continued t o tell his message of scathing criticism. T h e people held him i n respect for his courage and today he is a symbol of selfless integrity.

by

the days before disaster

The Prophets were perpetually telling the Jews how difficult a people they were i n the eyes of G o d w h o deplored their deviations from the moral code they had set themselves. These m e n made m a n y people uncomfortable but always they were

respected. And I think they left the Jews with the heritage of striving towards a certain morality, a drive t o seek the path of truth wherever i t lay, whether attainable o r no. The Jews have always had a conscience. This together with their strict code of life helped keep t h e m true t o themselves when they were expelled from their land. It also pushed them t o take a prophetic stance, t o take readily — sometimes too readily — t o the role of critics in the world at large. The Bible endowed the Jews with a self-appointed mission as thinkers,

questioners, formulators. Even as they yearned for h o m e i n

Israel they journeyed across the earth and, in the manner o f their Prophets, asked difficult questions. The result was twoended: exaltation o n the one hand, persecution o n the other. Their nostalgia turned the majority of Jews in u p o n their o w n communities wherever they happened t o be. Where they went they tried t o re-create the atmosphere of their existence

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David Ben-Gurion

in the ancient activism into

nation. B u t other Jews took their Messianic outside society and either became revered

advisers o f humanity o r society’s villains. In our o w n time, Freud and M a r x have been both t o a sizeable portion o f men.

Without our Book o fBooks, we might be in Uganda today,

or more'likely the Jews would be as extinct as the ancient Mesopotamian peoples. In serving as a portable homeland, i t has provided a sense o f the past. All peoples need their past asa life-giving sustenance and this is the use of history. I notice today that o n e

of

the greatest reproaches

American black

people level at the white man, one o f their greatest sources of bitterness, is that for t w o hundred years they were deliberately cut away from their African past and that they n o longer are

aware oftheir ownhistory. This is a cause ofrootlessness t o the Negro people of the United States and probably a great incentive t o the destructive violence they have displayed. If y o u have n o heritage, w h y respect the heritage o f others? Thanks t o our Bible, the Jewish reinsertion into a creative stream o f human history, as realized b y the return t o Isracl, has been relatively easy. O u r roots stretch deeply into the past. B u t our lack o f sovereignty for so long has made of us a very diverse population with a variety o f ties elsewhere and a babel o f tongues. O u r neighbour, Egypt, o n the other hand, can

theoretically claim a continuity of six thousand years with a literature going back a t least that far. Y e t let us look again. The

people ofEgypt cannot speak the language in which Pharaoh addressed Joseph, and only a handful o f scholars can under-

of the day. We, however, have kept in touch through Torah with the tongue of our ancestors of stand the ancient writings

3,500 years ago. Were Abraham himself t o return t o Israel this

day, he might have t o spend six months a t an Ulpan (Hebrew language school) learning such terms as ‘automobile’, ‘transistor’, and ‘jet p l a n e ’ ; but the patriarch of patriarchs could ask for his bread and preach the word o f his G o d to his

children in this land, and make himself understood!

Our brothers in dispersion often reproach us for reviving

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Hebrew as a living language. They cannot understand us, they say. I t i s n ’ t worth their while t o learn a language spoken b y so f e w people, they tell us. W h y d i d n ’ t w e make

English o r German or even Yiddish our official speech, they ask us rather bitterly. I can only reply that whereas fashions change, history endures. Let m e enlarge.

WhenIcame to Israel, language was a big issue. A t that time,

ofimmigrants were coming from Russia and Eastern Europe. They all spoke Yiddish. S o there was a sizeable m o v e t o adopt this Jewish’ language as the the overwhelming majority

official tongue here.

Yet, despite

the fact that

Yiddish really

Jews of the day, w e d i d n ’ t the speech of Eretz Israel. Why? Because its associa-

was a lingua franca among the declare i t

tion was basically one o f sadness, o f exile, o f loss and o f persecution. So others said: ‘Let’s speak German. I t ’ s close t o Yiddish and

of the great of the world.” Had w e decided to speak German, w e would today be communicating in the tongue of those who destroyed EuropeanJewry. Not only that; while trying t o destroy us they successfully destroyed themselves in large

easy, therefore, t o learn. A n d i t is universal, one

languages

measure. Today, German is just one among many European

all busy learning either English o r Russian depending o n which side o f a n

languages and the Germans themselves are

artificial b o u n d a r y they live o n . These are the t w o great

tongues

of the moment, with English leading the field.

A t Independence, i t was obvious that English would be the most useful vehicle o f world communication. A n d w e were

coming t o nationhood under British tutelage. W e could have decided t o m a k e this.our national tongue.

O f course, by that all speaking

time the argument was academic since w e were

Hebrew and enjoying it. However, suppose w e hadbecome English-speakers. Again,

as with German, we should be adopting someone else’s culture. We, the oldest civilized people in the West! That would

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David Ben-Gurion

have been ridiculous. And how do w e know that in fifty years English won’t be a secondary language with Chinesereplacing it a t the top of the Tower of Babel? H a d w e decided t o adopt the language of current fashion, we might have found ourselves having t o change official tongues every twenty-five years o r so. History is a far better guide. S o w e opted for o u r natural speech, the language of our inheritance, our sovereignty and our association with this part

of the world.

A t once, everything became simple. W e brought i t u p t o date so that w e could discuss problems of microbiology a n d nuclear physics in Hebrew, and yet at the same time every inhabitant here possessed the tool t o unlock the treasure of

his culture t o its earliest k n o w n record. We hadin depth what lacked i n breadth. For this reason I must say t o my friends in the Galuth, in

we

dispersion, that it is not w e w h o have lost contact with you b y resuscitating our cultural vehicle and making i t live again. Rather, i t is y o u w h o have cut yourselves off from your roots by denying yourselves knowledge o f your o w n language. If there is a communication gap between the Jewish world and Israel, i t i s up t o the former t o close i t . W e are making history, living history.

The Jew in

Argentina, France, the United

States, India, Russia, N e w Zealand, South Africa and elsewhere is a watcher on the sidelines. Sometimes, asin the Soviet Union o r Iraq, he is a prisoner and forced t o stay behind as his

people advance. That is a personal tragedy, and a tragedy we share since his absence, his inability t o contribute t o our

Jewishlife, is a gap that can never be filled — just as the death of six million potential Israelis in Europe is an overwhelming tragedy for us here today. But life must continue in the face

o f sorrow

and disaster.

The Jewish redemption is here and i t is now. W e are very

privileged t o live a t a time when w e are n o t

forced t o survive culturally o n mysticism a n d dreams. I t is n o t next year in

Jerusalem but today!

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131

T h e Jews of the world are coming t o realize this, a n d

they

are making a choice. M a n y will cease t o be Jews, will assimilate into other cultural traditions. W e

wish t h e m well. B u t

m a n y more will see their link with us and reach over t o grasp

our hand o f friendship. They will learn Hebrew, will come a n d will cherish their reinsertion into

history.

And I am sure that now we are home again, we shall once more be creative as a people. W e have already begun t o be so. Today, w e are i n the process of writing a n e w Torah n o t only with scribes but with pioneers and farmers, artists and scien-

tists, architects, teachers, engineers, legislators, collectivists, citizens i n every walk of life. All speak the language of Moses a n d even the freethinkers a m o n g them study deeply i n the

Book, the source o f inspiration, provider o f a past and o f a vision for the future. O u r n e w Torah is being written n o w but its best chapters are still t o come. It is m y conviction that they

will tell the story of our taming of the desert.

8-To theNegev

I n twenty years o f official existence and a century o f active develop-

ment, the land o f Israel has accomplished a remarkable evolution. Today, it impresses the world at large in both agricultural and industrialproductivity. Yet over sixtyper cent o fthe country remains empty desert. This is afact o fIsrael'spresent situation. N o one more than BenGurion realizes how crucially it bears on the future. His abrupt retirementfrom politics to a Negev kibbutz has been represented by

some as an act o fself-exile, an immurement in the wilderness. That interpretation isfarfrom the truth. For Ben-Gurion, developing the Negev is Israel's greatest task and his move there underlines his

determination to participate in this vital undertaking. He has, as ever in his life, placed himselfin theforefront of what hejudges the most significantfield of activity. A n d he has spared himselfno effort,

even in his eighth andninth decades, to set an examplefor hispeople, thereby turning their eyes southward in the great tradition o f the

Jewish past, towards a wilderness at once demanding o f redemption and in turn promising the personal redemption of creative effortfor those who take u p its challenge.

On what is accomplished in the Negev, maintains Ben-Gurion, Israel

will stand orfall.

N Hebrew, ‘Negev’ is the word for south. The Jewish attraction t o the southland wastes, which extend down t o

in our time as the Gulf of Eilath, is an old story beginning with the original the tip of that R e d Sea inlet k n o w n

136 David Ben-Gurion

Hebrew, Abraham himself. This land o f the Negev is the true cradle o f Judaism. In its present isolation, i t constitutes a national weak p o i n t and danger zone. B u t here also lies Israels greatest hope for the future.

waste where high hills their shadows o n narrow crater valleys and canyons. This desert stretches northwards t o

What w e call Negev is an arid

coloured

dun, red and purple cast

the edge

of the fertile coastal plain along the Mediterranean

where the Canaanite kings built their major settlements, impenetrable t o the Israelites until

Joshua’s day. Eastwards, the

Negev climbs gradually upward towards the cliffs and crags overlooking the Dead Sea. A n d i n the West i t merges without change o f landscape into the Sinai Peninsula between the Eilath Gulf and that o f Suez. The Negev’s rainfall is less than

an inch a year and the minimum temperature rarely goes below fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Y e t today, between Beersheba — the area’s largest city located a t its northern e n d — a n d the

seaport o f Eilath, southern terminus o f an Israeli built road

linking

R e d Sea t o Mediterranean, a number

of

modern

communities have implanted themselves and are gradually extending the wasteland’s arable portion. One o f these is kibbutz Sde Boker where I came t o live in 1953. That I happened t o choose this particular kibbutz is an accident. B u t that I decided to live i n the Negev represents a continuation

and namely

of the ideas I have followed throughout m y life the concept that the principal w a y the Jews can

re-claim their ancient land is n o t b y argument o r invoking

historical precedent but by their labour, that is, by creating an enduring, fruitful h o m e for themselves where previously there was nothing.

I have always realized that

if

w e are t o

be economically

independent and viable under all circumstances, we must develop the Negev. That is why I

held o u t with some tenacity

in 1947 for assignment o f the area t o the Jewish State. Some

of m y

colleagues thought m e ill-advised. W h a t

did w e want

with a sand-dune disconnected to the rest o f our designated

To the Negev 137 territory a n d totally lacking i n cultivation? T h e argument that w e might eventually need a seaport o n the R e d Sea which,

along with Mediterranean frontage, would m a k e o u r shores independent of Egypt, o r that w e could lay pipelines, mine

the desert and eventually irrigate it too, seemed very remote War of Independence,

a t the t i m e . Nevertheless, during the

with this part of Israel which early in hostilities was invaded by Egyptian heavy armour.

I was particularly concerned

T o me, i t seemed m o r e important t o re-establish our authority over the Negev than even t o attempt the rescue of

Jerusalem’s Old City. As soon as we had the War under control and were i n n o immediate danger of being overrun i n our central plain a n d main cities, I entrusted the newly organized

Army with regaining this occupied territory. The resolve t o take o n the cream of Egyptian armour was n o light affair. W e were still underequipped and, most imof all, w e could absolutely n o t afford defeat since disorganization o f our forces would have left us open t o conquest by all the Arab armies. I remember telling the Cabinet a t the t i m e : “ W e have just made the gravest decision

portant

since the proclamation

of the State.” Y e t the Negev w a s worth self-supporting lay in

i t since Israel's capacity t o become this

land.

So, after a n Egyptian aggression o n one

of

o u r supply

columns, w e opened Operation T e n Sores, a name reflecting our desire t o v i s i t a thousand plagues upon those w h o occupied o u r territory. The k e y t o the whole advance, political as well as strategic, was speed. The General Staff must have loathed m e as m u c h as they d i d the enemy during those days as I was always

pressuring them to g o faster, ever faster. B y

21

October 19438,

Beersheba o f the Seven Wells, where Abraham watered his sheep and Moses in exile had found a bride, became once again part o f Israel. A n d o n 24 October, thanks to the brilliant work

of o u r

combat engineers w h o traced o u t routes across the desert and cleared emergency roads t o transport armour

138 David Ben-Gurion

through the area, w e encircled the Egyptians by a pincer movement and forced their surrender.

Following the 1949 Armistice I immediately sent the military engineers back t o the desert where they constructed roads through this difficult terrain t o provide vital transport links with the rest of the country. The most famous of these is the Aravah o r ‘pioneering’ highway from Beersheba t o Eilath. In those early days we had much t o dojust t o start function-

ing as a country and the Negev couldn’t come as high o n the

list o f priorities as I would have liked. All the same, i t was a constant concern t o me. I deplored the fact that for o n e reason

and another — mainly political - the south had known n o Jewishpioneers ashad the Galilee. O u r country’s development was such that the main population crowded together in the narrow strip between Tel Aviv a n d Haifa with only a relatively f e w settlements straggling north into the Galilee and almost none southward t o the wilderness. Obviously, a fertile strip a t that time but nine miles wide in some places, would never be able t o survive autonomously for very long. W e needed a large and firmly based population i n our south. The

situation today is slowly improving but this is still a basic need for Israel.

I n 1949, the first thing to d o was to make the Negev into a

‘paying proposition’ in immediate terms so that it could contribute quickly t o the national economy. W e began almost at once t o prospect for mineral deposits a n d t o mine i n the region

of King Solomon’s

famous copper mines. W e also began

of Eilath, although access t o and from the R e d Sea was obstructed by Egyptian occupa-

dredging a n d constructing the p o r t

tion o f the Tiran Straits. Most important o f all, we made use

of the Negev’s proximity

t o the Middle East’s great oil producing regions by laying a pipeline from Eilath up t o the Mediterranean. W e reasoned that a g o o d highway plus

a n oil pipeline could i n tandem form a n ‘overland Suez’ that the European o i l importers might c o m e t o appreciate

some day given Arab, and especially Egyptian, political

To the Negev 139

instability as contrasted with our own internal dependability. The 1956 Sinai Campaign achieved one incalculably great advantage for Israel. I t cleared the southern gateway t o

sea

by liberating the

Tiran area.

Thus i t

the

gave o u r country

access t o shipping o n a worldwide basis and independent

of

Suez. Sinai was the strategic w o r k of General Moshe Dayan w h o of that generation which today is coming into its o w n politically. Afterwards, he resigned from the General Staff and came t o m e saying he was anxious t o j o i n the political battle. Ihad discernedin him a very fine analytical is a gifted member

mind. B u t I

wasn’t convinced then of his political maturity.

I told him so quite frankly. ‘Dayan, don’t be in such a hurry,’ I said. “Wait a while.

Bide your

time and learn. Then y o u

won't m a k e mistakes.’

He understood and he has held himself back with what I k n o w i s a n effort of self-discipline. H e has served a very fruitful political apprenticeship and today I believe he would make a Prime Minister of stature. O u r Sabras like General Dayan — they are named Sabras after the Negev’s desert cactus — are the most precious resource w e have. W e must call o n them t o help guide the destiny of this country. They have first-hand understanding of Israel i n its contemporary setting a n d i n its juxtaposition t o the

Arab

situation that constitutes a valuable asset for our political future. I was telling of m y association with the desert. Whereas I

had always realized i t s importance

t o the n a t i o n , m y personal

experience here came quite b y chance. I k n e w the Negev well

and had made a point of travelling through it, reading u p o n

its history and geography. Then one day, when IThad occasion to drive to Eilath o n official business as Prime Minister, I told the driver t o cut off the main road onto a track w e had c o m e t o out i n the wasteland. I wanted t o get a w a y from m y busy schedule and take a f e w minutes t o feel the vastness of the desert, t o renew myself b y experiencing the awesome effect,

140

David Ben-Gurion

which for me never diminishes, o f these open spaces with their message ofhope and also of the smallness of m e n i n the infinite

universe. W e drove along the track for a b i t and suddenly w e saw a gathering of people up ahead and a f e w wooden shacks. We stopped and I scrambled d o w n the embankment t o ask these young m e n and w o m e n : “What are y o u doing out here?’

They told m e they were fighting the battle for Israel's independence b y taming the wilderness. Since this is what I had been exhorting the Jews t o do ever since I entered politics, I was certainly delighted t o hear it. These people also told m e they had heard of Tibian settlements i n this place some t w o thousand years ago. The Tibians were a Semitic tribe who communicated i n a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic. Said these youngsters: ‘ I f the Tibians could b e here so long ago, w e can be here n o w . ’ I d o n ’ t k n o w m u c h about the Tibians and I d o n ’ t think any

people in history settled o u t here for long. But I do know that making the desert flower as the rose was n o mere poetic concept in Biblical times. Where exactly Abraham came from is disputed by scholars. Although Torah mentions U r of the Chaldees, it is more likely he came directly from the more northern area o f Haran in Mesopotamia. I n any event, the vast delta between the Tigris a n d Euphrates rivers was in Abraham’s day the cradle

of

civilization and a blooming

garden which archaeology has proved was criss-crossed b y a

network of artificial irrigation ditches feeding farms and plantations o f corn, vegetables, orchards as huge as modern American concerns of this type. These plantations existed for

t w o millennia before the origin

of the H e b r e w s ! So the con-

cept o f fertilizing the Negev is hardly far-fetched, as it might

appear a t first sight. A n d once abundant area stretch

of sand,

of v a s t wasteland add that today this

certainly irrigation

areas is n o t only a modern idea. Let m e

of Mesopotamia

is n o w a n enormous

testimony t o man’s capacity t o destroy

o w n works and render himself miserable!

his

To the Negev

141

I had always regretted leaving the pioneer life and indeed had only done so t o represent pioneering interests in the Jewish political movement of the day. I always k n e w that eventually

would try t o get back t o a w a y of existence which t o m e represents the most satisfying activity open t o a Jew. These

I

youngsters

had understood

instinctively what I

had been

attempting t o drive h o m e t o o u r p e o p l e : that the Negev was our lifeline, that the struggle for true independence hadhardly

begun and that i t would be w o n in the desert. So I asked them: ‘May I join you?’ They were startled but made n o objection. A t the end of 1953 I took a leave of absence from government and came d o w n here.

The first days at Sde Boker were very hard for me. I out

of physical condition. B u t

the one

thing I

was

determined t o

avoid was any special consideration from m y fellow kibbutz-

niks. So I had t o set myself t o keeping pace with the best of them. H o w tired I was during those early weeks a n d h o w I had t o struggle n o t t o show it! The Sde Boker kibbutz followed the normal pattern of assigning w o r k i n rotation. Lists of duties and those scheduled t o do them were chalked o n a blackboard every evening. When I first arrived I checked this board and found that while everyone else was listed b y his o r her first name i t was set d o w n

that M r Ben-Gurion would tend the sheep. Well, I told the others that i t wasn’t M r Ben-Gurion w h o had c o m e t o the kibbutz but David, just David. S o f r o m then o n every d a y I looked t o see w h a t David would do. M y attitude prompted the field foreman t o test m e out. H e

gave me some back-breaking chores t o handle. I didn’t let

him know that I knew what he was doing. I worked as hard as I could. H o w hot i t was! Like labouring in an oven. And y e t , t o tell the truth, I felt a deeper satisfaction with myself and m y surroundings than I had in many a year. For me,

be at peace with oneself and t o in and that bears o n Nature, what else can one ask o f life? I n a few weeks

pioneering is happiness. T o

struggle t o accomplish w o r k that one believes

142

David Ben-Gurion

I hardened up and felt ready t o take on whatever came m y w a y . By this time I was really part of the group and that, too,

was very gratifying. Working with young people keeps one young and keeps one’s ideas young. I took great pleasure i n

sounding their opinions and exchanging ideas with them. O n e day a t Sde Boker I discovered that the fellow working next t o me in the field was the grandchild o fa pioneer farmer I h a d laboured with i n the Galilee all those years ago i n 1908. What a wonderful c o n t i n u i t y ! It certainly helped renew m y faithi n this country and its people t o realize that the pioneering spirit could be handed d o w n three generations and bring this boy t o the desert. And, o f course, I took pride in being fit enough myself t o match m y w o r k with his own. I have been asked whether I came t o the desert t o brood in solitude o r in bitterness over the scars of political battle. Let

m e say first that [have n o time for bitterness. Such feelings are beside the point

of m y

existence. I have had close friends a n d

associates some of whose paths have diverged from my own.

I have criticized them, not for personal reasons, but because everyone here in Israel, and every Jew in the world for that matter, is part of a vast and vital undertaking, the building of

this land. Mistakes are costly both of time and oflives. We can afford t o lose neither. S o I feel very passionately about the various problems confronting us. M y colleagues feel that w a y too. A t times, therefore, our divergences tend to be dramatic.

But bitterness has nothing t o do with i t . I came here first t o work, later t o think and write. One needs solitude for such occupations. O n the o n e hand, the N e g e v affords m e the pleasure of watching a wasteland develop into

the most fruitful portion of Israel by a totally Jewish act of creation. O n the

other, here I have the peace, the space, the awareness o fNature that I need t o give m y thoughts a n d my writings the dimension I want t o p u t into them. There is m u c h t o say o n man’s need for solitude. I think that o n e of the greatest assets of o u r kibbutz system is that although

it constitutes a collective, i t also has an innate sense o f indi-

To theNegev 143

vidual privacy. W e w o r k together but each m a n has the time and the occasion t o face himself alone. That is most important. I personally have been m u c h o n m y o w n and I d o not regret i t . Quite the contrary. Every human being must reach into

himself to find his reason for existing. N o w that I a m older, I must face the prospect of death. A young m a n asked m e n o t long ago whether I was afraid o f dying. I answered by the Talmudic trick of replying t o a question with a question:

“Will i t help me if I ' m afraid?’ I asked him. ‘T know I have t o die some day. So why should I fear it?’ Questions on death deserve t o

be answered with more questions.

However, I still have much t o live for and i t is what I

The Negev has given m e time and perspective t o look back o n Israel’s modern redemption. Nobody else has told the whole story. The younger generation needs t o k n o w the background t o the present.

always have lived for: m y work.

This will enable t h e m

with greater foresee will take survive t o do so — will

t o understand the future

perspective. The book I a m writing, which I

another seven years t o complete — i f I

present Israel as a continuum. In truth, the nation as a viable institution is n o t really established y e t .

We've m a d e a begin-

ning, a good one. B u t beginnings are not enough. That is what w e need to tell our youth, and just as with the founders o f Sde Boker they will learn from our message o f the need for them here i n the desert. M y solitude today is of course m u c h deeper through the death of Paula, m y

wife. D u r i n g

the years w e spent together

w e were truly one, a union of the spirit as i t says of m a n and

wife in Torah. Now only half of that which formed my life only i n its suddenness but also because I always expected t o d i e first. Fate decided otherwise and t o that all must submit. Paula was a remarkable woman. She started life with little Zionist o r even Jewish

remains. H e r death was a blow not

feeling. H e r background was American. W h e n w e decided told her she would have t o live in Israel. T want

t o marry, I

only t w o things: Eretz Israel a n d y o u . A n d I believe I

shall

144 David Ben-Gurion have

both,” I

wrote t o her i n those early years. Because she

loved me, she came. When I enlisted in theJewish Legion we had been married only a few months and she was already pregnant. When she heard that I was leaving for Canada and there was a chance w e wouldn’t see each other again, she cried bitterly. She thought that what I was doing was madness. Y e t she k n e w I had t o follow m y path and she made n o attempt t o hold m e back. I left her with exact instructions as t o what t o name our

child and h o w

t o dispose

of m y

f e w effects were I not t o

survive.

After the w a r w e m e t again i n Israel and through the years she shared m y work, m y life, m y hopes. Then, in 1953, I

suddenly told her we were going t o the desert. Again, she thought I was crazy t o resign from government and t o come out here t o live. B u t she followed m e all the same and bravely set about making our h o m e here. I admired her deeply for this. N o t m a n y w o m e n could have taken such a n uprooting so m u c h i n their stride. Throughout our relationship, Paula’s affection moved m e and sustained m y life. She had the ability t o make m y goals her o w n and n o w that she is gone life is

very lonely. But there is work t o do. Even in grief one must strive t o accomplish the tasks a t hand. Paula, in her way, understood the call the Negev exercised upon m e and must exercise o n us all. She would have preferred Jerusalembut she knew in her heart that our presence here was necessary and that this was the setting for the next act i n Israel’s redemption.

Another point about the Negev. Nowhere, n o t even in Jerusalem, is the continuity with the past so meaningful as i t is here. Abraham’s understanding of the Negev and its significance in the life ofhis people as a part of their PromisedLand has great affinity with o u r view of its importance t o modern Israel. H e crossed the Euphrates, penetrated into Canaan a n d m o v e d ever southward. After hunger compelled h i m t o g o t o

Egypt, he again returned

to

this same area. ‘And

Abraham

To the Negev 145 planted a tamarisk tree i n Beersheba, and called there o n the n a m e of the Lord, the everlasting God,’ says Genesis (XX, 33).

of God Judaism with the very act of cultivating this barren sum, Abraham accomplished a consecration of this

T h e simple words combine the supreme concept underlying

soil. I n

land t o his people and our work follows in his footsteps. Throughout Israel's tenure, the desert has had its spiritual and economic importance. ‘ A n d

King Solomon built a navy

o f ships in Ezion-Geber which is beside Eilath on the shore o f

the Red Sea in the land of Edom’ (I Kings 9-26). And so also King Ahab and his successors had political interests here. Not t o mention Moses and the forty years’ wandering in this area

by the Children of Israel. Today, i t has become vital for Israel t o think south, as i t were. As I have indicated, w e must even out the country demographically. W e should seek actively to uproot numerous industries that are far too concentrated in the Medi-

terranean plain and bring them here. Scientifically, o f course, the Negev’s very barrenness is a blessing in disguise. What treasures d o the sands conceal? W e must focus attention o n the systematic investigation

of forces, k n o w n

o r latent, that

can make the Negev thrive. For without the settlement o f this region, w e simply d o n ’ t have the ‘elbow r o o m ’ - a term used the American pioneer Daniel Boone t o describe his o w n

by

need to push ever westward into that continent’s unexplored wilderness — t o m a k e Israel economically independent a n d

militarily secure. W e lack defensive depth. But we can attain i t , a t least t o the p o i n t that such concepts still have meaning i n

these days of aeroplanes, nuclear bombs and missiles, by m o v i n g a g o o d segment

of the population

here a n d cultivating

the land. Such a move won’t be easy. B u t i t w i l l bring the satisfaction o f creation. A n example from m y o w n experience. W h e n I

first came here, w e had to pay five dollars for less than a

hundred gallons o f water because we had t o truck i t in from Beersheba which is thirty miles away. N o w w e have a water

146 David Ben-Gurion pipeline coming not from Beersheba but straight from Yarkon

which is near Tel Aviv. Today, we have enough water t o cover the plateau upon which Sde Boker is located with grass and trees, to sustain livestock and all their produce. I n a sense w e have created this green spot i n accordance with the Biblical

injunction that m a n must comport himself in the spirit of his maker who created the earth.

The desert is a reproach to mankind. It is criminal waste in a world that cannot feed its population. Even for Israel, this barrenness is a reproach. T h e majority ofJews w h o come t o this country go t o Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. I am against big cities. They bring out the worst in men.

It is my belief that every human being is a compendium o f g o o d a n d bad qualities. I think man’s capacity t o wreak evil, t o h a r m himself, is far greater than his ability t o do good. Cities b y their anonymity and their impersonality are a

nefarious influence on the individual. They remove him from a sense of direct responsibility towards his fellow m a n . H o w

can you remember to be your ‘brother’s keeper’ in the Biblical

sense i f you live in an apartment house where nobody knows anyone else? I remember going to N e w York once with the

intention, among other things, o f looking up a fellow Israeli w h o was there at the time. I asked everyone I met about this m a n but couldn’t trace his whereabouts. Then one day in the

skyscraper I was living in I bumped right into him. T've been searching everywhere for y o u , ’ I told him. A n d he said T ' v e

been looking for y o u too.” I t turned o u t w e were living in the

same building and had been doing so for weeks without either o f us knowing i t ! That is city life for you. Conglomerations like Tel Aviv are unnatural. They are

destructive o f the spirit Israel requires t o remain true t o itself. This country i s n ’ t j u s t a Jewish hotel. I t ’ s a very special place with special demands o n everyone w h o dwells o n its soil. A n d

what Israel has to

teach us is far more graspable out o n the

land and i n small communities where each knows his neigh-

bour, where there is community solidarity born o flong asso-

To the Negev 147 ciation a n d c o m m o n experience, than it is i n a huge beehive of a building jammed up against a hundred other beehives o n

a long, impersonal boulevard. Again, the Negev can come into its own as a veritable laboratory for urbanists. W e can easily accommodate five

million people here. Yes, five million! And in spaciousness, comfort, calm, beauty. W e can house them i n small enough settlements t o allow for survival of the neighbourly spirit. W e d o n ’ t need living areas for more than ten o r fifteen thousand in a given spot. And even so, as I say, there’s r o o m for n o less than five million more. W h e n they have come, when all the people have escaped from Tel Aviv and made their place here, then w e w o n ' t have t o worry a b o u t the

Egyptians o r anyone else shooting missiles at a single location and killing off half our populace. W e need Jews from America, Rhodesia, Iraq, Russia, anywhere they are. W e want them t o come here and live as free m e n i n a plenitude they cannot enjoy anywhere else both as

Jews and as h u m a n beings. B u t

here they must w o r k

hard t o

create a n e w civilization. N o t what w e have today b u t something entirely n e w . W e w a n t them t o c o m e t o the desert and

make i t different from anything known on earth t o this date, fitted t o the environment and a n inspiration t o m e n every-

where. The more w h o come, the more will be attracted. I n the b e g i n n i n g will a r r i v e the best, the true pioneers, those with the requisite moral character t o suffer

the hardships out here.

This, o f course, is already happening. Israel, I know, will survive on the basis o f quality. It is a small state a n d already i t exists because

of

the quality a n d

fortitude its inhabitants have shown under hardship. N o w w e

of activity t o carry o u t the mission of enlightenment worthy of o u r ancient people. B u t t o g e t quality, w e must have quantity. The m o r e Jews w h o come, the m o r e scope w e shall have t o improve o u r aptitudes

require quality i n every sphere

and proficiency i n diverse domains. In relation t o the desert, I w a n t t o see Israel lead the world in

148 David Ben-Gurion taking u p such problems as the purification o f sea water into sweet water usable for irrigation. The processes must supply the land i n large amounts yet be cheap and practical t o run.

Sounds like a dream. Should Israel be afraid o f dreams that can transform the natural order b y science, imagination and

pioneering? O f course not, for that is our vocation. A n d the purification

of sea water here is n o t only vital for ourselves but

for hundreds o fmillions in the world who suffer from starvation diets while only a small portion o f their available land surface is tilled. Science depends on the imagination o fthe human mind and the needs

of society. Jewish society

needs the Negev and

it

must bring its people here. This is where a specifically Jewish

effort t o open the frontiers o f the mind and develop the natural capacities o f the Promised Land can make its contribution. The supreme test o f Israel a t this time in its history lies n o t in the struggle with hostile forces outside its frontiers but in its success i n wresting fertility from the wasteland that constitutes sixty p e r cent

of its territory.

Since its expanses were redeemed by the Defence Forces in

1948, the desert has been explored and investigated. Research, however, hasn’t gone far enough and latent resources still far outbalance those that have been revealed. Nevertheless, we have already discovered numerous phosphate deposits as well

as uranium, gypsum, granite, marble, first quality sand for glass (Israel, b y the way, was a glass-making centre o f the ancient

world),

bituminous stone, kaolin and natural gas.

Detailed investigation is still required o f the flora and fauna, the climate and the dew deposits, the quality o f the desert soil and its geological structure. Then, too, I consider the Negev’s great inland lake, the D e a d Sea, of tremendous importance though i t has been given

scant consideration b y land developers u p to now. It is a unique 1,400

body of

water and lies i n

the earth’s

deepest

cleft,

feet below sea level. It is richer in salts and minerals than

any other area in the world. I t contains about t w o thousand

To the Negev 149 million tons o f potash, over twenty thousand million tons o f magnesium chloride, about ten

thousand million of calcium

chloride, almost a thousand million o f magnesium bromide and other minerals. There are probably other resources i n the

Dead Sea w e haven’t even thought about. I hear, too, that i t

is rich in medicinal springs ofbenefit t o health. T o further knowledge of the entire area I have been active in promoting a n institution that w e have n o w established at Sde Boker, the College o f the Negev. For the moment, it is mainly a teacher’s college t o train primary and secondary school personnel for the ever growing number o f desert settlements. Butitis also developing as a research centre where

people ofevery discipline come t o investigate this very special region. In time, w e hope the College of the Negev will be a prestigious international centre oflearning and study o n topics connected with the development of desert-like land in general and of the Negev in particular. I hope personally that this College will continue its present policy o f being extremely eclectic in its disciplines, where everything from architecture t o ecology, from social research t o agronomy can be taken up with reference t o the surroundings. T h e Negev offers the Jews their greatest opportunity t o accomplish everything for themselves from the very

beginthe

ning. This is a vital part of our redemption i n Israel. For i n

end, as m a n gains mastery over Nature he gains i t also over That is the sense, a n d not a mystical but a practical one, in which I define our redemption here. Israel must continue t o earn its nationhood and t o represent the Jewish people with their awesome past. It must be worthy

himself.

o f itself, which is n o small achievement. It is one to be attained

in the desert. W h e n Ilook out ofm y window today and see a tree standing there, that tree gives m e a greater sense of beauty a n d personal delight than all the vast forests I have seen in Switzerland or Scandinavia. Because every tree here was planted was nursed t o

life by the water w e brought

by us. It

t o it at such cost

150 David Ben-Gurion and effort. Why does a mother love her children? Because they are of her creation. Why does the Jew have affinity for Israel? Because here again everything remains t o be accomplished. It is his privilege and his place t o share i n this creative act.

The trees at Sde Boker

speak t o m e

in a special way, in

another language than any other trees anywhere. N o t only

because I helped t o grow them but because they constitute a

gift of m a n t o Nature, anda gift of the Jews t o the cradle of their culture.

O-Peace

Continuing hostility with the Arab world is an overriding concern to every Israeli. And the difficult terms on which the countrypresently exists arefar too evocativefor comfort of that equivocal state suffered

by the Jews throughout dispersion. Too often to

be a Jew

has meant separation from the rest o f

mankind, existence as a quarry upon whose alien head every aggression and every blame for human misfortune could be heaped with

impunity. Israel's rebirth provided an abode theJews could call their own, wherein they would be strangers no more andfrom which they could treat with the world in equality. Yet, paradoxically, Israel as a countryfinds itselfquarantinedfrom much of humanity. It is today a ‘Jew’ among lands, alone and often a scapegoat in the family o f nations as its people were alone in their wanderings and often a scapegoat in thefamily o f man.

Persecution is only half the story. Israel is admired as well as hated, respectedfor its achievements — especially in its social institutions — as well as calumniedfor reasons o fpolitical expediency or religious prejudice. I n this way again, it resembles the latter day history o f the Jewish people who in the course perambulations often

found richly satisfying

wherein to stop awhile, must

be said

of their

temporary havens

if rarely permanently. A n d of the Jews it

that harried though they were, their

adopted wholesale

homeless

by the

beliefs were

western world. I n the beginning, as the

Bible puts it, came the Word — and the word camefrom theJews in their Hebrew tongue. The message was retained as a basic heritage

even by those w h o plagued the authors.

So, too, with Israel whose kibbutzim and moshavim serve, for instance, as the modelfor a Tunisian effort to develop that country’s insufficient agriculture on a collective basis. Tunisia hasn't hesitated to emulate Israeli institutions while deploring the very fact of the State’s existence. It must be added that Tunisian initiatives have not with the success they might have enjoyed had this country’s

met

government dared consult Israeli experts in a domain where the latter’s direct experience now stretches back more than half a century.

But no Arab land can yet envisage the opprobrium of maintaining relations with theJewish State that the others would heap upon it no matter how profitablefor itselfsuch relations might be. So Tunisia’ brave attempt to adapt Israelifarming concepts to its own terrain are

failing through ignorance and refusal to g o to the source ofinformation, Israel itself. Whether despised or praised, castigated or emulated, theJews as a people and Israel as a nation suffer from isolation. That is the problem. Yet for Israel, there is no immediate issue. It can only

follow its present course which is to survive and develop. Beyond this, Israel must, while yielding nothing to those who would destroy

it, grope towards a modus vivendi with its neighbours. Only in peace can theJewish homeland come into its own and realize its true potential.

I n considering this goal for his country, Ben-Gurion offers no facile promises and sees no solutions to present problems for some time to come. Yet he is tranquil in the certainty that Israel will outlast and out-build the capacity ofits enemies to destroy it and that the day will come when they will arrive at its gates not in hostility but ready to co-operate in a common

effort to develop

the Middle

East's great resourcesfor the benefit o f all its peoples. FTEN enough, I a m asked t o predict w h e n and will c o m e t o Israel. I a m always obliged t o give a disappointing answer by confessing that I have n o predictions t o make.

h o w peace

That the situation is highly complex is self-evident, with everything that happens

in

the

Middle

East bearing

upon

Peace 155

vice versa. of the world functioned more o r less autonomously. For thousands of years the great Chinese civilization was unheard of elsewhere and China

the international political scene and, obviously,

There was a time w h e n each part

hardly realized there was anything beyond its Wall. N o one i n Europe k n e w of the American Continent o r o f Australia.

O n a lesser scale, within the Roman Empire, what happened

be reported in the capital and rarely was of immediate concern t o daily life there. Today, whatever occurs anywhere is known in hours t o a o n far frontiers took weeks t o

large segment

of humanity. The biggest states depend o n

other states. American problems i n Vietnam have repercus-

sions n o t only o n the soil of the nations directly involved but also o n Europe, South America and so forth. Events in Czechoslovakia are of vital importance t o the Soviet Union as the latter’s daily affairs deeply influence its satellites. China

still appears

t o stand alone, unaccepted even i n the United

Nations. B u t i t

well knows its dependence o n happenings in

Asia, as Asia is aware o f the Chinese dragon’s innate capacity t o swallow up the entire continent.

W e are not, unfortunately, living yet i n a world united.

of what transpires everywhere o n the globe. Let us hope our era is intermediary t o the achievement of terrestrial unity in peace a n d n o t t o the destruction of the species. B o t h courses are easily foreseeable as things stand. A n important phrase i n the Bible sums up the present situation w h e n i t says that all is foreseen by God but m a n has free choice, the ability t o order his life one w a y o r

B u t w e are all subject t o the results

another. Today, the choice is dramatic, perhaps more so than ever before. O n e needs faith i n humanity and optimism t o that mankind’s aggressor instincts will be overcome

hope

they annihilate him. TheJews have always been optimists. They have had little

before

to make them so during a long and careworn history. Yet they have managed t o continue believing i n themselves and t o emerge from whatever ordeals confronted t h e m with firm

156 David Ben-Gurion

of Auschwitz could say: ‘Next year in Jerusalem,” seems a t first grasp almost outrageous i n i t s brightness w h e n the individual must despair. But then o n e sees the nobility of a statement that denies the

hopes for the future. That the victims

enemy his victory while affirming unshakeable faith i n one’s

own. Let us reflect that those w h o pronounced these words

and held t o this vision were indeed right, literally so, though they themselves would n o t live t o participate in the homecoming. Despair leads nowhere. Throughout the millennia of perJews have realized this and never lost conviction

secution, the

in ultimate justice, peace, human equality. I am sure that the Jewish people have hard days ahead of them in Israel. They have overwhelmingly difficult tasks t o accomplish and undoubted black moments t o face. B u t having had the privilege of seeing what they can do w h e n confronting the apparently impossible, I have total confidence in their ability t o pass through the shadows and emerge unshaken, present i n the land they have struggled so hard and suffered so greatly t o regain. Nevertheless, o n a more practical plane, i t is m y belief that the hostility w e face today

will

continue for some time t o

c o m e a n d that w e had better reconcile ourselves t o riding out the status quo as best w e can.

Our plans for the future are very

simple and very pragmatic. W e must live o n and build

the

country, receive i m m i g r a n t s a n d p u t t h e m t o work, extend

our education t o ever higher levels for a n increasing mass o f citizens, settle the desert so as t o make Israel economically

self-sufficient, and utilize every effort, short o f undermining o u r national integrity, t o bring a b o u t peace.

Eventually, I have n o d o u b t our problems with our neighbours will be resolved. N e w generations are growing u p both i n Israel a n d i n the A r a b lands. These youngsters will understand each other better than their parents o r grandparents did because they will have so m u c h i n common, including roots

in the same part of the globe. Will a new crop of Arab young

Peace 157

people tolerate the current never-ending conflict in the n a m e of a dubious Holy W a r whose aims are murky and whose existence compromises the internal development of their o w n countries? I have too m u c h faith i n the healthy iconoclasm of youth t o believe it. There is, of course, the possibility of what one might call ‘historical accident’, beneficial t o the cause o fpeace. Given the ramifications ofMiddle East politics the ‘accident’ of a n accord between the Great Powers agreeable t o all parties is, I suppose, within the realm of the conceivable, although I for one a m

of such a n event at this time. I think i t that a slackening of Middle Eastern tension

extremely sceptical pretty obvious

would work against Russian ambitions in this part of the world, and against those of other powers as well. Recent efforts t o produce a settlement of this nature have been notable only for their total lack of accomplishment. Y e t I see a n issue t o our troubles in the achievement of world peace rather than by any partial settlement in this area. W h e n will world peace occur? Who can say, except that it had better happen before the alternative event of world nuclear war. It is m y guess that i n the next twenty o r thirty years, if Europe succeeds in being united, peace will have a chance of ‘breaking o u t ’ . A united Europe could bring i t t o

pass by being a third fully-fledged force in global politics. This would have the effect of drawing the United States and Russia closer together t o protect vested interests. Moreover, a Europe united would be a more independent Europe, a third

would have every interest in with the whole of the Middle East and contributing t o the maintenance of peace i n the area. W e are unhappy that the prospects for peace by direct confrontation and negotiation with the enemy seem so remote. B u t the Arabs are caught i n a n ideological trap of their o w n devising. They don’t seem able to extricate themselves from the consequences of a disastrous hostility that feeds o n force t o balance the other two. I t

promoting g o o d relations

itself a n d assumes quasi-religious significance i n its frustration.

158 David Ben-Gurion If the Arabs were to conquer Israel, one wonders what they

could find t o do with it. Probably they would turn the clock back a thousand years and let the country rot. There is nothing constructive for them t o do here, nothing they truly want o r need. T h e w a r against Israel has never been a n end i n itself for the Arabs but merely a Machiavellian tool t o obtain some

kind of internal a n d pan-Islamic unity while failing t o deal with pressing interior problems. A s such, the hostility is i n essence mystical, irrational and, therefore, impossible t o grapple with o n the basis o f good will o r logic. Every day w e

with fine rational solutions t o the conflict. We'll give a l i t t l e here i n return for a little there and so on. B u t

Israelis c o m e u p

every day w e are hit i n the face with raving unreason. Under the circumstances, n o direct negotiations are possible.

One of the Arab world’s tragedies is that, with the possible and occasional exception of Lebanon, there is n o free speech o r free press. W e cannot really k n o w the nuances of feeling that must exist among the educated classes. W e can only k n o w what the rulers think, but they do so i n formulae hoping that the populace at large will find comfort i n hating us and thus forget the hunger in their stomachs. I t ’ s the old R o m a n idea

o f circuses instead o f bread. For the heads o f state, fighting

holy wars is so m u c h simpler and more exciting than carrying out

the day-to-day drudgery of agrarian and industrial refeudal-

form, the bootstrap operation of pulling oneself from

ism into

the modern world. Then, too, the paths of peace are

fraught with political danger. Developing a country leaves one wide open t o constant criticism from one faction and another whose vested interest must be affronted. Far better t o dazzle everyone with a cause offering action, uniforms and a

way of killing off the unemployed rather than making real jobs for them. Egypt is the worst offender i n promoting this fundamentally self-destructive state of affairs. I blame Nasser m o r e severely than I do any other Arab ruler as I believe h e at one time had the capacity, the vision and the means t o improve his

Peace 159

this futile merry-go-round of war. Nasser, I think, had everything but that one essential quality k n o w n colloquially as intestinal fortitude, o r guts. H e can, alas, be compared t o Italy’s Mussolini w h o also came t o

people’s condition and t o stop

power with excellent potential and intentions but who soon forgot his country’s real problems. The Egyptian Mussolini, allowing himself t o be seduced by the glitter of Russian armaments — in the manner of a country girl falling prey t o a sophisticated city tout — set out t o conquer the Middle East. Like the Duce, he didn’t get far. N o w it’s late in the day t o

scrap the aggressive policies and start over again. Nasser is caught i n

his o w n

infernal machine whose parts include a

commitment t o the Soviet Union and its dictates as well as t o a population roused t o passion against the neighbour whose friendship could be most beneficial t o that population’s o w n interests.

One of the most silly a n d sad things that Nasser has, in my opinion, done t o his country is the changing of its name. Egypt, with a history of six thousand years, suddenly doesn’t exist any longer. Now it is the United Arab Republic, a land not United, not Arab, nor, for that matter, a Republic. T h e name change is symbolic. Nasser had it within his power t o do so much good. And he used his personal gifts t o turn his country from a British colony into a Russian one, t o dissipate national energy i n wars of conquest that have ended per-

petually in defeat. He had the opportunity

to

go down in

history asa great figure of the twentieth century; he has chosen t o be a second-rate tyrant whose touch far from turning stones t o gold has transformed Egypt's natural capacities t o dust. Yet he is the m a n with w h o m peace could once have been constructed. That time is long past n o w and i t is useless t o regret dictators. O n e wonders what might have been, as one wonders what can n o w be Nasser’s and his United Arab Republic’s fate. This sort of speculation goes nowhere. I can only grieve for missed opportunities. Like past mistakes, they are irrecuperable.

160

David Ben-Gurion

Lebanon is perhaps the only neighbouring country where the situation with Israel is viewed somewhat rationally and consequently with dismay. W e always say here that Lebanon will be the second country t o m a k e peace. Not the first

because this mercantile nation is not known for political daring anditis too dependent o n Arab oil money t o take a free line. B u t every Lebanese banker and trader realizes the boost t o his o w n pocket that, under different circumstances, recognition of Israel could entail. I f y o u look from Israel across the Lebanese frontier y o u see the same underdevelopment and poverty o n the land and i n the small settlements as y o u see i n every other Arab country.

Beirut is glittering and modern. But Lebanon, too, needs large-scale development. It knows that here Israel could

be

its greatest helper and that w e could also reinforce its indepen-

oil sheiks. underlines this affirmation. O n e of our kibbutzim j u s t a mile o r so from the Lebanese border has developed a factory that turns out specialized farm machinery dence vis-a-vis the

An incident

of excellent quality. One day, the head of the kibbutz factory was approached b y a m a n from Cyprus w h o said he had a Lebanese client wishing t o place a massive order for farming

equipment. H e implied, so I gather, that the client was actually the Lebanese government the machines

itself! But, said the intermediary,

will have t o be shipped from

Israel t o Cyprus

where he, as middle-man, would then expedite them in unmarked crates t o Lebanon. The Israeli factory manager was very amused by the situa-

tion. H e said: ‘T have a m u c h more practical idea. Have your up here a t the frontier which is only a mile from the factory gate. That’s m u c h m o r e convenient for all concerned. I ' l l negotiate any sale h e wishes and I ' l l even pay you, as middle-man, your commission o n the deal.” Nothing was ever heard again from either the Lebanese Lebanese client meet m e right

o r the fellow from Cyprus. I think the story is, however, illustrative

of Lebanon’s

desire t o take u p normal relations

Peace 161

with Israel a n d of its

awareness

of the material advantages

such relations imply. A t this point let us change the

optic. I want to examine certain criticisms and charges concerning Israel’s attitudes towards the Arab situation. Israel has been accused ofprofiting from Arab hostility in a variety of ways. T h e truth is subtler than such a blanket statement indicates. I think that i n some ways Arab aggression has benefited this country. A n d w h y not? One has t o utilize what is at hand

even though the elements themselves might not be favourable o r desirable. W e didn’t create the hostility. W e have had t o learn t o live with it.

O n e can impute the growth city, directly t o troubles

of Tel

with

Aviv, n o w our largest

the Arabs i n neighbouring

Jaffa.M u c h more important i n m y view, the Arab boycott o n our goods and the refusal of our neighbours t o supply us with agricultural produce forced the Jews t o leave

the cities o n a

large scale for the farms. Without that boycott there was danger that w e might have built a Jewish Carthage, a n urban

society ingrown upon itself and dependent o n food from other countries. This would certainly have dimmed our hopes for a healthy national revival. Conversely, the boycott of

Jewish goods had the boomerang effect o n the Arabs of weakening their economies b y closing off both a source o f supply and a market t o them. Nevertheless, Israel cannot develop under conditions o fwar t o the extent that i t could in peace. I think w e are the only state in history t o have been attacked o n the very day of our establishment. Ever since, w e have been compelled t o give our best youth a n d brains t o w a r rather than t o the workings of peace. This tragedy far outweighs any benefits the condition of permanent hostility m a y have brought us as a nation. I have heard i t said that were i t n o t for the present tension,

Israel would be in danger of disappearing slowly in a ‘sea of orientalism’ (whatever that m e a n s ! ) . I object very strongly t o

162

David Ben-Gurion

this silly notion and consider it the outcome o f slipshod thinking a b o u t Israel and its place i n the scheme of things.

TheJewish people are n o t easily overwhelmed. They have their Messianic tradition which binds them together and gives

their existence purpose. More than one sea o f eastern or western culture

has attempted t o swallow them up but never

has succeeded. They have influenced the world far more than the world has influenced them. Israel is far better equipped t o resist cultural extinction than were the Jewish exiles during t w o thousand years. Our evident role here is t o give n e w life t o all that is meant by the ‘Covenant’

of the Jewish people whereby

they remain one. That is

hardly a role leading t o ‘drowning’ in alien cultures. O n the contrary, i t represents a revival o f our o w n

cultural activity.

Most important, Israel i s n o t just a n eastern nation o r just a western one. I t i s both ! I n itself, i t unites the t w o great streams

o f the Jewish people: the Ashkenazim whose traditions are western and the Sephardim whose cultural links are with the

East. Here is another task for Israel: t o marry the East with the West and thus again to serve as an example o f unity and

brotherhood t o all mankind. Isaiah knew this when he said: Iwill bring thy seed from the East,

And gather thee from the W e s t . . . Bring m y sons from afar

And my daughters from the ends ofthe Earth. (Isaiah 4 3 - 5 , 6)

This unification ofE a s t a n d West is of immediate concern t o Israel and t o Jews everywhere. Our population today comes from India and Finland, Morocco and California, Argentina and Yemen and so forth across the world. There are dark-

skinned Jews and fair-haired Jews, Jews who resemble Slavs and Jews who look like Hindus, Jews who come from lands where washing machines, television, telephones, skyscrapers are commonplace, and Jews w h o have never before lived i n houses with flooring. These are the people w e are gathering up

Peace 163

here in this tiny land. The one thing they all have in common

is their Jewish tradition. F a r from a l l o w i n g that tradition t o be diluted w e must emphasize it strongly as w e integrate these disparate groups into our Israeli society. That integration is

going ahead faster than one could have

hoped. In part, admittedly, the Arabs are responsible as they have precipitated the creation of o u r Defence Forces and their

unique characteristics. B u t peace would allow the same dyna-

mic t o work for o u r development and the end result would be even better since w e could devote all our energies t o labour of lasting significance. I have

called the

Arab attitude towards Israel irrational.

Nevertheless, the Arab world has levelled several concrete accusations against u s a n d i t might be well t o answer these here.

They have said, for instance, that the Moslem portion o f the

globe is paying for Nazism in Europe, that without the holocaust w e would never have come here asa massand never have founded a State. And, complain the Arab propagandists, i t

isn’t fair that this part of the world should pay for the persecutions carried o u t i n Europe. I have already gone exhaustively into the reasons for our being here, reasons that I as a pioneer of 1906 can affirm have nothing t o do with the Nazis! I think that Hitler did much t o

retard, not advance, our nationhood. In the middle thirties,

it looked as though w e were soon t o achieve a Jewish State. B u t with w a r in Europe looming ever closer, thanks t o the Nazis, Britain cracked down onJewish nationalist aspirations with the famous White Paper o f 1939. Ripe as we were for nationhood a t that time, we had the greatest difficulty in help-

ing even a fraction of European Jewry escape the gas chambers. Certainly Israel’s population contains n o massive element of direct victims of Nazism o r their descendants. We just were

unable t o save the majority o f these people. A n d those w h o did escape from Germany and the other countries didn’t always

come here as w e weren't equipped to get them in

their

hundreds o f thousands past the British embargo on immi-

164 David Ben-Gurion gration o r offer them a true nation once

they got

here.

I would agree, however, that the advent o f Nazism and its consequences in Europe did have one direct effect o n Israel. It indicated to us all, to every Jew, the potential danger o f being without a homeland. Nazism proved that Jews could live for five hundred years i n peace with their neighbours, that they could all but assimilate i n national society save for a f e w traditions and separate religious practices. They could believe themselves integral citizens of states professing freedom of belief and granting full rights t o all inhabitants. Such was the situa-

tionprevailing in Germany, France,Italy, Holland, Denmark, Norway. Yet one raving maniac could blame the world’s troubles o n a group constituting less than six per cent of Europe’s population and the holocaust was at hand!

So, many a Jew realized that t o be fully Jewish and fully a human being, and fully safe as both, one had to have a country o f one’s o w n where i t was possible t o live and work for some-

thing belonging t o a personal cultural heritage. In this sense, Nazism did bring many Jews t o Israel, from everywhere on earth. N o t as victims of persecution but as believers in the positive good of a Jewish national home. I have said

that personally I

was never a victim o f anti-

Jewish persecution. I have, however, seen and marked the ‘outsider’ status

of

the

Jews i n

even the most enlightened

countries, as opposed t o their full participation in our society here. Irecall ahumorous but revealing incident i n London during

theFirst World War whenI was with the Jewish Legion.I had just arrived and was o n a four day leave. They had fed us very

badly o n the ship coming over and I

was looking forward ravenously t o a solid meal. Well, in London there was rationing and I hadn’t yet received a registration card. I d i d n ’ t even k n o w about this formality. A s soon as I arrived I went t o the first restaurant I

saw and ordered a huge lunch from the menu. But the waiter said: ‘Show m e your ration card.” W h e n I

told him I hadn’t

Peace 165

one he said that all he could give m e was t w o eggs. I quickly ate these and asked for something more. All hehad t o offer was two

more eggs. I ordered these but still felt hungry. B y this

time, however, I was getting tired of just eggs. So I left the restaurant and, wandering around, came across some soldiers. I a s k e d them where one could get a meal withouta ration card. They said: ‘Go t o Whitechapel.” “What is Whitechapel?’ I inquired n o t ever having been in London before. ‘Oh,’ said

of the soldiers, ‘that’s the Jewish Quarter and y o u ' l l find anything you want there.’ I hailed a taxi, had the chauffeur drop m e i n Whitechapel a n d walked along the street until I one

found a restaurant. Sure enough, I ate a sumptuous meal with n o questions asked. I left with a full stomach. B u t I was

ashamed. Somehow the people of Whitechapel, though calling themselves British, didn’t really see the war as concerning them.

They were Jews and n o amount of pretence could change the fact. The problems o f Britain, including rationing, were not their problems. H a d there been a n Israel and had they lived i n it, these people could not have taken such a n attitude. Indeed,

it probably wouldn't have occurred t o them t o

contravene rationing laws established for their interest and for the good of

their o w n country. T h e British are the most tolerant people I know. I have come t o appreciate them as a people more and more n o w that the frictions inevitably opposing Jewish and British interests

under the Mandate are a thing o f the past. There is much antiSemitism in Britain, but the people are polite enough not t o show i t . I remember as Defence Minister interviewing one of able young officers w h o had been attending a course at the

our

British Military

Academy

of Sandhurst. When he returned I

asked him: ‘ H o w did y o u get along with the British officers?’ H e said: “They re extremely nice and were very pleasant t o me.

O f course, they're all anti-Semites. But they would never show this t o a n English Jew.” H e said that t o him they hadbeen quite open about this prejudice which didn’t extend t o Israelis

166 David Ben-Gurion

—precisely because anIsraeli was an equal, an oppositenumber, as i t were, from a bona-fide country. The British officers

him, i n

effect, that Jews constituted a foreign element in their country’s national life and that, therefore, they explained t o

disliked them, even if they were careful not to show this to

their fellow citizens ofJewish origin. O n e can only remark that polite o r no, the seeds of antiSemitism remain even in so civilized a place as England. And many a Jew in that country finds it difficult t o conform t o social norms which are n o t his o w n and whichhe cannot truly feel concern him directly. That is the lesson I learned from these t w o incidents. F r o m the m o r e violent approach ofHitler and Stalin I was taught that without a place of their o w n o n this earth the Jews are always available as potential scapegoats, a prey for those w h o would martyr them for political gain. None o f this, however, amounts to the Arab contention that w e are here because of Nazism o r any persecution elsewhere, We are here in this place because of Abraham and Moses, Joshua and David, the Macchabees, the Prophets and

our history. W e are here because this land is ours. A n d w e are here because w e have again made i t ours i n this time with the w o r k w e have put into i t . Nazism and our history of martyrd o m abroad do not concern our presence i n Israel directly.

Again, the Arabs reproach us with ‘genocide’, a word much

in fashion these days and used loosely by those who hardly k n o w what i t means. The Jews have a good grasp o f the meaning of genocide from their experience of twenty-five years ago. They also know all a b o u t i t from Arab propaganda which

in its hysterical violence and talks incessantly about pushing us into the sea. That w e should be accused of

is disgusting

having practised the extermination of a people is laughable, especially in the light ofall the efforts w e have made o n behalf o f our Arab population. Isracli policy towards the Arabs has been the diametric opposite o f genocide o r persecution. W e have always played

the card o f education, enlightenment, democratization. W e

Peace 167 have gambled that,

by showing

these benefits t o the Arabs

w h o heeded us, they would realize h o w vitally their interests lay n o t in fighting us but in allying their ways with ours.

Before taking up the question of Israel’s day-to-day relations with the Arabs i n its orbit, I should answer the charges made by the Palestinian refugee w h o m I quoted earlier i n another context. He claims that Israel perpetrated atrocities o n

the Arab civilian population during the W a r of Independence and pursued a policy of forcing them t o depart.

As the Prime Minister o f the period, I can state absolutely that this country never by any official act expelled an Arab innocent of plotting against its security. I n fact, w e took back forty thousand refugees after the Armistice. And w e used public funds t o

help re-unite Arab families within

Israel, t o restore o r indemnify property destroyed in the hostilities. So

much

for the charges of official persecution. Israel’s record

speaks for itself and needs n o defending. T h e Arabs are silent concerning the 700,000 Jews hounded i n Arab lands, driven

from their homes, thrown in jail, maltreated, hanged. Fortunately, m a n y

of

these have

found their

way to

Israel -

though not all, as the executions i n Baghdad attest.

Jews committed atrocities of Independence. Arab atrocities against Jews extend back t o 1 9 2 1 . They include massacres, looting, crimes of all description. I don’t And n o w

t o the accusations that

during the War

invoke these t o excuse o r justify any violence committed b y

our people. All excesses are unjustifiable and, in m y opinion, less excusable w h e n committed b y Jews than b y anyone else

because o f our humanist traditions. Nevertheless, the Arab

provoked a climate of tension that undoubtedly gave rise t o hystericalreactions by individuals on attitude towards us

both sides. During the War of Independence our troops had t o enter some Arab villages and hunt for munitions’ stocks and armaments. That I consider a legitimate action, unpleasant t o all

concerned but legitimate.

168 David Ben-Gurion However,it wouldbe dishonest and foolishnot t o admit that afew, a very f e w criminal acts were committed during the first months of the w a r by some of the Jewish irregular forces w h o believed that Jewish terrorism was the only answer t o the Arab

terrorism that was perpetually plaguing our settlements and t o

the menace of a n overwhelming enemy. These irregulars also practised such tactics against the British. They blew up the lobby ofthe KingDavidHotel inJerusalem, where theBritish had their staff headquarters, and they have been accused of shooting Arab civilians in the village o fDeir Yassin a few miles

Jerusalem. About t w o hundred unarmed persons are believed t o have died in that raid carried out by members of from

Irgun. Historical records indicate that the official government and the Jewish Agency, which acted as a pre-government and of which I was head, severely condemned the above acts as they condemned all terrorist initiatives i n general. W e were the

first t o publicize these actions and denounce them. I personally worked with all m y strength to eliminate private armies, terrorists and other fanatic elements, t o bring order and discipline t o our military activities. This was achieved i n record time for

sobeleaguereda state as ours. AndI think that extremist actions committed by Jews were minimal, given constant Arab provocation and the desperate nature of the struggle both of

which factors contributed t o the situation’s tenseness. There is never a n excuse for inhumanity. Yet all people are prone t o hysteria under certain circumstances. I reproach the Arabs with m a n y things but I do not hold against the Moslem population of this area as a whole the horrible lynching of seventy-seven Israeli doctors, nurses and students burned alive at this time o n Mount Scopus. This was a mob action provok-

ed by terror. The fact of this atrocity

doesn’t mitigate Deir Yassin o r any other criminality o n the part of Jewish elements. War calls up the worst in men as it also calls up the best.I can only reiterate that the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency before it, clamped down hard o n all abuses. Once the

Peace 169 State was underway w e ensured that they n o longer occurred.

Given the circumstances and the provocations of long-term Arab brutality towards the

Jews, there were very f e w excesses

indeed. As for the present condition of Israel’s Arab population its position is far superior t o that of a n y other Arab group, that population is quite aware today that economically

including the Lebanese. A r e o u r Arab citizens friendly towards us? I cannot say because one is i n n o position t o ascertain their innermost thoughts. B u t they do have democratic representa-

tion, some o f them do volunteer for service in our Forces and they have n o material cause for hating us. Far from practising genocide, w e have done alli n our power t o raise the living standards of those Arabs w h o came under

our jurisdiction subsequent t o the Six Day War. It becomes less and less certain with each passing day that this population

is interested in carrying o n active war against us. W e

have left

their local governments intact whenever possible; we have listened t o their complaints and helped them t o the best of our ability. They have free access t o their shrines and are able t o while obeying the very

maintain their integrity as Moslems

minimal regulations that we must impose upon them. As a captive population, they have had favoured treatment. Especially w h e n one thinks what a n Arab victory would mean t o a Jewish population given the bloodthirsty Islamic concepts of celebrating triumphs. I think the scope of free speech and press given t o this Arab population b y the Israeli authorities is truly remarkable, a

model for all t o learn from. I think i t equally striking that not a single Arab terrorist has been executed b y Israel for wanton, gratuitous acts of destruction that have claimed Israeli lives.

W e can take pride in the maturity, good sense and good will w e have displayed i n our relations with these people. General Moshe Dayan tells a story of h o w he once con-

sulted the Arab Mayor ofNablus, a city o n the West Bank of the river Jordan that was captured by us in June 1967. The

170 David Ben-Gurion Mayor is an Arab and frankly hostile to Israel. H e is allowed t o express that hostility whenever he feels like i t and t o anyone he can buttonhole, including the population at large and the foreign press. H e is n o t allowed t o g o out and blow u p supermarkets o r cinemas. B u t i n his words and i n his writings he can rant and rave as m u c h as his heart desires. A n d he is well aware of i t as the following story shows. Dayan went t o see him o n a n official visit t o ask him what he required for his administration. H e didn’t hesitate t o ask for a long list of items and services including a direct telephone line t o Tel Aviv. “Youunderstand, General, that itis impossible for us t o do business efficiently if w e don’t have a direct telephone service t o the coast,” said the Mayor. ‘ A t present the system is

very cumbersome and involves going through the telephone central in Jerusalem.” Dayan agreed and promised t o see t o the

installation of new telephone lines within the week (try getting such service in a European country, by the way!). Then the t w o men had tea and Dayan asked politely: ‘Mr Mayor, how many times a day do you pray?” The Mayor said he prayed the regulation number ofMoslem occasions during the day. “Well,” said Dayan, ‘how many times a day would you pray if y o u could destroy Israel?” A n d the Mayor answered: ‘For that, I would pray all day long.” The t w o men laughed, shook hands and as Dayan left the Mayor remindedhim about the telephones t o Tel Aviv. Just think,” Dayan said later, ‘here I a m worrying about telephones for a m a n w h o prays for m y

destruction!” And that sums up our relations with our new Arab population. W e give them such commodities as telethey call o n Allah t o annihilate us.

phones;

And yet, that population is growing increasingly less hos-

tile. W e are having our troubles with terrorism and sabotage these days. B u t the instigators of these acts c o m e from outside. The Arabs here are living too well t o participate actively in these anti-social aggressions whose bad effects o n them are felt by the security measures w e are forced t o take. Given time, the Moslems under Israeli authority will become

immediately

Peace 171 less and less enthusiastic about the so-called Palestinian nationalists and ever more desirous of profiting from peaceful relations with us. Again, the advent of n e w generations will help this process along. Already, Sabras are closer t o the Arabs than were their immigrant predecessors. M a n y of the former speak Arabic. Most of m y contemporaries didn’t find it necessary t o do so.

I myselfcan read Arabic through my knowledge ofTurkish and of Hebrew. I spent three years learning Turkish during m y early days here. This turned out a waste of time since Turkey's dominion over the territory w e wanted t o make into Israel rapidly ended. B u t the language is about sixty per cent Arabic so in that w a y it was useful for m e t o have acquired it.

Today, I read in Arabic and especially in the Koran. I am always surprised at thenumbers of words resembling Hebrew. These often have different meanings i n the t w o tongues but as words they are the same with the same origins. This raises another important point militating for peace and answering Arab charges that w e are interlopers. Of course, w e are n o t ! Ethnically w e belong here. Jews and Arabs are

Semitic peoples and their natural habitat is the Middle East. There is less difference between our peoples than between

Welsh and English, or Brittany French, who are Celts, and Southern French w h o are Latins. Arabs and Jews belong together as Swedes and Norwegians g o together. Norway and Sweden manage t o live side by side in perfect accord yet each enjoys its o w n autonomy. This is all w e want for Israel. Let m e add that Norway and Sweden k n o w h o w t o co-operate for

their mutual economic and political benefit. This, too, could happen here t o the profit of all concerned. It might n o t please the Russians, but the day the Middle East evolves a C o m m o n Market this whole area could achieve true economic independence. A n d Israel has a considerable

contribution t o make towards such an initiative. Perhaps it is futile t o dwell on what might be were not things as they pre-

172

David Ben-Gurion

sently are. B u t if w e can impress upon our neighbours what riches they have t o gain from making peace with us, the generations of the future m a y see the light.

T o the Jews, however, I have a different message, almost an opposite one since i t is couched i n more urgent terms. Israel can accomplish great things but i t needs manpower. It is pleasant t o talk ofpeace but the fact remains that w e are at war. And though w e can hope for a happy resolution some day, the

possibility that w e may have t o fight another war like the action of June 1967, o r maybe several such wars, is always present. That Israel will w i n these conflicts have n o doubt. A t least n o t for now. W h a t m a y happen in twenty years, I cannot

say. But in the next five years w e are sure to remain victorious,

unless of course the Russians declare war o n us. I don’t think this is likely, but w h o can be sure? T h e point is, however, that the Arabs can be defeated a hundred times and if they win the hundred and first time, that is the end for u s !

This is

a truth our people don’t realize

sufficiently —I am speaking of Jews all over the world. When w e defeat the Arabsitis n o t a true defeat for them because they can always tell themselves that victory will come i n the last battle. If the Jews would realize this, they would come. N o t merely for the defensive purpose of helping us keep Israel secure, but also for the positive reason that the key t o this country’s redemption lies in its total development, especially as carried o n in the southern wastes. And the Jews of the world must realize that under the assimilationist pressures n o w a t work in the Diaspora, their existence is seriously compromised without Israel's presence. I think that if the Jews would realize these things, and also realize that the Arabs too are

modernizing, improving, becoming more formidable as an enemy, then they would come; the best of them would come. If another t w o o r three million immigrants would settle

here, i f for the time being w e could count o n t w o million more

Jewish population of four and a half million, would n o longer fear for Israel’s future.

t o give us a total

then I

10-Amsagolah

Moses told the Jews that they had a mission on earth. I n his conclusion, Ben-Gurion indicates the significance o f this mission and

defines the moral responsibility it implies. E have discussed the early

history of the Jewish

State and m y personal reminiscences of the pioneering life. W e have looked at some of its institutions, notably our Defence Forces and reviewed a few of our current problems and perspectives. In

ending, however, I should like t o follow the advice that Plato gives in his Republic t o view what one has seen i n close-up from afar. Let us examine from a distance, i n

general terms, what we can discern as the basic meaning of Israel’s existence and the

fundamentalmission of the Jewishpeople here after so long an absence. I can think o f n o better source for

this purpose than the

earlier sections of Torah. They contain the seed of that which

results i n our presence here today, from

the secular as well as

the religious viewpoint. What is Israel? It is t w o things: an

Ark and a Covenant; i n other words a refuge and a dynamic. I think the dynamic, the Covenant, takes precedence over the concept of refuge. A great number o f Jews, I a m sure, agree

with me. There are some w h o see Israel’s importance primarily as an g o . In

Ark, a place where the persecuted can g o o r hope t o

Jew looks secretly towards Israel.In Russia today, the harassed

176 David Ben-Gurion Poland, Jews w h o only a few months ago could bear t o live

under that country’s regime have suddenly been forced out by recent anti-Semitic manifestations. Jewish intellectuals who had tolerated every sort ofinjustice perpetrated o n the popu-

lation o f Poland in the name o f Stalinism, Khruschevism, Brezhnevism, and w h o lost n o occasion to denounce Israel as a

wicked, capitalistic machination, have arrived here o f late demanding asylum. W e have given i t t o them because w e are,

effectively, an Ark. They are Jews no matter what their past. And

they are entitled t o be in Israel. Let

us hope they have

learned a lesson! A n Ark, however, is passive. W e are a busy, forwardlooking nation with m u c h more w o r k t o accomplish. Israel cannot just be a refuge. If it is t o survive as a valid nation it has

to be much, much more.

For most Jews, Israel is Zion. Zion has special meaning for our people everywhere. Ultimately, i t is the meaning of home. Israel is the Jewish home. A s such i t is a haven. B u t itis also a functioning enterprise with a future t o fulfil and t o look forward to.

A n d our mission here?

What have

the Jewish people to

accomplish in Israel? About 3,300 years ago there lived a Jew, the greatest Jew o f

all, who defined the mission ofhis people here. His definition is as good n o w as when he formulated it. I refer, o f course, to

Moshe.In English h e is called Moses but that spoils the sound so I shall use the original Hebrew. The story ofMoshe, then, is a mine of information about the Jews a n d the attitudes they have preserved — and that have preserved them — through the

millennia.

Moshe starts life ignorant of his Jewish identity. Circumstance makes h i m a n assimilationist, a n Egyptian gentleman

at a time w h e n Jews are being persecuted as slaves. O n e

day, however, he sees Egyptian soldiers killing a defenceless

Jewish man.

what, pushes him t o intervene. Moshe thus begins adulthood marked by that Something,

he knows

not

Amsagolah

177

activist conscience w e have noted as a Jewish characteristic. A very simple tale this, yet i t makes the point thata Jew i s a Jew. W e are n o t a people w h o assimilate easily. That, of course, is w h y w e still exist. Through four thousand years

there have always been such as Moshe t o stand u p and counted as m e n and as Jews.

be

After fleeing t o exile and following his first contact with G o d in the Burning Bush, Moshe returns t o Egypt t o lead his

people t o freedom. H e takes them t o the desert o n the w a y t o the Promised Land.

The Children of Israel

wander i n the

wilderness thatI can see o u t ofm y window at SdeBoker. They live this life for forty years, an act of purification and reaffirmation of Judaism which Moshe imposes upon them i n the n a m e of the Lord, as a pre-requisite t o penetrating the land

they

will make their own. O n e can see h o w secular and reliforty years, the

gious explanations coincide. D u r i n g those

Canaanite strongholds were too well fortified t o allow the Israelites access into the more fertile area near the Mediterranean. B u t as the Canaanites sank into corruption and weak-

by their nomadic frugality were gaining strength and n e w faith both i n their God and i n themselves.

ness, the Israelites

On the eve ofbattle they affirm their beliefin the Almighty t o

Joshua w h o only after hearing their allegiance leads them t o the conquest of Canaan. Moshe did not live t o set foot in the Promised Land. B u t he gave the Jews the basic elements for their unique moral code that provides the k e y t o their enduring significance t o world history and civilization. That code is the Ten Commandments as coupled t o Moshe’s other special message that a m a n must

lovehisneighbour ashimself.Mosheleft a vision oflove and of union between men. That was his greatest contribution. To the Jews he said something more. H e said t o t h e m : “You are a nation of God.” H e added: “This means y o u must be

Amsagolah.’ I have tried t o

find a n adequate

translation for the w o r d

‘Amsagolah’ i n any o f several languages. After consulting a

178 David Ben-Gurion dozen different dictionaries, I have had t o give up hope ofhitting on an exact equivalent t o this Hebrew expression. Even i n

looked a t the Greek first since this was the foreign tongue into which the Bible was originally rendered from the Jewish texts. In Latin I c o u l d find Greek there is n o correct translation. I

no really telling word or phrase for Amsagolah, nor in any modern language such as French, German, Russian or English. Amsagolah doesn’t mean ‘special’ o r ‘superior’. I t has

the connotation of ‘unique’ and also one of its meanings might be expressed by the phrase ‘higher virtues’. B u t these I fear are only partial implications. W e m i ght say that Moshe’s message from G o d could thus b e summed u p : “The Jews must be a unique nation i n that they should embody the higher virtues.’ In other words, the uniqueness of the Jews is n o t that they consider themselves t o be singled o u t for special status by God, t o be his favoured creatures o r his super-race. I t doesn’t mean that like Moslems they can look forward t o being the elect of

Paradise. Rather Amsagolahimpliesan extra burden, an added

with a virtue born of conscience and t o listen t o what Elijah later called ‘the still, small voice’.

responsibility t o perform

The Jews took Moshe’s uncompromising message t o heart. Even today w e are a compulsive people and o u r strong sense o f conscience is evident i n o u r collective as well as our indivi-

dual personalities. In the majority ofJews one finds something pushing from within t o accomplish more, t o do better, t o follow a path of active virtue that doesn’t correspond t o

the

Christian avoidance of damnation. The Jews have little sense

of a Hell waiting under their feet. Their hell is m o r e a personal dissatisfaction born of mediocrity. I think this is why Jews are always bothering themselves, a n d others, with trying t o discern general, ultimate principles from particular things. It is their biggest fault a n d greatest blessing. B u t whatever

the

outcome o f these compulsions, their origins undoubtedly lie in a n innate Judaic awareness of Amsagolah a n d its demands

upon the conscience.

So Moshe told us w e must be Amsagolah and this was the

Amsagolah 179 ideal given t o our people a t the beginning o f our permanent settlement in Israel. W e

know from

the Bible that often they

fell far short o f this goal, and indeed were as a nation no better than their neighbours. Y e t i n every generation there were m e n w h o asked questions, w h o struggled t o attain a higher virtue

and w h o implanted the message of Amsagolah i n their people. Judges, Prophets, Sages all demanded the spiritual elevation of the House o f Isracl. None preached war, power politics, master-race theories. They w e r e n ' t concerned with outsiders but with the Jewish conscience vis-d-visitself. They demanded of the Jews t o look i n w a r d t o struggle towards righteousness and t o fight against evil.Israel was t o spread morality throughout the universe. I t was t o do so n o t b y conquest but b y

example. Thus would other nations learn from Israel's ways

and walk in the footsteps of the Bible. And so they have. The wise m e n were right. With some modification, Islam and Christianity adopted m a n y basic heed these ancient teachers again. B y cultivating Amsagolah and all i t

ideas from the Jews. I think that today w e must

implies w e shall find the strength t o build this land as w e must. In time, the nations around us will learn from our ways and extend the hand of peace.

T h e message

of Moshe

and Judaism’s monotheistic

belief

of the pillars o n which the Jewish faith has rested through time. The third pillar is the ideal of Israel and the mingling of Jewish philosophy with national history. The are t w o

other deities contemporary t o the Lord o f Abraham andMoshe are l o n g dead, as are the civilizations that invented them. T h e

Jews live on.

The three Judaic pillars are responsible for

our

survival. Moshe’s Amsagolah gave the Jewish people something t o

struggle towards. They have never attained it; perhaps it is Yet I think the g o a l itself produced

unattainable i n its t o t a l i t y .

such humanistic inspirations as the kibbutz idea, a n institution Jewish, very Israeli b u t also very adaptable t o

a t once very

universal requirements. Kibbutzim are now evolving in Japan

180 David Ben-Gurion and elsewhere. I once asked the Russian ambassador — in the days w h e n w e had Russian ambassadors — whether there were

kibbutzim in the Soviet Union. ‘ N o , ’ he said. ‘Perhaps in

forty o r fifty

years w e shall have t h e m ! ’ I have always been very concerned, secularist though I am, with this country’s spiritual state. A s soon after Independence

as feasible,I called together our leading intellectuals including such thinkers as Martin Buber and the philosopher H u g o Bergmann. I said t o them: “Up t o n o w w e have been at w a r whichis against all our aims and hopes for Israel. W e still have the threat of w a r t o contend with as well as incalculable n u m bers o f material problems. [know the Marxists would say only material problems count. B u t I a m mindful of the Talmud which tells us that “where there is n o bread there is n o Torah butalso where thereisno Torah thereisno bread.” A n d I asked them t o define spiritual aims for Israel’s development which w e should endeavour t o strive for concurrently with our effort i n matters ofpractical necessity. Those conferences were in part responsible for the great emphasis w e immediately put o n education, despite the drain o n the budget thisimplied fora State surrounded by enemy armies. Words without deeds are nothing. This I learned i n the Bible and for myself from the moment I set foot i n this Jand. Telling people: “You must be good. Y o u must help others,’ accomplishes little. O n e must show the w a y by example. That

is why I live at Sde Boker, t o underline to all who come in contact with m e the importance of this Negev area to our future. O n e must use words t o communicate ideas and feelings. B u t words without the capacity t o evoke deeds are meaningless.

Today I live alone here, and I work with words. I am writ-

ing, as I have said, the history of the modern Jewish State. I want the young

people o f Israel

t o realize h o w precious a

heritage w e of the older generations are delivering into their hands. They have both the privilege of carrying our work through t o fuller fruition and the obligation t o do so. They,

Amsagolah 181 too, are under the Jewish injunction t o be a n Amsagolah. The realization of this inherited burden is what I hope m y book

will contribute to. Y o u cannot reach for the higher virtue without being a n

idealist. The Jews are chronic idealists whichmakesm e humbly

glad t o belong t o this people a n d t o have shared i n their noble epic. In a time when their neighbours were sacrificing live children t o the fires of the idol Moloch they had evolved their

invisible God, a God who forbade human sacrifice and who imposed a law of love and respect for all beings and things of

this earth. They codified this in the Bible and dreamt their dream of redemption i n their land. Only a small part of this dream has ever come true and w e have borne much suffering because o fit. But the dream is there, the moral idea is there and as in the time of Moshe, the Jews must strive so long as they endure to be an Amsagolah. ‘ I the Lord have called thee in righteousness a n d have taken hold of thy hand and kept thee

and set thee for a Covenant o f the people, for a light unto the nations.” (Isaiah 42-6).

CHRONOLOGY

16 October 1886

David Gryn is born in Plonsk, a market town in northern Poland, then under Russian Tsarist rule. H e is the fourth

child of Avigdor Gryn, a lawyer, and Sheindal Friedman Gryn. The family lives in the Jewish community of Plonsk

which occupies the city’s central residential quarter and numbers about five thousand.

1889 O n e of David Gryn’s earliest memories is ofhis grandfather teaching him Hebrew a t the age of three. The boy is also very attached t o his mother w h o dies when he is ten. His

father is a “Lover o f Zion’, later an ardent Zionist, also a freethinker. The boy David is brought up on Zionism, reveres Theodor Herzl, founder o f the international Zionist movement, as a near-Messiah for his leadership in the cause

o f actively creating a Jewish homeland.

1886-1904 Zionism spreads through the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe and especially inspires the youth.

184 David Ben-Gurion

Circa 1900 David Gryn and his contemporaries organize the Ezra Society t o support Zionism and the socialist pioneering ideal

in Palestine. Ezra members teach Hebrew

t o the entire Plonsk community (which commonly speaks Yiddish and

Russian, considering Hebrew as a literary and scholarly

‘dead’ language).

1904-6 David Gryn and his friends are shocked into action by the proposal, championed b y some Zionists, t o accept a British

offer of territory i n Uganda for the Jewish National Home. In protest, Gryn’s older friend, Shlomo Zemach, leaves for

Palestine.

August 1906

David Gryn goes t o Palestine.

1906-8

the various Jewish from malaria. Labour is scarce and in his weakened condition he has great Young Gryn works as a farm labourer i n settlements

of

central Palestine. H e suffers

difficulty in finding enough work t o keep from starving. A that if he stays i n Palestine, the malaria will

doctor tells h i m

surely kill him. Nevertheless, he remains and despite the doctor's prediction slowly regains strength.

Chronology 185 1908-10

David Gryn joins a group of pioneers in the Galilee. They prepare swamps and rocky plains for cultivation b y Jewish

settlers. Land is being bought in the North by the Jewish National Fund. Gryn meets Itzhak Ben-Zvi, the future State o f Israel’s second President. Ben-Zvi is one o f the few immigrants speaking Hebrew. Both he and Gryn militate for the idea that creating a Jewish homeland will require the re-establishment o f Hebrew as the Jewish language.

This is the era w h e n the first kibbutzim are organized by Galilee pioneers. Gryn does not join a kibbutz but attaches himself to a pioneer camp at Sejera. The Jewish settlements

and camps are raided b y Arab bandits. Gryn and his companions decide t o create a self-defence force called Hashomer o r “The Watchmen’.

This is the beginning of

Jewish—Arab friction in Palestine. Hashomer also marks the

beginning of what will one day become a Jewish army.

1910

Gryn abandons pioneering for politics. With Ben-Zvi, he

becomes a journalist in Jerusalem. They are members of the socialist Poale Zion (Workers of Zion) Party. Gryn Hebraicizes his family name t o Ben-Gurion in honour o f a former David Ben-Gurion w h o died with the last defenders

o fJerusalem in 70 c.E. The date marks the Roman capture

of the city a n d the exile of the Jewish people from nationhood, a period lasting 1,878 years until the founding of the State of Israel i n 1948.

1912

Ben-Gurion and his associates decide that to militate

186 David Ben-Gurion effectively for

Jewishimmigration and autonomy i n Palestine

they must w o r k

within the framework of the Turkish

Empire. The Empire itself is in upheaval, with wave after wave of young officers replacing previous leaders i n a series of military takeovers. Each n e w group speaks of liberty and solicits the support of minorities within the Empire’s territories. Ben-Gurion feels the Jews’ best hope for a permanent community i n Palestine is t o c o m e t o a n agreement with the Turks whereby a certain measure of autonomy will b e granted them in return for their loyalty.

He decides t o militate from within the Turkish political and social system. H e sports Turkish dress and a moustache, journeys t o Constantinople and enrols as a l a w student a t the University with the intention o f entering politics upon graduation.

1914-15

The First World War destroys all such illusions. Ben-Gurion

and Ben-Zvi, w h o had also gone t o Constantinople, hastily return t o Jerusalem where they are confronted with a general exodus ofJews fleeing in panic t o Egypt. Chaim Weizmann in London, Joseph Trumpeldor and Vladimir Jabotinsky in Egypt, call upon theJews t o support the Allies. For Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi the Allies mean Russia which

in turn calls up memories of the Tsar and anti-Semitic persecution. So they do n o t heed this call but continue t o campaign in Palestine for immigration and integration into the Turkish Empire. They work to organize Hashomer into a general Jewish

militia for the defence o f Palestine and the protection o f

what the Jews already have in the country.

Chronology 187

March 1915

In Egypt, the former Tsarist officer and Zionist, Joseph Trumpeldor, organizes a Zionist Muleteer Corps to fight for the British,

with the hope that

the latter

will take up the

cause of a Jewish homeland i n Palestine (the British have already indicated their awareness o f the Jewish need for a national h o m e by offering Uganda i n the early part of the century). Volunteers for the Trumpeldor corps leave

Palestine for Alexandria where it is assembling. Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi oppose this initiative o n grounds that the

Turks m a y carry out reprisals against the Jews who stay in Palestine and because they consider direct, local defence o f Jewish property more important to the Zionist cause.

Late Summer 1 9 1 5 The Turks discover a Hashomer arms cache and decide the

Jews might be a fifth column working for the British. They arrest many Jews and expel them from the country. Ben-

Gurion and Ben-Zvi are among the first t o suffer expulsion and they sail to the United States.

Autumn 1 9 1 5 Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi arrive i n N e w York. They have discarded all hope of Turkish support for Z i o n i s m and are ready t o enlist the a i d of the British. They recruit for a

Jewish Legion which Vladimir Jabotinsky, now in London, is attempting to organize within the British Army. They

(‘Pioneer’) movement i n the The a i m of this movement is t o encourage the emigration of young people w h o will w o r k as pioneers in Palestine. also establish the Hechalutz

United States.

188 David Ben-Gurion 2 November 1 9 1 7

T h e Balfour Declaration announces

that the British

government is ready t o support the establishment in Palestine

of a national h o m e for the Jewish people. T h e declaration hopes of the Zionists. It is

exceeds even the most optimistic

a diplomatic triumph and one for the diplomatists — as distinct from the immigrants t o Palestine — of the Zionist

Movement. Ben-Gurion, sounding a cautionary note typical

of his pioneer viewpoint, writes a t the t i m e : ‘Britain has made a magnificent gesture; she has recognized our existence as a nation and has acknowledged our right t o the country. B u t only the Hebrew people can transform this right into tangible fact; only they, with body and soul, with their strength and capital, can build their National Home and bring about

their national redemption.’

5 December 1917 David Ben-Gurion marries Pauline Munweiss in N e w York. She is known ever afterwards as ‘Paula’ to the entire Zionist Movement.

Early 1918

Jabotinsky finally succeeds in establishing a Jewish Legion within the British Army. It is composed o f regular British units whose uniforms bear an identifying Shield o f David. Ben-Gurion joins one o f these units in Canada, the 39th Battalion o f the Royal Fusiliers.

June 1918

Jabotinsky’s Legion sees action i n Palestine.

Chronology 189 Autumn 1918 Ben-Gurion’s battalion sails for the Middle East but doesn’t

arrive until the fighting there has ended.

Late 1918

The Balfour Declaration is formally approved by the United States, France and most significantly o f all, in the name o f the Arab peoples through a special treaty o f friendship drawn u p b y T . E . Lawrence (of Arabia) and signed b y both

Weizmann and Prince Feisal, later King Feisal I, of Iraq.

1919-20

Ben-Gurion’s first child, a girl with the Hebrew name o f Geula, meaning ‘redemption’, is born. N o w that he is back i n Palestine, Ben-Gurion enters politics once more b y

launching a campaign for workers’ unity. TheJewish settlements in the country are in a sad state and much of the work accomplished over fifty years is in ruins. Nevertheless, immigration increases and Ben-Gurion struggles t o create a

cohesive organization among Palestine’s Jews and especially among the workers and pioneers. This culminates i n the founding o f the Histadruth o r Confederation o f Labour. Its

aims are to mobilize all pioneers, farmers and workers for a future Jewish State under the nation

slogan: “ W e must m a k e a of the class w e represent.” Histadruth constitutes the

only large-scale political body in Palestine.

1920

Ben-Gurion becomes General-Secretary o f the Histadruth

190

David Ben-Gurion

which numbers 4,443 members. At this time, the population of Palestine is roughly 1 0 , 0 0 0 Jews and 8 0 0 , 0 0 0 Arabs. Several million Jews belong t o Zionist organizations as grouped in a World Federation.

1920-22

These are years o f growing tension, violence, troubles o f m a n y varieties. A s early as 1920, hostility breaks o u t between Arabs and Jews. Joseph Trumpeldor, Zionism'’s greatest

military hero, is shot down b y Arabs in the Galilee. Inflamed b y the religious leader, Hadj Amin el Husseini, the Arabs

kill Jews i n acts of scattered violence. The latter respond by organizing a clandestine defence force (the British a t this time refuse t o countenance a n official Jewish defence system)

which they call Haganah (Defence). This groups all the the Histadruth.

Hashomer units and also links u p t o

1922

T h e San R e m o Conference of the League of Nations approves the British Mandate over Palestine a n d the creation of a Jewish National H o m e

under the terms of the Arabs,

Balfour Declaration. B u t i n a move to appease the

Britain issues a White Paper, drawn u p b y Winston Churchill, excluding all areas east of the Jordan river from

the Mandate a n d there establishing a n artificial state called Transjordan with its capital in the village of Amman.

1922-5

Ben-Gurion militates for socialism i n the Jewish communities

o f Palestine, and for the employment o fJewish labour there.

Chronology

191

Immigration increases rapidly from the war-torn and disrupted lands of Europe. The number of immigrants becomes a near-flood after the United States establishes a quota system which effectively bars masses of Eastern Europeans from its territory. T h e problem n o w becomes n o t so m u c h t o encourage immigration but t o provide facilities and w o r k for those w h o do arrive. Unemployment increases alarmingly and so

does the rate of immigrants w h o leave the country unable t o find a place for themselves. Ben-Gurion journeys t o mobilize the resources of the international

Europe t o

Zionist Movement

in favour of Palestine’s immigrant

population. A son, Amos, is born t o the Ben-Gurion family a t this time.

1925

Ben-Gurion'’s aged father, Avigdor Gryn, arrives from Plonsk, Poland. The Ben-Gurions’ third and last child, a

daughter named Renana, is born. All of the Gryn family is n o w in Palestine except for a niece w h o remains in Plonsk.

She and her t w o children go t o the gas chamber a t Auschwitz.

1925-7

Ben-Gurion represents the Palestine workers in the Zionist movement of Europe where he militates for financial support of immigrants and the creation ofjob a n d pioneering possibilities. In Jerusalem, he lives i n poverty, with barely

enough money t o keep his family going. His relations with the Zionist delegates and with the British grow increasingly stormy. H e reproaches the Zionists with being armchair pioneers having too little

192

David Ben-Gurion

with and sensitivity towards the immigrants who the actual w o r k of building the country. H e is with increasing British reserve towards the Jews in the light of Arab hostility. He also clashes with other Palestinian Jewish groups, notably the Revisionists under contact

are doing impatient

Jabotinsky, w h o fear Histadruth’s power and one-class

outlook. The Revisionists call Histadruth a ‘state within a state’.

1927-30

Largely owing t o the efforts of Ben-Gurion, various political factions i n Palestine coalesce with Histadruth t o form MAPAI o r The Workers’ United Party. But conditions in the country are rapidly going from bad t o worse.

Unemployment is o n the rise as is friction between Arabs and Jews, exacerbated by Hadj Amin el-Husseini w h o has

been appointed Mufti ofJerusalem by British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel. Husseini as Mufti is administrative head of the Moslem religious community in Palestine. H e is a fanatic and groups a violent following under the slogan ‘Death t o the Jews’. Lord Samuel, a Jew

himself, has for that very reason favoured Husseini’s

The hope was by giving him the

appointment as a n indication of impartiality. t o appease

this potential

troublemaker

highest office he could aspire t o in Palestine. But as Mufti, Husseini becomes a n ever more dangerous source o f discontent. H e has visions of restoring the Caliphate a n d expelling all non-Arab elements from the country. H e instigates a massacre ofJews in Jerusalem by spreading the rumour that they plan t o rebuild their ruined Temple o n the site of the Mosque of Omar (itself constructed partially o n the Temple site). Hussein is also directly responsible for provoking Arab-Jewish friction that culminates o n 23 August 1929 i n a n Arab invasion o f the Jewish areas of

Chronology 193 Jerusalem with a general attack on the population. This is echoed b y riots in Hebron, Jaffa, Safed. A t least 1 4 0 Jews are

killed and thousands injured. British intervention

comes too

late and is largely ineffectual.

1930-36

The rise of Fascism in Europe. Arab hostility t o the Jews continues t o be fanned by the Mufti w h o soon establishes relations with the new Nazi regime in Germany. In 1936 the Arabs murder more Jews. Leaders

of the Jewish

communities can barely restrain the young people i n

fighting back and thus starting a civil war. Arab dockworkers inJaffa stage a general strike and the Mufti demands that the British stop Jewish immigration and prohibit the Jews from buying further land i n Palestine. H e Haganah from

calls for Arab autonomy and a totally Arab government for the country. Moshe Sharett, Israel's second Prime Minister-

to-be, in a letter to the London Times o n behalf o f the

MAPAI Party, states categorically: ‘If the demands of the Palestinian Arabs are m e t by Great Britain, this would mean the end of the Jewish people’s hopes of taking r o o t as a nation i n their homeland.”

The Zionist Committee is not

convinced of this and D r Weizmann even suggests that as a means of restoring peace a temporary halt be put o n Jewish immigration. Ben-Gurion in London heads off this proposal

before i t

is put t o the British.

1936

Because o f continual difficulties with Arab dockworkers in Jaffa, the Jewish pioneers decide to create their o w n outlet t o the sea. They choose a site as near as possible t o the

standard shipping lanes, a t Tel Aviv. In record time they

194 David Ben-Gurion

build a settlement complete with port what today is Israel's largest city.

facilities. Thus is born

July 1937

In the latter part of the previous year Britain had named a Commission under Lord Peel t o study the Palestine problem. In July 1937 the Peel Commission publishes its report recommending the division of the country into three parts:

Jewish, Arab and British. According t o this plan, the Jews

should establish a wholly

autonomous and independent

state in the Galilee and Valley o fJezreel, an area comprising

about one-fifth of Western Palestine. The Arabs would get almost the entire remainder o f the country which would b e incorporated into the newly created state of Transjordan owing its existence t o the Churchill White Paper o f 1 9 2 2 . T h e British would keep Jerusalem, Nazareth and a corridor t o the Mediterranean that includes the port of Haifa.

MAPALI Histadruth and the Zionist Movement are all ready and delighted t o accept the Commission’s proposal o n

grounds that, small as the designated Jewish territory is, i t nevertheless constitutes a basis for the formation of a the

Jewish State i n Palestine. T h e ‘Revisionist’ group under

Jabotinsky’s leadership protests that this would give the Jews m u c h less than the promises implied by the Balfour Declaration.

1939 T h e Peel Commission’s findings a n d the problem of a Jewish state become academic with the publication of a new British White Paper drawn up by Malcolm MacDonald

under the aegis o f Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, in the Neville Chamberlain government. Despite all previous

Chronology 195 recommendations and declarations, this White Paper fixes a Jewish immigration quota for Palestine and assigns a schedule for the country’s independence under Arab rule. The quota allows the Jews t o bring i n a mere 75,000 more

persons over a five year period after which all immigration is t o cease. In ten years, the British will pull out leaving the Arabs i n control and the Jews as a weak minority i n the

country. Meanwhile, as w a r looms and the ‘Final Solution’ begins grinding the Jewish population of Europe t o oblivion, BenGurion makes his famous statement of the Jews’ double b a t t l e : “ W e shall fight the w a r as if there were n o White

Paper,’ h e declares, ‘and the White Paper as if there were n o

war!’ 1940

Churchill replaces Chamberlain and Lord Lloyd, Lord Halifax, Weizmann and Ben-Gurion call for a new Jewish legion. Ben-Gurion is at this time Chairman of the Jewish Agency.

May 1942 A Congress Extraordinary

organized by the American

Committee for Zionist Affairs with Ben-Gurion as primemover calls for defiance of the British immigration embargo, demands a Jewish state and undertakes t o finance resistance to

all attempts t o impede immigration

and

the National

H o m e i n Palestine.

1944

A Jewish Brigade, attached t o the British Armyj, is finally

196 David Ben-Gurion

formed. It participates in the invasion o f Sicily and Italy, then fights its w a y across the Continent

of Europe from

Holland t o Berlin.

1945 Ben-Gurion tours the concentration camps and declares: ‘During these six years of war, w e never forgot y o u for a

single day. We have been working t o build up our land so that y o u m a y c o m e there t o live as decent human beings again among your o w n people and where y o u will not fear i again,

1945-7 Despite Ben-Gurion’s words, the British Labour Government vigorously enforces the 1939 embargo on Jewish immigration t o Palestine. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin declares total

ofJewish immigration, ignoring the fact that a million or so homeless Jews are flooding the displaced persons camps of central Europe. The Zionists make good their intention t o fight the 1939 White Paper and its restriction

aftermath. They organize massive illegal immigration,

leading t o skirmishes with the British and worldwide concern with the problem, generated by such incidents as the fate of the SS Exodus. This is a barely seaworthy vessel, crowded t o the gunwhales withJewish immigrants from the European camps and forced t o wander across the while those aboard starve rather

Mediterranean

than accept internment a n d deportation

back t o

Germany, Austria, Poland, the scene o f the holocaust, by the British.

Chronology 197 1947 A crop

ofJewish private armies spring u p clandestinely i n

Palestine. Each has its o w n particular political orientation.

Often they are as busy fighting each other as they are fighting their common foes. The purpose o f these groups is t o wage active w a r o n the Arabs (as a counter t o continual ofJewish communities) and show hostility t o the British w h o are deeply resented because of their antiimmigration policy and for general attitudes that appear t o favour the Arab cause. Irgun and the Stern organization are the best k n o w n of the private Jewish armies. Haganah, later harassment

to become the official Army o f Israel, gathers weapons in secret, trains for

combat but abstains from acts of aggression.

Under its aegis, however, kibbutz members train in the special attack corps called Palmach o r “The Striking Force’. This too holds back from actual combat except in local defence against Arabs.

Britain suddenly estimates that Palestine is not worth

the

expense and effort required t o keep the peace between Arabs and Jews. It wishes t o end the bad international publicity generated by the immigration

t o the United

Nations t o

policy. S o i t

appeals

take over the problem. T h e U N

establishes yet another Commission

to

study Palestine. This

Commission splits into a majority and minority faction with the U N opting for the majority recommendations, largely inspired b y the Peel Commission findings o f a decade earlier.

The U N decides that: i) Britain is t o leave Palestine and e n d its Mandate n o later than 1 August 1948. ii)

A small area of Palestine including a northern coastal

section, the Galilee and Valley

ofJezreel, some frontage in

along the D e a d Sea and a non-contiguous territory

the Negev t o g o t o the Jews as a n independent state.

198 David Ben-Gurion

iii) The rest of the territory, a m u c h larger area, t o g o t o the Palestinian Arabs and also be considered a n independent state.

iv) Jerusalem t o b e a n independent city under a n autonomous government comprising both Arab and Jewish representatives and undertaking t o guarantee religious freedom with unrestricted access t o all shrines and places of worship. The Jewish and Arab populations are t o live there freely under international charter a n d have equal representation in the municipal authority.

1947

The Jews accept the U N ruling. The Arabs reject it. They declare they will fight for control of all Palestine including Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arabs contract a n alliance with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Transjordan for the destruction of the proposedJewish state and the control ofJerusalem.

1048

Before the British Mandate ends, the Arabs attack and seize

control of the single road leading fromJerusalem t o the sea. Their intention is t o starve out the city’s Jewish population which is concentrated mainly i n what is n o w West Jerusalem, with a small enclave in the eastern sector, the most ancient quarter where the ruined wall of the Temple stands. The Arabs also seize the c i t y ’ s water reservoirs

shutting down the supply t o West Jerusalem. The Jewish population ofJerusalem must act quickly o r capitulate t o Arab rule. Palmach, the attack u n i t of Haganah, gathers a heterogeneous collection

of vehicles held together with

Chronology 199

baling wire and ingenuity. On Ben-Gurion’s order (he has n o w become head o f a ‘shadow Cabinet’ preparing for independence), Palmach fights its w a y up the narrow,

twisting road i n what stands as one of the most heroic exploits in four thousand years ofJewish history. Through ambush and constant attack by a n enemy superior in numbers and equipment and, moreover, holding the higher ground, Palmach forces i t s w a y t o Jerusalem. It enters the

city, restores the food and water supply, saves the population. A monument t o the saving ofJerusalem is constituted by the dozen wrecked, rusting vehicles that today l i n e the road

leading t o the city. 14 May 1948

The British pull out ahead o f schedule. Ben-Gurion reads the Proclamation o fIndependence o f the State o f Israel. D r Weizmann becomes its first President, Ben-Gurion the first Prime Minister. 15 May 1948

A t dawn, Egyptian aircraft bomb Tel Aviv. The Arab Legion under General Sir John Bagot Glubb (who as Glubb Pasha served as its head until his dismissal b y King Hussein ofJordan in 1956) marches from Transjordan o n Jerusalem after secret negotiations between Ben-Gurion and King Abdullah of Transjordan fail. The armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invade Jewish territory.

May-June 1948

The USSR and the United States, in that order, recognize the State o f Israel.

200

David Ben-Gurion

Jerusalem is n o w a battlefield. Fierce combat occurs i n the Old City. The Jews hang o n for several days but are hopelessly outnumbered and out-equipped. They must retreat t o the Western sector. The older half ofJerusalem, including the Temple site, is abandoned t o the Arab Legion.

T h e Arabs reduce Jewish monuments and synagogues t o

rubble. Note: Throughout the 1948 war, the Arabs utilize modern British and American military equipment. The Jews rely o n what they have gathered clandestinely from British Mandate Forces and o n shipments from Czechoslovakia as well as o n

what they manage t o make for

themselves. In this

they

show considerable ingenuity.

June 1948

The Ben-Gurion government considers the time has come t o consolidate allJewish fighting units into a unified official The existence of private armies makes for military fragmentation, bad strategic co-ordination a n d lack of discipline. T h e government feels this is one of the reasons for the loss ofJerusalem’s Old City. Ben-Gurion therefore

Israel Army.

establishes an official A r m y and demands that all fighting units swear a n oath o f allegiance t o its command. H e is defied by Irgun and other groups wishing t o retain their independence. Public opinion i n Israel is divided o n the issue. The U N uses its good offices t o obtain a four week truce. Both sides promise n o t t o add t o their arms’ stock during this period. Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte journeys t o Jerusalem t o try and negotiate a n Arab-Jewish settlement. Despite the truce provisions, the Arabs are k n o w n t o be gathering arms and supplies i n Egypt, Syria, Iraq. In Israel,

Irgun defies the Ben-Gurion government’s scrupulous adherence t o the arms’ ban a n d attempts t o land a large consignment of military equipment from Czechoslovakia.

Chronology

201

This equipment was ordered and paid for before the truce and was already en route t o Israel aboard the freighter SS Altalena. Irgun starts trans-shipping arms from the ship t o an Israel beach. Ben-Gurion orders A r m y shore batteries t o open fire. The freighter sinks. Irgun leader, Menahem Beigin, aboard the Altalena a t the time, barely escapes. The incident almost sparks civil w a r among the Jews and generates m u c h bitterness between Israeli political factions.

Nevertheless, government policy prevails and Israel’s

fighting forces co-ordinate under Ben-Gurion’s command.

July 1948 Count Bernadotte

is assassinated in Jerusalem by Jewish

extremists. Fighting resumes. T h e newly unified Israeli

Army drives the Arabs out ofJewish territory and forces from a large sector of Palestine, thus linking the non-contiguous area of the Negev t o the rest of the country their retreat

and increasing the national domain b y about one third.

1949 T h e Arab nations sign a n Armistice with Israel giving the all the territory i t has conquered from the Lebanese

latter

frontier in the North t o the tip of the Negev in the South. Jerusalem remains divided in two, with the eastern sector going t o the newly established Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan. The boundaries fixed at this time endure through many viscissitudes for nineteen years until the S i x D a y War inJune 1967 extends the area ofIsraeli jurisdiction. 1 1 M a y 1949

Israel becomes a member o f the United Nations.

202

David Ben-Gurion

1949-50

The beginning of a long era of relative peace in which there

the part o f Arabs, as well as almost daily frontier skirmishes.Jews begin

is n o w a r but continual acts of terrorism o n

t o immigrate from everywhere, from India and the United States, Holland and Morocco, fulfilling Isaiah’s words: ‘ I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the w e s t . . . A most dramatic arrival is that o f 4 5 , 0 0 0 Yemenite Jews w h o bear out a Biblical prediction that they shall return ‘ o n the backs of eagles’ by arriving aboard the air-

craft o f El Al, Israel’s fledgling international airline. Immigration,

encouraged by the L a w of Return providing

that any Jew has the right

t o live i n Israel and claim Israeli citizenship, brings the problem of integrating a diverse people from all cultures, classes and lands including many from the underdeveloped areas of North Africa and the

Middle East. The Army becomes a leading educational institution teaching literacy i n Hebrew and technical skills to

the younger generation. The State puts itself in order. Despite heavy military

commitments, funds are budgeted for free public schooling, a large-scale housing programme for immigrants, and a modern civil administration. Israel develops more schools

and universities, hospitals, museums, art galleries, newspapers, magazines and symphony orchestras per capita

over the next decade than any other nation in the world. Funds t o accomplish this c o m e mainly from Diaspora-

Zionist contributions, especially from the United States.

1951

Egypt seizes the Straits of Tiran a t the entrance t o the Gulf of Eilath. It blockades the port of Eilath, thus compromising plans for developing this p o r t a n d cultivating the Negev.

Chronology

203

For the next five years Israel suffers constantly from shipping blockades a n d the sabotage of road, railway and irrigation systems by armed Egyptian commandos infiltrating across the frontiers from special bases i n the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Israelis are killed i n skirmishes with

these commandos and many thousands wounded.

7January 1952 A t Ben-Gurion’s instigation, Israel accepts eight hundred

million dollars’ reparations from W e s t Germany. The BenGurion government is strongly criticized for taking money from the Jews’ former persecutors. Ben-Gurion argues that Israel desperately needs the funds for its development and that the reparations are not i n compensation for the holocaust itself but for damage t o property suffered by European

Jewry in the Second World War.

9 December 1952 D r Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first President, dies. BenGurion approaches D r Albert Einstein in the United

States Ben-Zvi, Itzhak refuses. Einstein t o offer him the Presidency. Ben-Gurion’s oldest living friend a n d associate, becomes President.

13 December 1953 Ben-Gurion leaves the government provisionally t o j o i n a

pioneer kibbutz a t Sde Boker in the Negev. He steps down as Prime Minister and is set t o tending sheep. Moshe Sharett becomes Israel’s second Prime Minister. Pinhas Lavon takes

over Ben-Gurion’s portfolio as Defence Minister.

204 David Ben-Gurion 1954

Col. Abdel Nasser comes t o power i n Egypt at the age of thirty-six. Of Nasser Ben-Gurion has said: T a m quite certain that there would have been intellectual contact between us had w e ever met.” Several attempts are made by Israel t o negotiate such a meeting and Ben-Gurion declares publicly: ‘ I a m ready t o meet with the Egyptian Prime Minister o r with a n y other Arab leader at any place and a n y time i n order t o arrive at a peace settlement without any

prior conditions.” At the time of the Suez conflict he even expresses willingness t o journey t o Cairo for negotiations provided his safe conduct is assured. Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia is approached as a n intermediary. H e declines. Nasser comments: ‘I would be ready t o meet with Ben-

Gurion but I a m afraid that then I would n o t be able t o return t o Cairo. O n e hour after m y return, I would be assassinated! It’s too risky.” And so the t w o Middle Eastern leaders most capable of obtaining a peace settlement are never t o meet.

July 1954 T h e British announce their intention of departing from the Suez Canal Zone. For Israel, this implies a direct threat t o all

shipping bound for its ports. The British

pullout results i n

the Lavon Affair. T h e Lavon Affair is Israels first political scandal since

nationhood. Michael Bar-Zohar in his biography ofBenGurion entitled The Armed Prophet has called i t ‘the most disastrous and scandalous secret warfare episode ever known

in the Middle East’. Nine years later this scandal which refused t o die is instrumental in provoking Ben-Gurion’s final resignation from government. The Affair begins when the Egyptians uncover an Israeli

Chronology

205

Service plot t o start a w a v e of terrorism in Cairo a n d that can be attributed t o a local organization calling itself the Moslem Brotherhood. The idea is t o prove the weakness and incapacity t o govern of the Egyptian Secret

Alexandria

authorities a n d thus persuade the British t o remain i n

the

Suez Canal Zone. T h e p l o t is revealed by a n Israeli double agent. Arrests are made and t w o m e n subsequently hanged. T h e Israeli government is totally unaware o f this plot. Subsequent investigation indicates the possible complicity

of

Defence Minister Lavon under whose nominal control the

who is known for his belligerent of the plot. An inquiry is held the results of which are inconclusive. Secret Service operates and

attitude towards Egypt. Lavon denies all knowledge

Lavon is quietly pressured t o resign from government.

2 1 February 1955

Ben-Gurion returns from retirement t o take over

the

Defence portfolio from his fallen protégé. He is shaken by the scandal and feels that nothing short of a public judicial inquiry into its origins will rub out the taint of the affair

and restore full confidence i n the government. His colleagues in the Cabinet feel otherwise and are satisfied with the results of the informal secret inquiry and Lavon’s resignation. Thus the matter rides for several years.

1955 Ben-Gurion embarks on a search for alliances for Israel. H e attempts to interest the Americans in guaranteeing the country’s security i n return for strategic bases. A t this time

the United States is pursuing a policy of encirclement o f the USSR and negotiations look fruitful. In the end, however,

206 David Ben-Gurion

the Americans refuse t o commit themselves t o a definite guarantee of Israel's frontiers.. Meanwhile, with the departure o f the British from Suez

the USSR suddenly shifts its Middle Eastern policy and from enthusiastic support ofIsrael becomes the champion of Arab nationalism. It begins furiously t o equip the Egyptian A r m y and rail against Israel as a n imperialist and

‘colonialist’ power.

26 July 1956

Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal, taking control away from the British-French consortium that operates it. T h e m o v e

aligns Israeli, British and French interests causing a strong rapprochement between Israel and France which i n the years t o come is t o be the former’s chief military supplier.In return, the Israelis contribute heavily t o the improvement

development of French military equipment. It is n o exaggeration t o say that the success of the French Mystére

fighter plane series is directly due t o design improvements and changes developed by the Israelis i n operations. Throughout 1955 and 1956 there is continuous frontier trouble between Israel and Egypt due t o Egyptian commandos operating in Israeli territory and training

former Palestinian Arabs who a t this time form themselves into a movement

called the Palestine Liberation Front.

1956

Israel is increasingly desirous of controlling access t o Eilath through the Gulf of Aqaba and of ensuring the safety of an e w pipeline trans-shipping oil from the Negev t o theMediterranean.

Chronology

207

October 1956

Ben-Gurion participates i n a secret conference with the British and French at Sevres, France. H e agrees to a combined military operation whereby Israel will m o v e t o oust the Egyptians from the trouble spots of Gaza and the Straits

o f Tiran across the Sinai Peninsula. The British and French will then intervene by parachuting into the Canal zone

ostensibly t o make a buffer between Egypt and Israel.

29 October 1956

Israel invades Sinai and Gaza.

5 November 1956 Israel occupies the Tiran Straits and Gaza. The Englishhave second thoughts about seizing the Canal. A few French-

Englishparatroops drop into the zone. Then theUSSR, previously tied up by the Hungarian Revolution whichit has by this time successfully crushed, intervenes t o threaten Israel with invasion. T h e United States joins the

Russians i n denouncing Israeli, French andBritish intervention. TheBritish and French pull out. Israel hangs o n trying t o negotiate lasting guarantees regarding freedom of

navigation t o Eilath and neutralization of Gaza which remains a potential arrow pointed at its most developed

areas.U N troops occupy Gaza.

1 March 1957

Foreign Minister M r s GoldaMeir announces Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai i n return for guarantees through

208 David Ben-Gurion the U N and endorsed by all the Great Powers that the Gulf of

Eilathis international water and must be open t o all shipping. The U N takes over the strategic points at the Straits of Tiran.

1957-60 Ben-Gurion,who at the time o f the Suez war had re-assumed

the Prime Ministership, works t o strengthenIsrael’s international position by a series o falliances. The rapprochement with France continues. A n attempt is made t o have N A T O guarantee Israel’s frontiers but

this comes

eventually t o nought. A secret alliance is undertaken with Ethiopia, Iran and Turkey all o fwhich fear growing Arab power i n theMiddleEast, especially under Nasser.

March 1960

Ben-Gurion makes a tour o f the major WesternPowers. The Eastern bloc is n o w inimical to Israel as Russia is heavily backing the Arabs i n its efforts t o gain strength i n the

Middle East.Ben-Gurion meets withPresident Dwight D . Eisenhower in the United States and also with West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer w h o happens t o be

there at the same time. H e secures a five hundred million dollar loan from Germany for development of the Negev.

Ben-Gurion also meets withBritishPrime Minister Harold Macmillan i n London and is warmly received b y French

President Charles de Gaulle who extends the unprecedented courtesy ofinviting

his visitor for a second meeting. O f

Ben-Gurion, General de Gaulle remarked on this occasion: ‘I think thathe and Adenauer are the t w o great leaders on the Western side.’ France is n o w Israel’s closest ally.

Towards Germany, with whichIsrael is also maintaining close relations despite strong opposition within the country,

Chronology

209

B e n Gurion takes the attitude that having committed such terrible crimes against the Jewishpeople i t must help Israel t o establish itself. Thisis the only w a y i t can begin t o m a k e

redress for the wrongs committed in its name, Ben-Gurion feels.

23M a y 1960

AdolfEichmann, a principal administrator o fthe Nazi

‘Final Solution’, is captured by the Israeli Secret Service in Argentina. H e is taken t o Israel t o stand trial and is executed on 31M a y 1962.

Autumn 1960

Ben-Gurionis thinking ofretirement t o SdeBoker. Since 1957he has gained, quite literally, a new lease o flife by

the methods of D r Moshe Feldenkreis. H e lives a spartan life that includes Yoga exercises and a daily four-mile following

walk. Although more than seventy, Ben-Gurion has the vigour o f a m a n o f fifty-five. Nevertheless, he is tired o f politics and is thinking ofreturning t o the kibbutz.

An event then occurs that delays his retirement and causes him t o leave office i n the aftermath of a bitter dispute estranging him frommany lifelong friends. The eventisa resurgence o fthe Lavon Affair. A t this time, the Israelis catch the double agent w h o betrayed the Secret

Service plot t o the Egyptians. H e indicates that Lavon m a y be innocent of complicity i n the matter

of o r d e r i n g the

operation t o take place a n d t h a t i n a n y event there had been

false testimony against him.Lavon immediately demands official rehabilitation. H e comes t o Ben-Gurion with whom

he w a s once friendly. Ben-Gurion insists that the only correct w a y t o resolve the whole affair is t o call for a public

210

David Ben-Gurion

judicialinquiry.Lavon furiously refuses t o do thisand publicly castigatesBen-Gurion and the Army for victimizing him in order, he says, t o hide corruption within the military establishment. T h e government other than Ben-Gurion want only one

thing : t o head offscandal. Over-ruling the P r i m e Minister,

they vote to constitute anew Commission of seven members

which will examine the Lavon case in secret hearing. This Commission hastily rehabilitates the former Defence Minister and drops the matter forthwith. Ben-Gurion is deeply disappointed that fulljudicial proceedings were n o t invoked t o shed a wholly impartiallight on the matter regardless of what lay behind it. T h e Lavon Affair opensariftin MAPAI between BenGurion, allied with upcoming members ofthe young, indigenousIsraeli generation, a n d the Prime Ministers old party associates o f the generation immediately after his, the generation of the Third Aliyah. The latter resents what they

term Ben-Gurion’s autocratic ways. T h e former bitterly

objects to the scurrying and face-saving methods utilized in

dealing withLavon. December 1960 Israel and France build a nuclear reactor i n the Negev. T h e Americans demand t o k n o w whether the reactor is t o be used for military purposes a n d call for international control o r immediate enforced inspection by American scientists. Ben-Gurion, alwaysjealous o f Israel's sovereignty, refuses

inspection rights. The affair drags on through January 1961 w h e n the Americans drop the matter.

July 1961 Israel launches its first rocket-missile.

Chronology

211

Autumn 1961 Ben-Gurion is re-elected as Prime Minister. H e faces a restive Cabinet and Parliament.

1961-3

Ben-Gurion works t o protect Israel against eventual aggression by the A r a b Federation. I n a n ultimate effort,

he tries t o have both the USSR and the United States guarantee Israel’s frontiers. T o n o avail. Even the French will

conclude no formal, written alliance withIsrael. De Gaulle states grandly that relations between the t w o countries are such that n o formal alliance is necessary. Four years later, he will make an about-face.

April1963 President Itzhak Ben-Zvi dies. Ben-Gurion loses his last surviving friend and most staunch supporter.

May 1963 Zalman Shazar becomesIsrael’s thirdPresident.

16June 1963 Ben-Gurion abruptly resigns, returns t o kibbutz Sde Boker

where he has lived ever since. Levi Eshkol succeeds h i m as Prime Minister.

212

David Ben-Gurion

May 1964

TheLavon Affair crops up again when someMAPAI leaders agitate for his return t o government. Prime Minister

Eshkol goes so far as to write Lavon a letter declaring his

dismissal from government invalid. This rouses Ben-Gurion who agitates for judicialproceedings.

Winter 1964 Ben-Gurion, w h o has made his o w n inquiry into the Affair, submits a dossier t o the Ministry of Justice saying that it provides ample n e w evidence t o warrant formal inquiry. T h e Minister of Justice refuses t o institute proceedings o n the grounds this could only b e injurious t o all concerned.

June 1965 Ben-Gurion stands for the Knesset (Parliament) a t the head

of a n Independent list made u p mainly of younger m e n of the generation of General Moshe Dayan. These have followed Ben-Gurion outofM A P A I and have formed the new RAFI Party. H e returns t o the Knesset heading a list of ten delegates.

These delegates serve i n coalition governments but Ben-

Gurion guides from afar at SdeBoker where he occupies

himselfwith: i) Creating the College of the Negev whichhe hopes will one day become a combination ‘ o f Oxford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’, and which constitutes a permanent study centre both for the Negev a n d o n subjects directly related t o the Negev's development. ii) Writing the history ofIsrael’s evolution as a state from

the First Aliyah in 1870 and 80 to his o w n departure from governmentin 1963.

Chronology

213

June 1967

The Arab nations once again demonstratebelligerency towards Israel. The Egyptians mass armour at Gaza and talk of invasion. They force the U N t o abandon the stronghold s of the GulfofEilathand again threatenIsraeli shipping. The Syriansrain artillery fire from fortresses o n the Golan Heights onto the Israelikibbutzim in the valley below. Isracl must retaliate or face a fight t o the death o n its o w n Narrow territory .

5 June 1967

Egyptian forcesbombIsraeli villages and cut offEilath. Troops from Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait enter Egypt and make for

Gaza. Troops from Saudi Arabia andIraq join with the A r m y of Jordan o n the Israel frontier. Troops i n Syria mass at the GolanHeights.

6June 1967~10 June1967 Israel goes t o war. T h e Israeli A r m y sweeps across the Sinai

Peninsula, clears the Straits o fTiran and opens them once more to international shipping, takes over the near shore o f the Suez Canal, occupies the massive underground Syrian

fortresses o f the Golan Heights, occupies the entire West of the Jordan river. Operations last six days. O n 7

Bank

June 1967 the capital ofJerusalemis

joined in its totality t o the

nation. The ancient city, founded as the Jewish capital by KingDavidin 1 0 0 0 B.C.E. is whole again for the first time sinceIndependence and itsJewish citizens can once more visit their age-old shrines in the eastern sector. Not since the

of the Jewsin 7 0 C.E. has the city been totally inJewishhands.

R o m a n overthrow

214

David Ben-Gurion

Mindful ofthe principle laid downby the United Nations and systematically violated under Jordanian rule that Jerusalem must b e a place of worship for all, one of the Israeli government's first official acts is t o guarantee protection a n d freedom ofaccess t o and worship at all shrinesin the city,

whether

Jewish, Christian o r Moslem.

29January 1968 Paula Ben-Gurion dies.

2 May 1968

Israel celebrates its twentieth anniversary ofnationhood.

Spring1969 Ben-Gurion tours South Africa, South America and Europe calling for Jewish immigration t o Israel and especially for

young volunteers t o work as pioneersin cultivating the desert.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

T o complete his knowledge of the material whichDavid Ben-

Gurion evoked in the interviews o n which this book is based, the editor referred t o the

following texts:

ARAD, Miriam. Review o fDavidBen-Gurion’s Letters To Paula as published i n Hebrew with the title Michtavim ElPaula,

A m Oved Publishers, Tel Aviv, 1968. Review inJerusalem Post, 12 July 1968.

Michael. The Armed Prophet: A Biography of Ben-Gurion. Translated from the Frenchby Len Ortzen, Arthur Barker Limited, London, 1967. B E N - G U R I O N , David. Israel: Years of Challenge, Anthony Blond,

BAR-ZOHAR,

London, 1964. B E N - G U R I O N , David. Letters To Paula as excerpted and translated

into Englishby Mark Segal,JerusalemPost, 28 February 1968. David (ed.). TheJews In Their Land, Aldus

BEN-GURION,

Books,London, 1966.

TheHoly Bible: King James Version. LAZARE, Paris, June, 1968: Conditions et Perspectives dePaix auMoyen Orient. Articles b y Herbert

CERCLE BERNARD

M A R C U S E et.

al.

DEROGY, Jacques. Exoded’Europe $707, Les Deux Exodes, Denoel,

Paris, 1968. E P S T E I N , RabbiD r Isidore.Judaism, Penguin, Harmondsworth,

1959.

Facts aboutIsrael1969,Ministry o fInformation, Jerusalem, Israel. GIVET,

J-]Pauvert, Paris, 1968. Jacques. La Gauche ContreIsrael,

216

David Ben-Gurion

LANDMANN, Salcia. DerJiidische Witz, Walter-Verlag A G

Olton, 1960, West Germany. L I T V I N O F F , Barnet. The Story ofDavidBen-Gurion, Vallentine

Mitchell, London, 1960. L I T V I N O F F , Barnet. A Peculiar People, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,

London, 1969. P A R K E S , The

Reverend James. Arabs andJews in the Middle East:

A Tragedy ofErrors, Gollancz,London, 1967. P A R K E S , The Reverend James. A History oftheJewishPeople, Penguin, Harmondsworth,

1962.

PEARLMAN, Lt.-Col. Moshe. Ben-Gurion LooksBack, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1965. RAMATI, Segen-Aluf (Lt.-Col.) Shaul. The IsraelDefence Forces,

Handbook No. 4 in the series Israel Today, Jerusalem, 1966. s A AB, Edouard.

L’Autre Exode, LesDeux Exodes, Denoel, Paris,

1968. SALOMON, Michel.Israel: Le Royaume et I Utopie, Casterman,

Brussels, 1968. ZOHAR,

Moshe. Ben-Gurion asMilitary Strategist. Articlein the

Newark, N.].,Jewish News, 1 February 1968.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photographs

by kind permission of

Associated Press, L o n d o n ;

Israel Embassy, London; Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem; Israel Government Press Office, Jerusalem; Labour Archives,

Tel-Aviv.

David Ben-Gurion at the desert graveside o f his wife Paula.

A n Isracli commander bricfs his officers for battle during the

Sinai Campaign o f 1956.

David Ben-Gurion a t Kibbutz Sde Boker, in the Negev. H e retired t o this outlying settlement after

the government i n 1953.

his resignation from

Workers a t Nahalat, in the Jezreel Valley in 1 9 2 2 , beside the swamps they were fighting t o drain.

(Above right) Jewish leaders i n

conference with Neville

Chamberlain and other ministers at St. James’s Palace, 1939. Ben-Gurion in the foreground, on the right o f Chaim Weizmann.

(Below right) Ben-Gurion signs the Declaration of Independence, 1948. Seated beside him is his foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, later t o become Prime Ministcr.

(Above) The editorial board of the Poalei Zion journal Haahdut (The Unity), founded in 1 9 1 0 . Left t o right: Itzhak Ben-Zvi, Ya’akov Zerubavel, David Ben-Gurion, and Rachel Yana'it. (Below) David Ben-Gurion, a soldier in the Jewish Legion, 1918.

David Ben-Gurion, a student o f law in Turkey, 1914.

(Above) David Ben-Gurion (centre) with his fellow workers a t the wine cellars o f Rishon-le-Zion in 1907.

(Below) Tel Aviv’s founders meet (1908) t o o n the sand dunes outside Jaffa.

draw

lots for land

(continued from front flap)

against the British and then against the numerically superior and better equipped Arab forces of five nations. How he became the first Prime Minister of the new State, and why, after many years, he suddenly retired to the desert kibbutz Sde Boker and the simplicity of his early pioneering life. Even more intriguing are the personal -glimpses afforded by the Memoirs into the mind, heart, and character of this indomitable, complex man. B o r n i n a

Polish ghetto, immigrant to Palestine, ‘farm laborer and pioneer, political organizer, statesman, founder of the Israel Defence Forces (and their first Commander-in-Chief), kibbutznik, and scholar, David Ben-Gurion has in the course of more than eighty years lived many lives.

The story of the birth and growth of Israel is central to the meaning of history in our time. In 1948 Israel fought in one of the most bitter and intense conflicts of the century for the very survival of a state and a people; in a very real sense that

conflict is still unresolved and the fate of Israel is still tied to the courage and resolution of its people. Vivid, intimate, anecdotal, Ben-Gurion’s Memoirs are autobiography and history combined, a book essential to the understanding of Israel and its role among the nations of the world.

$6.95

Memoirs )aviad.

Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion has been, for more than half a century, inseparably linked with the building of Israel as the Jewish State. More than any other man he is responsible for Israel's existence today; to millions of Jews, he is the Churchill of Israel. The story of his life is, in a very real sense, the story of Israel and the centuries of a dream. This book unfolds the story of Ben-Gurion’s life in his own words. How he arrived in Israel in 1906, when there was no question of nationhood but rather of holding on to some rocky fields against the Bedouins. How he served in the Jewish battalion in World War |, the first Jewish military unit since the fall of Jerusalem in 73 A.D. How he participated in the implementation of the Balfour Declaration, finally opening Palestine to Jewish immigration. Why, some years later, he struggled desperately against Britain's reversal of this policy on the eve of World War Il, when the Nazis were preparing their ‘Final Solution.” How he supported the illegal immigration of the persecuted Jews into Israel. Why, in the face of insuperable odds, he fought forlisrael’'s independence (continued o n back flap)