Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of Israel believes that his country can achieve peace with its Arab neighbors if Israel is made strong, if there is a genuine relaxation of East-West tensions and if the Arab States install democratic regimes.
In an exclusive interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, Joshua Justman, on the eve of Israel’s fifteenth anniversary as an independent state, the Prime Minister reviewed his country’s hectic young lifetime, appraised its present and future tasks and analyzed its prospects for peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.
The veteran architect of Israel’s independence made it clear that the primary factor in Israel’s security and hopes for future peace was a strong Israel. This, he said, called for continued immigration and land settlement, economic development, military prowess and prestige in the international arena.
He stressed, too, his concern that there be a solution of the Arab refugee problem and declared that Israel would be ready to participate in a solution of this problem even outside the framework of a peace settlement. He specified however, that this would have to be in the “only practical way for a solution–settlement of the refugees in the sparsely populated Arab countries having abundant land and water.” He expressed doubt, however, that as long as they were conspiring to destroy Israel, the present Arab rulers would cooperate in such a solution.
The Prime Minister declared that, if it were not for this conspiracy, the refugee problem would no longer exist just as it no longer existed in India and Pakistan after the partition of the two countries, although each country received millions of refugees. Similarly, he noted, the refugee problem in Europe had been solved after the war. He recalled having personally witnessed the successful absorption in Finland of the half million refugees who left Karelia after that area was annexed by the Soviet Union.
STRESSES ISRAEL’S IMMEDIATE TASKS; WANTS SECURITY STRENGTHENED
Reverting to the conditions for Arab-Israel peace, Mr. Ben-Gurion said peace could be achieved if, with the tension between East and West relaxed, the United States and the Soviet Union demanded of the Arab rulers that they sign a peace treaty with Israel as required under the United Nations Charter. The governments of the Arab states, he said, would have to be concerned with the needs of their people–economic, educational and health–instead of with dictatorial rule requiring military demonstrations and the stockpiling of arms.
Meanwhile, he said, Israel’s tasks for today and for the immediate future were the strengthening of the country’s security, the closing of the educational gap between section of the Israel population and the attainment of economic self-sufficiency. He called for closer ties between Jewry abroad and the State of Israel. “Israel’s principal tasks,” declared Mr. Ben-Gurion are:
“1. Strengthening of security through deterrent military force and enhancement of her international position on all continents.
“2. Closing the educational gap between the children of the needy, mostly in the Oriental communities, and those more fortunate, imparting scientific achievements and spiritual values to the younger generation as far as possible on an equal level.
“3. Revival of the Wilderness, its settlement in the North and in the South of the country, particularly in the expanse of the Negev.
“4. Absorption of the growing immigration in the economic as well as the cultural sense.
“5. Attainment of economic independence through increased labor production, management proficiency and expansion of production and exports.”
“Every veteran Israeli,” added Mr. Ben-Gurion, “is called upon to adopt at least one immigrant family, inviting the newcomers to their home and visiting them, taking an interest in their welfare, rendering assistance.”
As for the Jews abroad, he said, he would ask “immigration into Israel of pioneering youth and young technicians and scientists; deepening of the personal bond of every Jew with Israel, including non-immigrants through visits to Israel; the sending of children to study in Israel’s secondary and higher institutions of learning; capital investments in Israel development projects, and above all, provision of Hebrew education to the children, deepening their Jewish awareness and national heritage through the study of the Hebrew language as well as the study of ancient and modern and Hebrew literature.”
DISCUSSES FREELY CONDITIONS IN ISRAEL AND IN ZIONIST MOVEMENT
The Prime Minister freely discussed conditions in Israel and in the Zionist movement. The JTA correspondent asked him; Is there a religious question in Israel and are there any changes needed in this direction?”
“I believe,” he answered, “that we must be faithful to our Proclamation of Independence signed by all political parties, from the Communists to the Agudat Israel–which stipulates that “The State of Israel will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.” This policy should be the guidepost for both religious and secular elements.”
In the far-ranging discussion, Mr. Ben-Gurion spoke, too, of his position with regard to the Zionist movement. He said that “my greatest disappointment, after the establishment of the State, was the fact that Zionist leaders throughout the Diaspora did not come here to settle and did not serve as an example to the people.”
Asked whether he still adhered to his stand on the Zionist Organization, Mr. Ben-Gurion replied: “It has always been my conviction as I understood the Zionist ideal, that the ideal meant a desire to return to Zion and personally to participate in the upbuilding of the homeland and the resurgent nation, Naturally, everybody has the right to define Zionism as he wishes. My view is that the Zionist movement, which undoubtedly has great historic merits, should turn into an all-Jewish organization that would strengthen within the Jewish people consciousness and unity, and would help toward strengthening Israel economically, culturally and politically.”
APPRAISES ISRAEL’S SITUATION BEFORE AND AFTER LIBERATION
Mr. Ben-Gurion was in a reflective and retrospective mood as he harked back to the turbulent conditions of 15 years ago in which the State of Israel was born. A question by the interviewer: “Looking back to the goals set 15 years ago, do you now find areas in which achievements have exceeded expectations?” prompted Mr. Ben-Gurion to an appraisal of the situation on the eve of Israel’s independence and of the issues involved in the determination to proclaim an independent Jewish State in the territory of Palestine.
“To be exact, I must say that 15 years ago, I had only one aim–namely, to prepare to withstand the Arab armies and win,” he declared. Long before the proclamation of the State, it was clear to me that we must expect an attack from all the neighboring Arab countries. This was the main, if not the only worry.
“On June 18, 1947, being in charge of security in behalf of the Zionist Executive, I told the Haganah command: “The political situation is becoming graver. The anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish tendencies of the White Paper Government (the Attlee Cabinet in which Ernest Bevin was Foreign Secretary) are increasing. We are confronted not only with the schemes of the local Arab rulers and we must prepare to face this front with all seriousness and urgency. The struggle between Zionism and the White Paper is fundamentally political, not military, but not so the question of Arab aggression. In the face of an Arab attack, there can be a decision only by force, a decision by Jewish arms.”
That, said Mr. Ben-Gurion, had been his view since the end of World War II in 1945. He recalled a conversation he had after the war with members of the British Cabinet and said: “It became clear to me then that the Mandate and British rule in Palestine would not last long. That was the conclusion I drew. It therefore became clear to me that it was imperative to establish the Jewish State in Palestine at the earliest possible moment, since only a State could continue Jewish immigration and settlement. I had no doubt whatever that this State would face an attack from the Arab States aimed at its annihilation.
RELATES HIS REACTION TO U. S. STAND AT UNITED NATIONS
“As chairman of the World Zionist Executive,” he continued, “I saw it as my duty to tend to the equipment of a Jewish Army which did not yet exist. I accomplished that task in two ways: through acquisition of modern machinery and tools for the establishment of our own arms industry, and through acquisition of military equipment–light and heavy arms, submachine-guns, tanks and fighter planes which the underground Haganah could not possess.”
The Premier recalled the day of March 28, 1948, when radio broadcasts reported that Warren R. Austin, head of the United States delegation to the United Nations, had told the United Nations Security Council that the United States deemed it necessary to withdraw its support of the Palestine partition plan which had been voted the previous November. Instead, Sen. Austin proposed that a UN trusteeship regime be instituted for the whole of Palestine.
“I was then at Haganah Headquarters at Tel Aviv,” Mr. Ben-Gurion recalled, “and could not consult my colleagues on the Zionist Executive, who were in Jerusalem. I saw it my duty immediately to state: ‘This stand of the United States in no way alters fundamentally the situation in the country, nor does it undermine the establishment of the Jewish State. Establishment of the State was not, in effect, given in the United Nations resolution (on Palestine Partition) of last November 29–although the resolution was of great moral and political value–but by our ability to bring about a decision in the country by force. Through our own strength–if we will it and succeed in mobilizing it fully–the State will be established even now.”
“And the State came into being–and we were forced to fight for its existence. We won and I have no doubt that this was one of the greatest achievements in our history as a nation. The War of Independence which lasted from the 15th May, 1948 to July 1, 1949, gave us a state larger and more complete than the one delineated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution of 1947. It gave us nearly all of Jerusalem, Western Galilee, the entire corridor from Jaffa to Jerusalem and all of the Negev with the exception of the Gaza Strip.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
