From: bdm@cs.anu.edu.au (Brendan McKay)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: MEQ #17: Ben-Gurion on Israeli expansionism
Date: 8 Nov 1992 23:57:21 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bdm@cs.anu.edu.au
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      MEQ #17.  Teveth on Ben-Gurion's vision of the future of Israel, 1937.

   [on the necessity of a strong Jewish armed force:]
   But this mass immigration and military strength would serve still another
   purpose, at which Ben-Gurion only hinted.  Only initiates knew that
   Ben-Gurion regarded the creation of a Jewish state in part of Palestine
   as a stage in the longer process towards a Jewish state in all of
   Palestine.  In the small portion of Palestine allotted to the Jewish
   state by the Peel Commission [quite a lot smaller than that offered
   later by the UN - bdm], it would not be possible to absorb the whole
   Jewish people or even most of it.  That people was in desperate straits.
   And so Ben-Gurion spoke in ambiguous tones about a state being but a
   step toward "a complete solution for the Jewish people and a powerful
   instrument for the total fulfillment of Zionism, an instrument for the
   redemption of all the land of Israel."  In a secret report to Mapai,
   Ben-Gurion wrote that "there is the possibility that a Jewish state will
   be established soon...which will serve as an important and decisive
   _stage_ in the realization of Zionism."  In October 1938, he wrote to
   his children that "I don't regard a state in part of Palestine as the
   final aim of Zionism, but as a means toward that aim."  In September
   1937, Ben-Gurion offered some insight into his thought to a group of
   Jewish labor leaders in New York when he told them that "the borders
   [of the Jewish state] will not be fixed for eternity."

   In a letter to his son Amos, in October 1937, Ben-Gurion forthrightly
   embraced territorial expansionism.  A Jewish state in part of Palestine
   was "not the end, but only the beginning."  Its establishment would give
   a "powerful boost to our historic efforts to redeem the country in its
   entirety."  For the Jewish state would have an "outstanding army ... and
   so I am certain that we won't be constrained from settling in the rest
   of the country, either by mutual agreement and understanding with our
   Arab neighbours, or by some other way."
   ...
   [later in same letter] In reflecting on the transfer provision of the
   Peel Commission's recommendations, Ben-Gurion planned his next step:
   "We must expel Arabs and take their places."  He did not wish to do so,
   for "all our aspiration is built on the assumption---proven throughout
   all our activity---that there is enough room for ourselves and the Arabs
   in Palestine."  But if the Arabs did not accept that assumption, "and if
   we have to use force---not to dispossess the Arabs of the Negev and
   Transjordan, but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places
   ---then we have force at our disposal."

   [In a speech to Mapai activists in Oct 1937:]  He divided the
   realization of "the historic aim of the Jewish state" into two stages.
   The first stage, which would last ten or fifteen years, he called
   "the period of building and laying foundations."  This would prepare
   the state for the second stage, "the period of expansion."  The goal
   of both stages was the "gathering in of the exiles in all of Palestine."
   And so "from the moment the state is established, it must calculate
   its actions with an eye towards this distant goal."  The concept of
   peace through strength thus added two new principles to Ben-Gurion's
   doctrine.  Unlike in the past, when he spoke of the division of the
   country along national lines, Ben-Gurion now aspired to achieve a
   "_Jewish_ Palestine."  And whereas in the past, he had spoken of
   "conquering" the land through cultivation of barren wasteland and
   feverish work, Ben-Gurion now assigned a role to armed force.
   The state in the making would be Jewish and expansionist.

   [S. Teveth, Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs, Oxford University
               Press, 1985; pages 187-190.   Teveth gives references
               for all the quotations.]

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Middle East Quotes is an occasional series of quotations on Middle
East history.  The editor does not necessarily approve of the sentiments
expressed in quotes, nor will he necessarily join in any discussion
they engender.  Contributions are welcome but will not necessarily be
accepted.  Full sources are essential.      Brendan McKay.