Peres: Ben Gurion Was One of the Greatest Leaders of the 20th Century

More than 300 people, among them Jewish leaders, students, members of Jewish organizations and Israeli officials, attended last night a memorial service for David Ben Gurion, the former Israeli Premier, on the tenth anniversary of his death.

Shimon Peres, leader of Israel’s Labor party who was a close associate of Ben Gurion, said in his memorial address that Ben Gurion was “by all measurements, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century.” He said that Ben Gurion was a man “who formed history.”

Peres said that Ben Gurion believed in “Zionism without a clash, without a confrontation,” with the Arabs who were already in the land of Israel. For Ben Gurion, Peres contended, “peoplehood came before territories” because the land of Israel was already divided between the Jews and the Arabs.

According to Peres, Ben Gurion fought against the “rhetoric of the Revisionists” because he knew the danger of rhetoric and the “illusion” of words. Peres also said that Ben Gurion was against the “copied Socialism” modeled after the Socialism of the Soviet Union. He was for Socialism based on Jewish values, Peres said.

The memorial service was sponsored by the World Zionist Organization-American Section and was held at the organization’s headquarter at 515 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

URGES WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON, WEST BANK

Earlier in the day, Peres addressed the college faculty members in the Higher Education Division of the United Jewish Appeal – Federation Campaign here. He called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon as well as an end to new settlements in densely-populated Arab areas in the West Bank.

“We must ask ourselves, how long we are going to remain there (in Lebanon)?” Peres asked, adding: “Conditioning our withdrawal on a Syrian withdrawal may create an incentive for Syria to remain, to keep Lebanon divided.”

Peres also warned that the current policy of establishing Israeli settlements in newly-populated West Bank areas must be abandoned “to avoid turning Israel into a bi-racial state, and in order to open the door to negotiations between the Jordanians and the Palestinians.” He emphasized that by “Palestinians” he did not mean the Palestine Liberation Organization.

SAY BEGIN GOVERNMENT MISLED LABOR PARTY

In a question-and-answer session, Peres said Labor had been misled by the Begin government about the aims of the invasion of Lebanon in June, 1982. “Begin, (then-Foreign Minister Yitzhak) Shamir and (then-Defense Minister Ariel) Sharon told us that Lebanon would be a limited operation, for a few days, that the army would return, to be replaced by a multi-national force. We saw no alternative. We supported this operation. We never supported a war in Lebanon,” Peres said.

He said he doesn’t believe the Israeli government is preparing for war with Syria, although “some in the United States would prefer to see our government take a tougher position with Syria.” Peres said that the steady buildup of forces and weaponry indicates a Syrian decision “to take an option for war, but we don’t see they have decided on a war.”

Nevertheless, he called the present situation in Lebanon “tense.” He spoke of the “close proximity of forces — only 150 meters apart,” as well as an unpredictable situation, which “may really bring us a war. I worry about it.”

In response to another question, Peres said that of the 30,000 Israeli settlers on the West Bank, 12,000 are in security zones that would be kept by Israel. The other 18,000 “would have to make up their minds if they will remain there.”