Former Premier David Ben Gurion expected war with the Arabs when Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948 and proposed that the Israeli army seize territory beyond the boundaries designated for the Jewish State by the United Nations partition resolution of November 29, 1947, according to Ben Gurion’s personal diary.
The diary, covering events during the month before Israel’s declaration of independence, was published here Thursday. The documents, selected by a joint committee of the Foreign Ministry and the State Archives, are dated from April 18 to May 13, 1948. They have never been published before.
According to the diary, Ben Gurion asked Yigael Yadin, then chief operations officer of Hagana, what the chances were of war with the Arabs. Yadin estimated they were 50-50 and warned that the Arabs possessed a considerable military advantage. Ben Gurion however expressed confidence in a Jewish victory and stated that once the military tide turned to their advantage, the army (then Hagana) should not limit itself to the designated borders but go beyond them. He said that when the time came to declare independence, no mention should be made of borders.
When Pinhas Rosen, later Israel’s Minister of Justice, raised the legal issue of determining the borders of the new State, Ben Gurion replied: “Everything is possible. Law is determined by the people. When we declare the State we do not have to determine borders nor do we have to seek international recognition.” Israel’s borders have never been legally determined. The published documents mention a complaint by Yisrael Galili, later a Minister-Without-Portfolio and a close advisor to Premier Golda Meir, that the Irgun, commanded by Menachem Begin continued to provoke the British army in defiance of the “Peoples Administration” that was to become Israel’s provisional government after May 14. Galili said it was obvious that the Irgun did not want to reach a settlement with the British for the handing over of authority. He said Begin avoided a meeting with him.
The documents diclose that Moshe Shertok (later Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett) said he was convinced the British were interested in a war in Palestine.
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.
