Will the real David Ben Gurion please stand up???

Will the real David Ben Gurion please stand up???

Today, the State of Israel commemorated the Memorial Day for Israel's 1st Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion.

Current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who spoke at the ceremony, used the occasion to try and show that Ben Gurion was in favor of ceding (retreating?) parts of the Land of Israel to the enemies of the Jewish People. He quoted Ben Gurion as saying the following words (courtesy of Ha'aretz):

"We never forgot that this is our country and we will never relinquish it. Nevertheless, for peace we are willing to give up some of what we are entitled to. In choosing between having all of the land without a Jewish state or a Jewish state without all of the land, we chose the latter."

Yet, the very same David Ben Gurion also said the following words (which Prime Minister Sharon neglected to mention):

"No Jew is at liberty to surrender the right of the Jewish Nation and the Land of Israel to exist. No Jewish body is sanctioned to do so. No Jew alive today has the authority to yield any piece of land whatsoever. This right is preserved by the Jewish People throughout the generations and cannot be forfeited under any circumstance. Even if at some given time there will be those who declare that they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the jurisdiction to negate it for future generations to come. The Jewish Nation is neither obligated by nor responsible for any waiver such as this. Our right to this land, in its entirety, is steadfast, inalienable and eternal. And until the coming of the Great Redemption, we shall never yield this historic right.”
What is clear to me, aside from Ben Gurion's ability to speak from both sides of his mouth (perhaps this is who Ariel Sharon learned it from?), is that I do not believe that anyone can unequivocally say what David Ben Gurion might have done were he alive today, regardless of the efforts of Ariel Sharon and the Israeli media to prove otherwise.

Cross Posted at Israel Perspectives

Posted by Ze'ev Orenstein at December 8, 2005 05:23 AM

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Comments

1. Bill Narvey said:

Given Israel's unique history of evolving under constant threat by the Arabs that sometimes manifested in aggressive hostilities and war, it is not unusual that Ben Gurion would have said many different and even contradicictory things over his tenure of Prime Ministership as he reacted to differing circumstances.

At one point, he was heard to say that encouraging Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 to return was a mistake.

Without examining Ben Gurion's words against the context of what he was reacting to, it is unfair to conclude his sometimes seemingly contradictory statements betrayed a nature to speak out of both sides of his mouth.

As for Sharon, whether he is given to speaking out of both sides of his mouth, one must judge him on his own record.

Posted by: Bill Narvey on December 8, 2005 08:04 AM

2. eotw said:

Ben Gurion, the greatest Jewish statesman of the last two millenia and indeed one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century, also accepted the UN partition plan relinquishing a significant portion of eretz Israel. Bill's comments are also a hundred percent correct.

While Ze'ev may be correct in that one cannot say for certain what Ben-Gurion would have done today (free will is a wonderful and many splendoured thing), there are not many people who believe he would have refused to negotiate land for peace...for an interesting insight as to why, look into the rivalry between B-G, who believed that the Jewish and Arab/Muslim people could never live mixed together, and his Foreign Minister Moshe Sharrett (Shertok) who grew up with Arabs and was pretty much an advocate of the "one-state solution". For the sake of the Jewish Nation, B-G would have almost certainly been willing to negotiate a permanent separation and peace, even taking "painful measures" such as giving up some of the land.

And yes, Sharon is B-G's finest student. And thank G-d for that.

Posted by: eotw on December 8, 2005 08:25 AM

3. J. Lichty said:

Who the F cares what Ben-Gurion would have done. He is not up for election. Israel must do what is the best thing for itself and the Jewish people which is never surrender.

Posted by: J. Lichty on December 8, 2005 03:25 PM

4. Aaron Eitan Meyer said:

There are documented instances of collusion between Ben Gurion and King Abdullah (the first) so that Transjordan would gain control of what has become known as 'the West Bank.' Even accepting that his intent was to ensure that Egypt or Syria did not gain any control, he was still willing to cede anything he saw fit, regardless of sanctity.

Posted by: Aaron Eitan Meyer on December 8, 2005 04:33 PM

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